14 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
It may be said, indeed, that no crop is absolutely without a 
new variety. This may be selected and cultivated ; and should 
the qualities for which it is chosen remain permanent, aud be 
found valuable, its extension over the whole country is insured 
by means of advertisements, and by the reports of the large 
crops produced therefrom, and its value enhanced, securing a 
reward to the cultivator, to which he is justly entitled as a com- 
pensation for his toil. One of the more recent introductions of 
this kind is “ Morton’s red-strawed white wheat,” the history of 
which is described in the “ Cyclopedia of Agriculture,” vol. ii. 
page 1131. 
Another point of public interest is that, although our fore- 
fathers eat rye and barley bread, and that often of a very 
questionable dark colour and made from a very inferior grain, 
bread from these kinds of grain is now almost if not quite un- 
known in England. Not only do the masses now eat wdieaten 
bread, but the drainage of our lands and better farming have 
greatly tended to the spread of the finer kinds of wheat all 
through the country.* All classes, then, are deeply interested 
in agricultural improvements, for not only do they tend to 
increase the quantity, but also to improve the quality, of human 
food. 
W e now turn to Rye ; to illustrate the history of which for our 
present purpose we cannot do better than quote the following 
from the pen of Professor Lindley : — 
“ Secede cereale (the common rye) is a cereal grass, distinguished from wheat 
by its narrow glumes, and constantly twin narrow florets, with a membranous 
abortion between them. Otherwise it is little different in structure, although 
the quality of its grain is so inferior. According to Karl Koch, it is found 
undoubtedly wild on the mountains of the Crimea, especially all around the 
village of Dishimil, on granite, at the elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. 
In such places, its ears are not more than one to two and a half inches long. 
Its native country explains the reason why it is so much hardier than any 
variety of wheat, the southern origin of which is now ascertained.” 
Rye, more especially under bad farming, is subject to a mal- 
formation of tbe grain, by which it becomes elongated in the 
form of a black spur, which is seen projecting from the chaff- 
scales. This, which is known to the apothecary as Secale 
cornutum, is used in modern obstetric practice. As it was 
formerly ground up in the flour of the affected rye, the con- 
stantly partaking of so potent a drug hi even small quantities is 
said to have produced the most fearful results, not only in man, 
but in the inferior animals who fed upon its grain or bread, such 
as decay and gangrene of the extremities, frightful convulsions, 
* It is well known that in large towns, such as Liverpool, the working 
classes will have the very finest flour, whilst the middle classes mostly con- 
sume best seconds. — Ed. 
