396 



CEREALS. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



OATS, EICE, EYE. 



OATS — Avena saliva. 



The oat grows in panicles, the calyx being two-seeded; seeds one 

 bearded ; flowers and seeds alternate in each 

 calyx, conical in shape, the smaller awnless, 

 the larger haying a strong bent awn of two 

 colors; the branches of the panicle are erect 

 when green, but bend and droop with weight 

 of seeds as they ripen. The glumes or chaff 

 of seed are nerved, pointed at end, longer 

 than flower, and unequal. The- stem is hol- 

 low, two to four feet high, and is an annual. 



The word oat is derived from the 

 Saxon, and signifies eat. Avena is a 

 Latin word, meaning desire, and re- 

 fers to the fondness of stock for it. 

 Sativa means sown, and is also a Latin 

 word. 



The oat, like wheat and the other 

 small grains, has an origin in antiqui- 

 ty far beyond the ken of man. Pliny 

 speaks of it as a diet for the sick, and 

 in many of the profuse histories it is 

 spoken of as a food for horses. So 

 soon as the continent of America was 

 settled the oat was cultivated, and sam- 

 ples sent back to the old country as an 

 evidence of the prosperity of the colon- 

 ists. The Virginians did not cultivate it to the same ex- 

 tent as the Pilgrims, nor has it ever reached that degree of 



