Wheat (Triticum vulgare), is a well-known annual grass, extensively cultivated from the remotest times in Egypt and other countries of the East. Grains of wheat having been found, along with flint implements, in the remains of the Lake cities of Switzerland show that it must have been cultivated even in prehistoric times. It is now spread over all the temperate regions of the earth, and supplies the staff of life to millions of people. Palestine is famed of old as being "a land of wheat and barley," and even at the present day considerable quantities of wheat are exported from its Levantine ports. The cakes ordered to be made of "fine flour " for the shewbread, in Lev. xxiv., 5, were no doubt of wheaten flour.

RYE (Heb., cussemeth).

"But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up."-Exod. ix, 32; 1491 B.C. “When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?"-Isaiah xxviii., 25; 725 b.c.

Rye (Secale cereale) is a corn grass extensively cultivated in many parts of Europe. Its grains are similar to barley and wheat, and in many parts form the principal corn bread of the people.

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As it is but sparingly cultivated in Egypt or Syria, it is supposed that the rye mentioned above was Triticum Spelta, called spelt, a hardgrained wheat, in common cultivation in these countries at the present time, as it was in Egypt in the time of Moses.

Rye is subject to a disease called "ergot," caused by a microscopic fungus, which attacks one or more of the grains in the ear while young, causing it to swell into a substance very different from that of the grain, being solid and of a fatty nature, generally in the form of a spur, sometimes an inch or more in length : hence the name "spurred rye." The spur is very poisonous, and, in Germany and other parts of Europe, where rye-bread is much used, being ground with the meal, causes incurable gangrenous diseases. It is, however, a valuable medicine in the hands of the medical practitioner.

TARES (Greek, zizania.)

"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat."-Matt. xiii., 25-30; 31 A.D.

In the English version of the New Testament the Greek word zizania is rendered tares, but it must be understood that the plant called tares in this country, Vicia sativa, a kind of

vetch cultivated for feeding cattle, is not the tares spoken of in the above verse, the latter being Lolium temulentum, a strong-growing grass resembling rye or wheat, from which in its early growth it cannot well be distinguished. If not eradicated early, but left till the harvest, it is cut with the wheat, is then difficult to separate, and of course, more or less, is ground with the wheat.

It is one of the very few deleterious grasses, and there are many instances on record of its serious effects; even death being caused by eating bread containing darnel. Its poisonous properties were well known to Theophrastus and other Greek writers, and Gerard, in his "Herbal," says "The new bread wherein darnel is, eaten hot causeth drunkeness," hence in some books it is called "drunken darnel." It is also said to cause blindness.

The word Zizania has been given by Linnæus as the generic name of a North American grass, Z. aquatica, called water rice, the grains of which form a considerable article of food in Canada.

MILLET (Heb., dôchan).

"Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof."-Ezek. iv., 9; 595 B.C.

Millet is the seed grain of several kinds of grasses, the most important being Sorghum vulgare. This is a strong-growing, cane-like grass, attaining the height of four, five, or more feet, and producing a crowded head of spikelets six to eight inches in length, forming a dense head of small corn grains, which are ground into meal for making bread. It appears to have been cultivated in Egypt in early times, as verified by grains and representations of the plant being found in the ancient tombs.

It is much grown at the present day in the South of Europe, and in the regions of the Mediterranean generally, also in Egypt, Syria including Palestine, India, and many other countries, and is known by the names of dhurra, danna, and Guinea corn. Its cultivation has been several times attempted in this country; and, like Indian corn, it flowers luxuriantly, but the summers are too cold to ripen the grains of either.

The spikelets forming the head become very rigid, and after the removal of the grain, are used for making brushes, whisks, and brooms. They are extensively imported to this country for that purpose. As Millet was cultivated in Egypt in the time of Moses, it is quite probable that the spikelets were then in use, and that they formed the bunch of Hyssop.

Panicum miliaceum and P. italicum are also

called Millet; they are strong - growing, broadleaved, annual grasses, producing a dense head of grains, smaller than those of the preceding. They are largely grown in many parts of Europe as bread plants, and also for feeding poultry. The generic name, Panicum, means bread.

STRAW, STUBBLE.

"We have both straw and provender enough." Gen. xxiv., 25; 1857 B.C. "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick." "So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.". Exod. v. 7, 12; 1491 B.C. "And Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill."-Isa. xxv., 10; 712 B.C.

The stalks of all kinds of corn, after being thrashed, are familiarly known by the name of straw, and the stalks of the different kinds of pasture grass, when dry, form hay. Both are termed provender, and are used for feeding and littering cattle. In time this is trodden down for the dunghill; it then becomes manure, and enriches the soil for again reproducing the original elements, straw and hay.

The discovery of ancient Egyptian bricks, shows that in their formation chopped straw was mixed with the clay, seemingly for the purpose of giving to it a greater cohesion. Other