36 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



represents a race that never came under the hand 

 of man, it is not possible to decide. It has two rows 

 of kernels in the head — a type that was found 

 in the remains of the civilization of the Lake- 

 dwellers, who represent man in the early Stone 

 Age. With it has been found the six-rowed 

 species, which the earliest Egyptian monuments 

 also preserved. A strange fact is that the common 

 four-rowed species is not represented among the 

 barleys grown by these primitive peoples, though 

 both of the more productive species must have 

 originated from the scanty, two-rowed kind. 



People who eat barley bread are becoming fewer 

 as the conditions of life are eased. Immigrants 

 from the north of Europe to Minnesota grow 

 barley, first for themselves, but soon for their 

 cattle, only. It is a good green forage and pas- 

 ture after an early crop is taken off the land. As 

 a catch crop,* it is sowed in summer and plowed 

 under. This " green manure" adds to heavy 

 land the fibre that converts it into a mellow loam, 

 easy to work, able to hold moisture, and richer by 

 the addition of plant foods the soil needs. 



CORN 



The biggest thing in this country is our corn 

 crop. And the most wonderful thing kbout it is 



