20 BRITISH PLANTS 



Russia, the puzstas of Hungary, the prairies of America, 

 and the pampas of Argentina. In the British Isles the 

 culture of wheat is limited to certain well-defined areas : 

 in England to the Eastern and South-Eastem counties, 

 certain central counties, and the plains east of the Pennine 

 Chain ; in Scotland to the lowlands of the Clyde and 

 Forth, and the coastal ledges from Berwick to the Firth 

 of Tay ; in Ireland wheat is now confined to the driest 

 and sunniest spots, such as occur in the rain-shadow 

 of the mountains in the south-eastern parts of the 

 island. 



In recent years the fall in prices, due to the importation 

 of wheat from abroad, has contracted the limits of its 

 cultivation at home. Much of the land has been con- 

 verted into pastures and market-gardens, and the culture 

 of wheat is gradually becoming restricted to the heavy 

 clay-lands of Essex and the Wash. 



Barley has a much wider range than wheat. It is 

 grown throughout the wheat - area and considerably 

 beyond it. Much of it is converted into beer and spirits. 



Oats are, of aU the cereal grasses, the most indifferent 

 to chmate. They are grown all over Ireland and in the 

 damp valleys of Scotland, where they form a staple food 

 for man and beast. 



2. Pastures. — These may be natural or artificial. The 

 former occur in elevated regions (e.g., downs), and are 

 used mainly for grazing sheep. Artificial pastures are 

 of two kinds : 



(a) Permanent Pastures, which have been reclaimed 

 from moor or bog. They were ploughed once and sown 

 with grass. One crop of hay is perhaps taken off them 

 each year, after which they are abandoned to grazing. 

 ETiU-pastures are used as sheep-runs. 



(b) Pastures sown with Clover and Rotation-Grasses. — 

 These occur on the richer, moister soils of the lowlands, 

 and require periodical manuring and ploughing. They 

 may be used either as meadows cut for hay, yielding on 

 damp soils two crops a year, or for the grazing of cattle 

 in the milk-districts. The dairies of England are chiefly 

 in the west, where the rainfall is abundant and the grasses 

 taU and succulent. 



3. The Conversion of Vegetation into Meat. — The 

 feeding of stock upon pastures results in the conversion 



