The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1892-07-13
Facts About Plants


Some xell-establ ished and interesting
facts in botanical history relates TO the
origin Of familiar plants. The ancestor
of the large and fieshy cabbage was &
veri table pigmy--a small plant weighing
altogether scarcely half an ounce a di-
ninutive little vegetable, reddish in col
or and bitter in taste, has been metamor-
phosed into the inestimable potato; the
sweet. juicy Altringham carrot, weighing
from five to six pounds, is in wild con-
dition, dry, slender root unfit to eat !
the delicate, well-fiavored Vienna glass
caulirapi, as large as mans fist. is when
wild slender, woody, dry stem; the
the eauliliower in its natural locality is 4
thin-branched Towering stem, with little
green, bitter hower-buds.
That the luscious peach has been de-
rived from the hard-shelled almond can
no longer be denied. 1t is said that tie
peach in its original soil was a yirulent
poison and that the Persian warriors
=
brought to Persia some Of the seeds and
planted them for the purpose Of poison
ing the points of their arrows 50 as to
render the wounds caused by them to be
fatal, but change Of climate and soil
produced fruit which is not only lus-
cious, bat is esteemed exceedingly
healthful
The small black sloe has been trans
formed into the juicy and golden-yellow
gage plum, and the most delicious pip
pins owe their origin to the diminutive,
acrid crab-apple. The savory cantaloup
in a wild state in India varies from the
size of plum and that of lemon and in
most cases is either insipid or bitter.
In Sicily there is wild grass which,
when ripe at the end of the summer, is
gathered by the peasantry. tied in bun
dies, and set on fire, not, however, to be
consumed, but for mere scorching.
The fame flies rapidly through tn e
light husks and beard Of the plant and
leaves the seed slightly roasted, in which
state they are eaten with considerable
relish by numbers of the rural popula-
ton. What the Sicilians do with their
grass might be done with other grasses
and in other countries were it not that
the seeds generally are too small TO re-
pay the trouble of producing them for
food. If all were but as large as those Of
corn, or even wheat and barley, we
should hear few complaints ofdear bread.
Instances, indeed, are on record Of grass
seeds having been largely eaten in times
of scarcity and with the desired effect Of
sustaining life, for all are more or less
fioury.
The botanical name of this Sicilian
grass is 1Egilops, or goats eye-the
Greeks having believed it to be remedy
for a disease thatappears in one corner of
the eye. There are three or four species
growing all around the Mediterranean as
well as in the islands, chiefly on the hot,
dry, sandy plains near the sea. They
flourish even on the scorched volcanic
soils, in strange contrast to the arid and
barren surroundings showing that the Vi
tai principle in them is unusually ener-
getic and proof against extremes Of heat.
One species, the Egilops orata, SIS though
sporting with its powers, is said to shoot
out another species-the Triticoides, or
wheat-like-from one and the same root ;
not by artificial cultivation, but sponta-
neously.
But the most remarkable fact concern
ing this queer plant, the goat's-eye, is
that it has been proven by experiment
to be the parent of cultivated wheat.
This fact was accidentally discovered by
French agriculturalist. He wished TO
determine what effect cultivation would
have upon the goat's-eye, and planted re-
mote from any fields Of grass that might
mingle with it few Of the seeds. The
first crop showed much difference from
the original, being two or three times
taller and more grains 10 the stalk. At
the end of seven years experimenting
the yield was over 800 grains for each
one planted, and the transformation was
complete-every plant was true repre-
sentative of cultivated wheat. Later he
sowed them in open fields, and in no in
stance have they returned to the form Of
the original goat's-eye grass.
The same experiments have since been
tried by the English Agricultural Society
with the same results. The nearest form
to true wheat now found wild is the
creeping couch-grass, a perennial closely
agreeing in all essential particulars Of
structure with our cultivated annual
wheat.-.P its5trqi Commercial Ga-efte.