120 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



of the food of the lower classes, in Italy, and are made from 

 a small-grained wheat, grown in that country for the 

 purpose. 



Straw is extensively used for making hats, bonnets, fancy 

 baskets, and other articles of domestic use or ornament in 

 this country, constituting the chief trade of Dunstable and 

 St. Albans. Eecent experiments and observations tend to 

 show that wheat originated from the repeated cultivation of 

 a harsh, decumbent grass, uEcjilops ovata, native of the south 

 of Europe. If such is really the case, the change must have 

 taken place in early times, for we read that " Reuben went 

 in the days of the wheat harvest," which shows that wheat 

 was cultivated 3600 years ago. Wheat grains, in conjunction 

 with flint implements, have been found in the deposited re- 

 mains of the recently discovered lake villages of Switzerland ; 

 which fact proves that it was grown in Europe in prehistoric 

 times. Since the extension of navigation wheat has be- 

 come an important agent in the spread of civilization 

 throughout the world. It is the weapon in the hands of the 

 white man that enables him to gain possession of the black 

 man's forest and hunting grounds, which become corn-fields, 

 the aboriginal races gradually retiring and becoming extinct. 

 In this country wheat is extensively cultivated, but the pro- 

 duce is far below the quantity required, and great importa- 

 tions come from the ports of the Baltic, Black Sea, North 

 America, and within the last few years from the Australian 

 colonies. Several varieties are cultivated. 



Spelt {Triticum spelta). A hard-grained wheat similar to 

 barley, and is supposed to be the " rye" cultivated in the 

 time of Moses. T. compositum, has a compound head formed 

 of several ears, and as it grows in Egypt agrees with the 

 seven ears of corn that came up on one stalk as seen by 

 Pharaoh in his dream.* 



Barley {Hordeum distichum, two-rowed, and H. hexas- 

 tichum, six-rowed barley). Annual grass is extensively culti- 



* Genesis, chap. xli. ver. 5. 



