Page 294. 



106 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



wholfom. Palmam, fays he, quoque reUquis praeripit decodtum 

 hordei coeleftis, vulgo Himmelbyg grato tarn fapore quam ef- 

 fe&u fe commendans. Am. Bernfen, in his book above quoted, 

 on the Fruitfulnefs of Denmark and Norway, pretends that fome- 

 wonderM times in wet years, the Norway barley degenerates into oats • 

 whilft others imagine, that good oats, efpecially in Hedemark', 

 improve into barley. But, without further proof, fuch anomalous 

 metamorphofes appear to me fcarce credible *, and my opinion 

 is, that what firfl: gave rife to this notion, was an accidental 

 and unobferved mixture of a little barley with oats, or of oats 

 with barley, which in feme years, happened to thrive better than 

 the intended- grain, and this unexpected increafe was miftaken 

 for a tranfmutation. 



SECT. VI. 



o a t s . Oats, are the grain of the moft general ufe in Norway, both 

 for the peafant's bread, which is made of it, and in fome places 

 for a kind of malt. It is allb much larger, whiter, and mellower, 

 than in other countries, and thrives in thofe lands, where, by rea- 

 fon of moifture or poverty, no other grain will anfwer. That oats 

 are no lefs nutritive than rye, may be judged not only from the 

 horfes, but the lingular ftrength and vigour of the Norway pea- 

 fants. But amidft the great benefits derived to our peafants from 

 good oats, in fome places, efpecially in Ryefylke, they complain 

 loudly of a kind of wild or fpurious oats, which the French call 

 folle avoine. Where once this takes root, it is extremely difficult 

 to be extirpated, over-running large tracts of land, deftroying the 

 good grain, and proving as mifchievous, as thofe complained of 

 in Virgil, 



Infelix lolium, et fteriles dominantur avenae. 



* This however is efpoufed by Mr. Frederic Hoffman in thefe words, " Who has 

 ever perfpicuoufly demonftrated, by what means fome plants come to be transformed 

 into other kinds, for inftance, wheat into tares, good oats into wild, a nutmeg in 

 Europe into a walnut, &c." See his Rational Phyfical Theolog. Seel:, xxvu. p. g6. 

 Whilft I am writing this, a worthy friend of mine affures me, that to fatisfy himfelf 

 in this doubt, he fowed a can of the fineft barley, without a fingle grain of oats 

 among it j yet, at the harveft, of two cans of barley, one and a half proved oats. 

 So I leave the matter without further difcuffion. 



1 SECT. 



