Cereals
a term derived from Ceres, the goddess of corn. Beans, peas, and lentils are sometimes included among the cereals, but, properly speaking, the term is confined to the flour- and meal-producing seeds of plants belonging to the grass family. The eight prominent cereals of North America are Indian corn or maize, wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, rice, and Kaffir corn. They furnish the larger part of human food. Speltz and millet may be added to the list. Buckwheat is not a grass, but is included usually because of its use as buckwheat flour. The following tables are arranged from the last United States Census Report:
| Grain. | Acres. | Bushels per Acre. |
| Barley | 4,470,196 | 26.8 |
| Buckwheat | 807,060 | 13.9 |
| Corn | 94,916,911 | 28.1 |
| Kaffir corn | 266,513 | 19.4 |
| Oats | 29,539,698 | 31.9 |
| Rice | 351,344 | 13.5 |
| Rye | 2,054,292 | 12.4 |
| Wheat | 52,588,574 | 12.5 |
All cereals 184,994,588
| Bushels. | Value. | |
| Barley | 119,634,877 | $41,631,762 |
| Buckwheat | 11,233,515 | 5,747,853 |
| Corn | 2,666,440,279 | 828,258,326 |
| Kaffir corn | 5,169,113 | 1,367,040 |
| Oats | 943,389,375 | 217,098,584 |
| Rice | 4,728,710 | 7,891,613 |
| Rye | 25,568,625 | 12,290,540 |
| Wheat | 658,534,252 | 369,945,320 |
All cereals 4,434,698,746 $1,484,231,038
See Agriculture Ceres, se'rez, in Roman mythology, the goddess of grain and harvest, whence the term, cereal. No special myth seems to have been attached to her worship until the fifth century, when the Romans identified with her the Greek Demeter, introducing from Sicily the rites of worship performed in honor of the Greek goddess. They also adopted the Greek myths connected with Demeter, especially that of Persephone, the Roman Proserpine. See Demeter