Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-05-14
THE FIELDS OF GREEN.
A VISION OF suPERNAL BEAUTY IS
SUGGESTED.
SOMETHING ABOUT The GRASSES.
An Interesting study by Our
Alton CorrespOndent-I,nr oats,
Wheat, and Rice-CuriOus Facts
Personal md General.
Correspondence of the DIspatch.)

ALTON. VA. May l2.-"Sweet fields ar
rayed in living green"
What visions of supernal beauty must
have inspired that quaint old Scotch poet
in his heavenly minstrelsy! Not tho
heather of his iowland moors. nor the
golden gorse of English glades, nor the
wide campaigns of Italy's purple bloom.
give one-half the sense of restful I'M
mrtality as in tins apt comparison Of
Giving green" AThere Is something an.
utteraby soothing and soul-rcstful N
looking away from ones toll over these
springtime fields of living green; some
thing as the tabled Antaeus might have
felt whenever he came in contact Nth
his mother. Terra-the earth-and felt
his strength redoubled. From door md
window the distant mountains rise In the
familiar landscape with their solemn
peaks or SUBMITS crowned with woods.
or the nearer forests dim ana beautiful
with verdant bordered aisles and sha
dowed dells, where the music OF wood
land songsters rivals the jubiles Of papai
choirs. but ever and always the eyes turn
back and linger longest upon the living
green" of grass or grain. II is an ancient
worship.
From the sand-dunes along the coast
to the utmost limits where vegetable life
pertains, either upon the tops OF high
mountains or within the frigid zones.
grasses. the earliest and most prolific
of all green plants that cover the earth,
are ever present. each Of its kind suited
TO some particular soil or climatic condi-
ton. In the countless millions Of indi-
dividuals they surpass all other families
Of vegetation. Grasses are soil builders.
They are the agents nature employs to
! cover her bare body from the burning,
sterlizing action OF the sun, and with
out which the earth would long since
have been a Salcined mass, with all the
minute forms Of her plant life turned to
ashes
Since NebuchadnezZar fed upon grass
like an OK. and ages before the green
| diet Of that first vegetarian. grasses and
grains, the product Of the cereal grasses,
have furnished food for the human race.
To-day four-fifths Of the worlds people
draw from them a staple diet.
Grass includes wide range I'm its va
riety that we do not usually class under
that head. Rice is grass. Wheat bar
ley. oats. Indian corn. sugar-canc, and
numbers Of other cereals are Of near kin
10 the grasses.
The first cultivation of these plants
originally growing wild. or even how
they appeared in their wild state is UNI
known. il is a question a puZzling as il
is interesting. That they became domes-
ticated at time greatly antedating the
earliest dawn of history is beyond doubt.
ana the original plant in its native state
may be totally extinct.
Humboldt says "The origin. the first
home of the plants most useful to man,
and which have accompanied him from
the remotest epOchs is a secret as I'M
penctrable as the dwelling Of all our do
nestle animals. The plants which con-
stitute the natural riches Of the tropics,
the banana, the pawpaw, the manioc, and
maize, have never been found in a wild
state" Barley is the most ancient Of all
known cultivated plants. IT IS a native
of Western Asia, and goes back more
than 1900 years in lineage. Rice. true TO
It's modern affinity. was first grown in
Southern China and india. though IN all
historic time 1t is mentioned in Egypt.
oats and rye have been found among the
remains of the Swiss lake dwellings Of
the age of bronze, and nc discovery Of
the wild plant has been authenticated IN
the earliest times of which any records
are to be found. all through the temper
ate regions of Asia. Europe and Africa
wheat is spoken 81. y late proof of its
extreme antiquity is its discovery in the
bricks of D1shur. Egypt. 10 which is
given date older than $3.50 II. G.. The
New World claims the honor Of giving TO
hungry world maize, potatoes. toma-
toes, and pumpkin pie; with Texas the
tanner home of the pumpkin and cold
New England of the pumpkin pie. This
union should have been our first peace"
jubilee. Maze-that is. corn, just plain
and primtiVe--was at the time of the
discovery Of the new Continent the sta
pie Of its meagre agriculture. believe
the cultivation and development of Indian
corn 10 its present excellence as the best
food cereal is due To the labor OF the
poor Indian squaws. 1T should have
feminine trademark. Corn has never been
found in truly wild state. but is
thought to have originated south Of the
Isthmus-probably in the region Of New
Grenada. Corn is the humblest Of the
grain foods wheat the most arisiOcratlc.
The old plantation darby marked the
difference letwecn wheat-brcad and com
bread in a melody running:
Johnny Constant evry day.
Eat his dinner an ny away;
Sally Seldom, fat an seek,
COMPANY manners an once week.
Every perfect grain OF wheat IS Il mar
vel of perfection in its construction. Wen
NAV the apostle have likened the seed
time and harvest Of this grain To the lie
of man. since il is an established fact ia
chemistry that a perfect kernel of wheat
has more than a dozen elementary inSfe-
dents akin to those found i'm perfectly
healthy human being-it holds the com
pleteness of bone, muscle, brain, Pnd
nerve
Under the old dispensation the patti
archs mads vOtive offerings Of the first