246 



SELECT PLANTS READILY ELIGIBLE 



and adherent grain. Metzger enumerates as distinct kinds 

 of cultivated Wheat: — 



T. vulgare (YilL), wliich includes among other varieties the 

 ordinary Spring Wheat, the Fox Wheat and the Kentish 

 Wheat. It comprises also the best Italian sorts for plaiting 

 straw-bonnets and straw-hats, for which only the upper 

 part of the stem is used, collected before the ripening of the 

 grain and bleached through exposure to the sun while kept 

 moistened. 



T. turgidum (L.), comprising some varieties of White and Bed 

 Wheat, also the Clock Wheat and the Revet Wheat. 



T. durum (Desfont.), which contains some sorts of the Bearded 

 Wheat. 



T. Polonicum (L.), the Polish Wheat, some kind of which is 

 well-adapted for peeled Wheat. 



T. Spelta (L.), the Spelt Corn or Dinkel Wheat, a kind not 

 readily subject to disease, succeeding on soil of very limited 

 fertility, not easily attacked by birds, furnishing a flour of 

 excellence for cakes, also yielding a superior grain for peeled 

 Wheat. For preparing the latter it is necessary to collect 

 the spikes while yet somewhat gi^een and to dry them in 

 baking-houses. 



2\ dicoccum (Schrank). (T. amyleum, Ser.) The Emmer 

 Wheat. Its varieties are content with and prolific on poor soil, 

 produce excellent starch, are mostly hardy in frost and not 

 subject to diseases. To this belongs the Arras Wheat of 

 Abyssinia, where a few other peculiar sorts of Wheat are to 

 be found. 



T. ononococcum (L.) St. Peter's Corn, which is hardier than 

 most other Wheats; exists in the poorest soils, but produces 

 grains less adapted for flour than for j)eeled Wheat. 



Tropaeolum majus, Linne. 



Peru. This showy perennial climber passes with impro- 

 jDriety under the name of Nasturtium. The herbage and 

 flowers serve as Cress, and are also considered antiscorbutic. 

 A smaller species T. minus (L.), also from Peru, can likewise 

 be chosen for a Cress-salad; both besides furnish in their 

 flower-buds and young fruits a substitute for Capers. A 

 volatile oil of burning taste can be distilled from the foliage 

 of both; and this is more acrid even than the distilled oil 

 of Mustard- seeds. In colder countries these plants are only 

 of one year's duration. Numerous other species, all highly 

 ornamental, occur in South America and a few^ also in 

 Mexico. 



