The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-03-18
FACTS ABOUT PLANTS.

FACTS ABOUT PLANTS.
The insignificant or Poisonous Origin of
Various Fruits and Vegetables
Some well-esta blished and interesting
facts in botanical history relates to the
origin Of familiar plants The ancestor
of the large and feshy cabbage was a
veritable pigmy-a small plant weigh
ing altogether scarcely half an ounce;
diminutive little vegetable, reddish in
color and bitter in trste, has been meta
morphosed into the inestimable potato;
the sweet juicy Altringham carrot,
weighing from five to six pounds, is in
wild condition, dry, slender root un-
fit to eat; the delicate, we'll favored
Vienna glass caulirapi, as large as a
mans fist is when wild a slender,
woody. dry stem; the caulifower in its
natural locality is hin-branched flow
ering stem. with little green, bitter
flower buds
That the luscious peach has been de-
rived from the hard-shelled almond can
no longer be denied. 1t is said that the
peach in it's original soil was virulent
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 so as to
render wounds caused by them to be
fatal, but a change of climate and soil
produced fruit which is not only lus-
cious, but 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
III a wild state in India varies from the
size of plum to 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 peasanty. tied in bum
dies, and set on fire, not. however, to
be consumed. but for mere scorching.
The flame flies rapidly through the
light husks and beard of the plant and
leaves the seed slightly roasted, in
which state they are eaten with con-
siderable relish by numbers of the
rural population. 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 repay 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
of dear 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 floury.
The botanical name of this Sicilian
grass is Egilops, or goat's-eye-the
Greeks having believed it to be a rem
edy for disease that appears in one
corner of the eye There are three or
four species growing all around the
Mediterranean as we'll as in the islands,
chiefly on the hot, dry, sandy plains
near the sea- They flourish even on the
scorched volcanic Soils in strange con-
trast to their arid and barren surround
ings showing that the vital principle in
them is unusually energetic and proof
against extremes of heat One species,
the Egilops orata, as though sporting
with its powers is said to shoot out an
other species-the Triticoides, or wheat
like-from one and the same root; not
by artificial cultivation, but spontane-
ously.
But the most remarkable fact con-
corning this queer plant, the goat's-eye.
is that it has been proven by expert
ment to be the parent of cultivated
wheat This fact was accidentally dis
covered by French agriculturist. He
wished to determine what effect cult
walton would have upon the goats eye,
and planted remote from any fields of
grass that might mingle with it few
of the seed. The first crop showed
much difference from the original, be-
ing two or three times taller and more
grains to the stalk. At the end of seven
years experimenting the yield was over
200 grains for each one planted, and
the transformation was complete--every
plant was a true representative of cul-
tivated wheat Later he sowed them
in open fields, and in no instance have
they returned to the form of the origi-
nal goats-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. per-
ennial closely agreeing in all essential
particulars of structure with our cult
waited annual wheat Com
mercial Gazette.
'heep Denudins the Mountains.
"a III H.