Order II. 
TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
71 
1232 Spike compound at the base, Spikelets 3-flowered ventricose imbricated. Terminal floret beardless neuter 
1233 Spikelets 4-flowered ventricose pubescent imbricated bearded, Terminal floret barren. Glumes obtuse 
1234 Spikelets 4-flowered ventricose roughish, Two middle florets sterile, Palea; unequal outer fringed 
1235 Spikelets 3-flowered ventricose roughish. Intermediate floret barren. Glumes ovate 
1236 Spikel. 2-fl. ventr. imbr. bearded. Barren floret with a short, fertile with a very long beard, Glumes 3-toothed 
1237 Spike distich. Spikelets 4-flowered approxim. Two middle florets sterile. Glumes lin. lane. Stem ascending 
1238 Glumes 9-nerved obtuse 4-5-flowered, Florets beardless, Rachis smooth, Root creeping 
1239 Root creeping white jointed proliferous 
1240 Glumes shortly bearded 3-nerved 5-flowered, Florets bearded, Root fibrous 
1241 Spike interrupted, Rachis hispid. Leaves rolled in at edge. Root creeping 
1242 Glumes 4-flowered bearded. Spikes lanceolate imbricated. Stems pubescent 
1243 Spikelets 4-flowered remote. Two joints of the hairy rachis longer than the spikelet 
1244 Spikelets 3-flowered, Ribs of glumes fringed in tufts. Leaves downy 
1245 Spikelets lanceolate 8-flowered beardless. Glumes truncate naked, Leaves nerved 
1246 Spike beardless, Spikelets longer than glume 
1247 Culm slender. Leaves narrow, Spikelets 3-4-flowered 
■1248 Spike bearded, Spikelets less than glume. Culm rough upwards 
1249 Spike nearly beardless, Spikelets as long as calyx 
and Miscellaneous Particulars. 
is not easy, however, to cure diseases in the vegetable kingdom, and therefore the grand object of the culti- 
vator ought to be to procure healthy seed, and apply judicious culture. 
The uses of wheat are well known. The grain yields a greater proportion of flour than every other ; for, 
while 141bs. of barley yield 121bs. of flour, and of oats Slbs., the same quantity of wheat yields ISlbs. It is 
also more nutritive, 1000 parts of barley yielding 920, of oats 743, and wheat 955 soluble parts. Of these, the 
gluten of wheat is 90, of barley 60, and of oats 87. {Davy. Ag. Chem. 138.) Gluten is so essential an ingredient 
in bread that the pannary fermentation cannot go on without it, and hence the inferiority of that article in 
wet seasons, when wheat is blighted or ill ripened, and the advantage of having a stock of old grain, or of grain 
from the south of Europe, especially of the Mediterranean isles and coasts. 
"Wheat starch is made from wheat, by steeping it, and afterwards beating it in hempen bags. The mucilage 
being thus mixed with the water produces the acetous fermentation, and the weak acid thus formed, renders 
the mucilage white. After settling, the precipitate is repeatedly washed, and then put in square cakes. In 
drying, the cakes separate into flakes as found in the shops. Starch is soluble in hot water, but not in cold ; 
and hence, ground down, it makes an excellent hair powder. Its constituents are carbon 43-55 ; oxygen 49'68 ; 
hydrogen 677 = 100. 
The straw of wheat, from dry chalky lands, is manufactured into hats, for which purpose the middle part of 
the tube above the last joint is taken, and being cut into lengths of 8 or 10 inches, these pieces split in two are 
used to form the plait. The operation of plaiting is performed by females and children, who plait it into rib- 
bons of from one to two inches broad, and these are afterwards sown together on blocks or moulds, beginning 
at the crown, in various shapes according to fancy or fashion. The best straw is produced on the chalky soil 
about Dunstable, where plaiting is a common occupation. Other grasses aflfbrd culms which have also been 
used and manufactured into much finer and expensive work that those of wheat or rye. Leghorn hats are 
made from the straw of a bearded variety of wheat not unlike rye. It is grown on poor sandy soils on the 
banks of the Arno, between Leghorn and Florence, expressly for this manufacture. It does not grow above 
18 inches in length, is pulled green, and bleached like flax on the gravelly bed of the river. The straws are 
not split as in England, which renders the plait tougher and more durable. The value of wheat-straw for 
thatching, litter, and other purposes, need not be mentioned. 
T. junceum grows in loose sand on the sea-coast, and by its tough creeping roots and numerous fibres co- 
operates with Carex arenaria, Elymus arenarius, and Festuca rubra, in keeping them stationary, accumulating 
more, and eventually rendering drifting sands fit for agricultural purposes. 
T. repeiis, couch, white couch, twitch, dog-grass, quickens, &c. is common in most parts of Europe, and even 
in Siberia. It is one of the worst weeds in arable lands and gardens, and in the former is only to be destroyed 
by fallowing or fallow crops, or laying down to grass ; and the latter by hand-picking or very deep trenching. 
The roots are sweet and nourishing, and are greedily eaten by horses and cattle. Sir H. Davy found them to 
contain nearly three times the nourishment of the stalks and leaves. 
207. Lolium. Loloa is the Celtic name of this grass. L. perenne is the fausse ivraie (see L. temulentum) of 
the French, from which our term ray-grass is derived, the Dauerende Lolchy Ger., and Loglio vivace, ItaL 
This appears to be the first grass which was taken into cultivation in Europe, but when is uncertain. Gerarde, 
Parkinson, Plattes, and even Blythe in Cromwell's time, take no notice of it. It is first mentioned by 
Dr. Plott in 1677. " They have lately sown," he says "ray-grass, Gramen loliaceum, to improve cold sour 
clayey weeping ground unfit for saint-foin." It was first sown in the Chiltern parts of Oxfordshire, and after- 
wards by one Eustace at Islip in the same county. There are two varieties of this grass ; the perennial, 
which is of shorter growth than the other, and on sound dry soils will last four or five years, and on rich soils 
longer; and the annual, or rather biennial, which is tall and larger in all its parts than the perennial, and 
after producing one bulky crop dies at the root, or, at least, sends up no latter math. After all that has been 
affirmed of other grasses, none appear so well adapted as the annual rye-grass for producing a bulky crop of 
hay, with or without red clover; or better adapted than the perennial variety for sowing down with wliite 
clover, to attbrd three or more years pasture in the rotations of what is called convertible husbandry, or tlie al- 
ternate corn and grass culture. Cock's-foot grass and woolly grass (Holcus) may afifbrd a greater bulk on poor 
soils, but are far inferior to the ray-grass in regard to nutritive qualities. Sir H. Davy found the value which 
