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fcxhibit ah amufing fpedacle. If placed orl 
a table, after having been moiftened in water, 
they twill themfelves about with fo much 
appearance of life, that the plant has been 
called the animated oat. There is alfo a 
curious circumftance belonging; to the feed of 
barley: it's awn being -furnifned with ftiff 
briftles, which all turn towards the point* 
like the teeth of a faw, as this long awn 
lies upon the ground, it extends itfelf in the 
moifi: air of the night, and pufhes forward 
the barley-corn, to which it adheres : in the 
day it Ihortens, as it dries ; and as thefe 
points prevent it from receding, it draws up 
it's pointed end, and thus, creeping like a 
worm, w T ill travel many feet from the parent 
plant. The ingenious Mr. Edg worth con- 
ftrucled a wooden automaton upon the prin- 
ciples of a barley-corn, which fucceeded fo 
well that it walked acrofs the room, in which 
it was kept, in the fpace of a month or two. 
Wheat, triticum hybe'rnum, the moft nu- 
tritive of the various grains which are applied 
to the ufe of food, is found in moft parts of 
Europe and Afia. Where the climate is too 
hot for it's cultivation, as in the torrid zone, 
it's place is well fupplied by what is commonly 
, , called 
