boys’ department. 97 
Bogs’ ^Department 
A CHAPTER ON GRASSES.—No. 3. 
It is said that of all the Cerealia, or cultivated 
grains, so valuable to man, as furnishing the chief 
material for bread, the origin of not one of them is 
known with any degree of certainty, if we except 
maize, or Indian corn. Recent information seems 
to prove this magnificent plant to be indigenous to 
South America, from whence a curious variety has 
„ been obtained, in which each grain is enveloped in 
glumes or husks, as in other grasses; presenting, 
when an immature ear is husked, a close resemblance 
to an ear of beardless wheat, of a gigantic size. 
This, the Indians assert, still grows wild in the 
humid woods of the province of Paraguay. [It is 
said that the same kind of corn still grows wild 
from California to Brazil.] 
Among the earliest records of the manners and 
customs of nations, the cultivation of grain is often 
alluded to, or distinctly mentioned. Abraham set 
bread before the angels who honored his tent with 
their heaven-directed visit. Egypt was desolated 
by famine in consequence of the failure of the crops 
of grain for seven successive years; from the de¬ 
vastating effects of which Joseph saved the inha¬ 
bitants of that and the adjacent countries by his 
superhuman wisdom, which enabled him to foretell 
events, and his prudence in storing up the surplus 
corn of the seven preceding years of unexampled 
plenty, when the earth brought forth by “ handfuls.” 
In Europe, all bread stuffs are indiscriminately called 
corn, a name which in this country is given to 
maize alone. Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz— 
that prince of farmers—during both the wheat and 
the barley harvests. 
The geographical distribution of grain varies in 
different countries, depending not merely on climate, 
but also on industry and civilization. Within the 
northern polar circle agriculture is found only in a 
few places—the polar limit being in Lapland, where 
it reaches the 70th degree of latitude. In Siberia 
wheat scarcely arrives at perfection at 60°, and in 
Kamtschatka there is none. On the north-west 
coast of America, between the 52d and 57th de¬ 
grees, barley and rye come to maturity, while on 
the eastern or Atlantic side the limit is 52°. 
The grains which thrive farthest north in Europe 
are barley and oats. On the southern border of this 
limit, rye is associated with them, and then becomes 
the prevailing grain—as in the south of Sweden 
and Norway, Denmark, the north of Germany, and 
a small part of Siberia. In the southern part of 
this zone wheat is also found, and there barley is 
chiefly used as food for horses, and in the manu¬ 
facture of malt liquors, though man still makes it 
a part of his daily sustenance. Then follows a 
zone in Europe and western Asia where rye disap¬ 
pears, and wheat almost exclusively furnishes bread; 
as in the south of France, and of Germany, Hun¬ 
gary, the Crimea and Caucasus, and also the middle 
of Asia. Here the vine is found, and wine supply¬ 
ing the place of beer, consequently barley is little 
raised, or only as food for horses and mules. Next 
follows a district where wheat still abounds, but 
where maize and rice are frequently grown. To 
this belong Portugal, Spain, southern France, Italy, 
Greece, Persia, Arabia, southern India, Egypt, and 
Barbary. At the southward of these countries, 
maize and rice supplant wheat, which is rarely seen, 
and only on high elevations. Within the torrid 
zone maize predominates in America; rice in Asia; 
and both, in nearly equal quantities, in Africa. 
Thus the earth may be divided into five zones, be¬ 
ginning at the equator. First, the zone of rice, then 
that of maize, next that of wheat, then rye, and 
north of all, barley and oats. 
In making a scale of the intrinsic value of the 
different kinds of the cereal grains, they may be 
placed in the following order. First, w T heat; se¬ 
cond, maize; third, rice ; fourth, rye ; and fifth, bar¬ 
ley and oats. 
Among the various kinds which form the prin¬ 
cipal nutriment of the human family, and to the 
culture of which even civilization is attributed by 
ancient and modern writers, the first rank is univer¬ 
sally given to wheat ( Triticum sativum). The 
range of its culture is perhaps greater than that of 
any other grain, as it may be grown as far north as 
the 60th degree of latitude, and in the torrid zone, 
where, however, it will seldom form even an ear be¬ 
low an elevation of 4,500 feet above the level of the 
sea, owing to the great exuberance of vegetation, 
nor will it ripen seed above the height of 10,800 
feet elevation, though much depends upon local cir¬ 
cumstances. Some naturalists doubt if there is 
really more than one species of wheat, supposing 
that all, even the seven-eared Egyptian wheat, may 
be nothing more than well-marked varieties, which 
may be reduced by culture to the common kind. 
Where professors differ, I will not attempt to decide 
the question. 
Wheat yields a greater proportion of flour than 
any other grain, and is also much more nutritive. 
Careful housewives say that seven pounds of wheat 
flour will make nine pounds of good bread. 
Indian corn ( Zea mays), in the torrid zone, will 
grow at the height of 7,200 feet above the level of 
the sea, but thrives best and predominates between 
6,000 and 3,000 elevation; below that, it is asso¬ 
ciated with a vegetation peculiarly tropical. Its 
geographical range is from the equator to the most 
northern parts of the United States, or wherever 
the heat of summer is intense, though it be of short 
duration. One variety, called Canada corn, from 
its usual place of growth, does not often produce a 
stalk more than four feet high; while the common 
southern variety is more frequently seen from ten 
to twelve, or even eighteen feet high. It is now 
generally acknowledged to be a native of this con¬ 
tinent, as before stated, and as additional reasons 
for the assertion, we may add the well known fact 
that its culture did not attract notice in Europe, 
Asia, or Africa, until after the voyages of Colum¬ 
bus had unfolded the treasures of the New World. 
It was certainly unknown to the ancient Greek and 
Roman writers, as no memorial of it is to be found 
among the newly-discovered wonders of ancient 
Egypt, and it is not mentioned by the early travellers 
who visited China, India, and other parts of Asia 
and Africa, though their descriptions of the natural 
productions of the countries through which they 
passed, were extremely minute. And lastly, it was 
found in extensive cultivation on the banks of the 
Delaware, in New Jersey and Delaware, where the 
