wards of 150 varieties or sub-varieties. (Le Couteur on Wheat.) The most popular description of the different species of wheat which admit of cultivation for their seed is that given by Professor Low, in his work on the Elements of Agriculture, and I shall therefore avail myself of his scientific description. Specific character.-The calyx of wheat consists of 2 valves or glumes, enclosing several florets. In each of these florets there are 2 valves, forming the corolla, and enclosing the seed. Sometimes the corolla encloses a perfect seed, and sometimes the seed is not perfected. Each calyx, with the florets which it encloses, is termed a spikelet. The part to which the spikelets are attached is termed the rachis or shaft, and the spikelets placed one above the other, on each side of the rachis, form the ear or head. The rachis is jointed, and the spaces between the joints are termed the internodii. greatest quantity of land with spring wheat. In one of the communications made to the Board, Sir Joseph Banks states that "in the countries best acquainted with its culture, spring wheat is preferred to all other corn for raising a crop of seeds. This is owing to the small quantity of leaf it bears, less, perhaps, than any other corn, and to the short duration of the leaf, which fades and falls down almost as soon as it has attained its full size. great error can happen in separating it from the Lammas." (Com. to Board of Agr. vol. v. p. 181.) To the miller this mixture of grain can be of no consequence; but it would be scarcely safe to employ the produce as seed. "In cases where red wheat has been damaged by the wire-worm, a mischief which seems of late years to have increased in Great Britain, spring wheat appears to hold out an easy and simple remedy. In the first week of May the ravages of the worm have somewhat abated; if then the seed of spring wheat is at that time dibbled, or only raked with a garden rake, into the naked spots left by the worm, though it will not attain the growth at which the worm begins to prey upon it till he has changed his state for that of a winged beetle, Species.-1. Spring or summer wheat (T. asti- it will certainly be ripe as soon as the winter vum) Pl. 2, a, has awns both on the calyx and wheat, and may be thrashed out and sold with corolla. Each spikelet has usually 5 florets, it; or, if it is preferred, may be reaped sepaof which 2 are barren. The grain is too ten-rately, as the appearance of the ears, which, in der to bear the frosts of the winter, but as the Lincolnshire sort, have longer beards or quick in progress from its first shoot to ripe-awns than the rivet or cone wheat, will point ness as barley, oats, or any other spring corn. it out to the reapers in such a manner that no It requires a shorter period to complete its vegetation than any of the other kinds. Summer wheat is the prevailing species of warmer countries, and is cultivated in many parts of Europe. It is much used in France, where it is called blé de Mars, from the season in which it is usually sown, and in some provinces bleds tremois, from the time it takes between seedtime and harvest. In Spanish it is called trigo de margo; in Portuguese trigo tremes; and in German sommer waitzen, all which names mark distinctly the difference between this and winter corn. It does not appear from the older books on husbandry, that it was at any period much cultivated in England; the more modern ones are, in general, silent on the subject of it; they mention, indeed, under the name of spring wheat, every kind of winter wheat which will ripen when sown after turnips in February. This is probably the reason why the real spring wheat has been so little known; agriculturists in general conceiving themselves to be actually in the habit of sowing spring wheat, when, in reality, they were substituting winter wheat in its place, have been little inclined to inquire into the properties of the true spring wheat when they had an opportunity of so doing. Its grains are, for the most part, small, and the produce of the straw is less than that of some other species, when cultivated under the same circumstances. Professor Low says, that "the trials which have been made with it in this country have shown it to be inferior in productiveness and quality to the better kinds of winter wheat. The advantage which it possesses is the earlier period of its ripening, on which account it may be sown so late, even in this climate, as the beginning of May." The Board of Agriculture being desirous of bring ing spring wheat into general cultivation, in 1805 offered large premiums to those who should, in the spring of that year, sow the From the analysis of Sir H. Davy it may be inferred that bread made of the flour of spring wheat is more nutritious than that made of winter wheat, because the former contains a larger proportion of gluten or half-animalized matter. He found that 100 parts of the best Sicilian 100 parts of spring wheat of 100 parts of good English 100 parts of blighted wheat of Insoluble Gluten. Starch. Matter. བྱསྒྱུ 21 75 5 24 70 6 19 77 4 2. Winter, or lammas wheat (T. Lyburnum), Pl. 2, b, is distinguished from the last by its appearance, being much more vigorous in the stem, more erect and thick in the ear, by having no awns upon the calyx, and only short awns upon the corolla, near the summit of the spike. But the awns not being a good botanical character, many botanists have conceived the species to be the same. The characters, however, of either kind being permanent and remaining under given circumstances unchanged for an unknown period, they may be regarded as species. The winter wheat has usually 5 or 6 florets, of which 2 are barren. Winter wheat is that which is the most important with relation to its cultivation in Northern Europe. It is, in England, generally sown in autumn, or previously to the winter months, and ripens its seed in the following summer; but it is an annual plant, and may be sown in spring. 86 Slight varieties of this species are exceedingly common in different localities, and are probably attributable to some peculiarities in the mode of culture. The common varieties of winter wheat are distinguished from each other according to the colour of the tunic enveloping the grain, and the difference observable in their chaff. The colours are usually divided into white and red, the latter of these including many different shades of brown. Red wheat is commonly said to be more hardy than white; it is therefore thought better suited for cultivation in bleak and upland districts. The plant is, however, not so productive as the white, and the flour which it yields is seldom of so desirable a quality." (Baxter's Lib. of Agr. p. 640.) ripe, in which respect it differs from summer wheat. It is known in different localities under the several names of gray wheat, duck's bill wheat, gray pollard, rivet, pole rivet, cone, pendulum, &c. This species grows very tall, with a thick and rigid stem. The spikes are large and heavy, and nod to one side as the grain increases in weight. The kinds or minor varieties are distinguished by the farmer from their qualities of earlier or later ripening, and greater or less productiveness. One of the most esteemed of these is cone wheat, so named from the conical form of its spike. The turgid wheats are productive in corn and straw, but the grain is coarse and hard, and the flour much browner and of an inferior quality. They are chiefly suited to the inferior clays, 3. Compact wheat (T. compactum) is allied upon which in England they are extensively to the two last-named species, and may be cultivated. They are valued under such cir merely a variety of them. In it the internodii cumstances for their productiveness in grain of the rachis are very short. It is partially and their large growth of straw; but being inproduced in different parts of Europe. "I ferior to the winter wheats in the quality of have received specimens of it," says Professor their produce, the cultivation of them is not Low, "from France and Sweden, and have cul- likely to be extended in that country. tivated them without observing any change of characters. Whether, however, the characters which distinguish it are sufficiently permanent to entitle it to be regarded as a species, has not been determined. In the mean time, following the authority of Host (Icones et Des. Gram. Aust.), I have placed it amongst the species." 6. Dark-spiked wheat (T. atratum) is allied to the last species, if it is not rather to be regarded as a variety of it. It has merely been made the subject of experiment, but not of extended cultivation. It is not superior in productiveness to the turgid wheats in common use. 7. Barley-like wheat (T. hordiciforme), so 4. Egyptian, or many-spiked wheat (T. com- named from its peculiar form, resembling that positum), Pl. 2, c, is distinguished from the of barley, seems, like that last described, to be others by its branched or compound spike, derived from Africa. The florets are awned, which no other species tends, under any cir- and the calyx and corolla become dark as the cumstance, to produce. Its seeds are nume-seeds ripen. But it resembles the class to be rous, and the produce abundant. It requires a next referred to, termed spelt-wheat. good climate and a fertile soil, for in unfavourable situations the branches of the spike are not evolved, and then it assumes the appearance of ordinary wheat. It is cultivated in Egypt and the east, as it is in the south of Europe and different parts of Italy. It was known in Germany about 240 years ago, and in France it is said to have been cultivated for about 80 years, having been brought from the east under the name of wheat of Smyrna. In England it has been partially cultivated as the subject of experiment. It is uncommonly fruitful, and the straw is very strong and tough, whence it has received the name of reed wheat. The grains, however, do not yield so large a proportion of flour or meal as any of the other species and their varieties, and the flour is scarcely superior to that obtained from the finest barley. Egyptian wheat will bear great degrees of heat and drought without harm, so that it is found to yield abundantly in situations where other kinds would be greatly injured, if not destroyed; a circumstance which points it out as admirably adapted to the arid lands whereon it is chiefly cultivated. It would be more cultivated in England, if its form did not cause it to hold the wet at harvest-time, and hence it is very liable to be laid. 5. Turgid wheat (T. turgidum), Pl. 2, d. In this species the corolla is awned, but not the calyx; the spikes are covered with soft hairs, and in some varieties change to a dark colour, and the awns drop off as the seeds become 8. Far (T. zea) is one of the class of speltwheats. It is distinguished by the distance of its spikelets from one another. The straw is rigid; the calyx and corolla adhere closely to the seed, and the spikelets again so closely to the rachis, that they cannot be separated from the rachis without breaking it. This wheat is cultivated in some parts of Europe on inferior soils. 9. Spelt-wheat (T. spelta), Pl. 2, f, is distinguished like the last by its spikelets being firmly attached to the rachis, and by its rigid calyx and corolla closely enveloping the seed. Spelt is much cultivated in the south of Europe. It is grown extensively in the southern provinces of France, in Switzerland, Italy, in several parts of Germany, and in Arragon, Catalonia, and other parts of Spain, as well as in the north of Africa, and at the Cape of Good Hope. Spelt could be raised in England with facility, and it is probable on soils low in the scale of fertility. It has been cultivated in Scotland, 600 feet above the level of the sea. It is said that spelt-wheat is better adapted than any of the more delicate kinds for culture in Australia, and probably it will be found the more preferable sort in all the more southern wheat-growing countries. There are two distinct varieties of spelt, distinguished as the awned and the awnless; the latter is perhaps the most naked of all the cerealia. The grains of this are large, but the ear contains only a small number of them, as a portion of the flowers prove barren. It is generally, if not always, a spring-sown crop; grows strongly, and its stalks are nearly solid. Bread made of its flour is said to be of a dry quality. It is well known in commerce that the incomparable Nuremberg and Frankfort starch and flour are solely obtained from speltwheat. The grain cannot be divested of its husks by thrashing, and therefore requires to be passed through a mill. It should however be sown or drilled with the husks on. 10. One-grained wheat, or St. Peter's corn (T. monoccocum), Pl. 2, g, is readily distinguished from all the other wheats by its general appearance, in which it resembles barley. Its spikelet consists of three or four florets, one of which only is for the most part fertile, and hence its name of one-grained wheat. The fertile floret has a long awn. The stem of this species of wheat is slender and rigid; and, from being both hard and fine, the straw is excellent for thatching. It is allied to the spelts, with which it was classed by some of the older botanical writers. This species is principally cultivated in the mountains of Switzerland and | other elevated regions of Europe, and in barren soils. In consequence of its containing less gluten than common sorts, it answers better for being boiled into gruel and for being baked into bread. The four-sided form of the ripe ear is so regular, that it has the appearance of being carved in ivory. It has never formed an object of cultivation in this country, and does not appear to possess properties to entitle it to be introduced. 11. Polish wheat (T. polonicum), Pl. 2, e. This species has long awns, and is distinguished from all the others by its long and leafy calyx and corolla. It is cultivated in Germany, in Poland, and in Spain. It was brought into notice, and partially cultivated, in some of the counties of England, in the latter part of the seventeenth century; and it is said to have been valued on account of its productiveness of flour. But, although it may be possessed of this quality, its florets are often infertile, and it does not merit a more extended culture in this country. Unless sown sparingly, it is apt to lodge, in consequence of which the quality of the corn is impaired. Varieties. The minor varieties of any species of wheat are not permanent in their character, though, under given conditions, they will remain unchanged for an indefinite period. Under other circumstances, however, they degenerate; and hence particular kinds that were once valued have now ceased to be so. The best advice that can be given, therefore, in the choice of varieties and sub-varieties, is to select those which the practice and experience of the principal farmers of the neighbourhood have stamped as the best. Colonel Le Couteur, one of the best authorities on the culture of wheat, has given us the result of his experiments and great experience, upon four of the best pure and improved varieties of wheat lately introduced into England. (Journ. Roy. Eng. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 113.) 1. White downy-This excellent variety is believed to be the same that is so well described by Boys in his General View of the Agri culture of Kent, as the "Hoary White," or "Velvet-eared," said by him to have been much prized by the millers, but then entirely lost. The seed after being washed and steeped was sown in drills 7 inches apart, at the rate of two bushels or a little more to the acre. The wheat was carefully hand-hoed in the month of May, which caused it to tiller freely. The preceding crop was potatoes. This wheat will withstand the most severe weather. The season 1837 to 1838 was a very trying one, both as to wetness and severity of cold, the thermometer having fallen to 18° below freezing; but the crops of this wheat raised by my neighbours were perfectly insensible to it, and of great produce. This wheat is not remarkable for its early maturity, though it cannot be called a tardy variety. It is not subject to degenerate, and if attention is paid to sowing the seed pure, and annually, or even occasionally, varying the manure intended for it, it is possible that it may never degenerate. The only objection to it is the huskiness or velvety ear, which in damp weather is retentive of moisture; and in snatchy seasons the grain is more apt to sprout than the smooth-chaffed varieties. It is not much affected with dust-brand; and when pickled and limed, has never been found with smut-balls. It is little liable to shed, even when over-ripe, and will resist very heavy gales without being laid or broken. 2. Jersey Dantzic.-The seed is described as having been raised from a single ear, originating from seed procured from Dantzic, selected from the finest "high mixed." It is, however, suspected to be identical with some excellent sorts, called in Sussex, Kent, and some parts of Surrey, the " Chittums;" in other parts "Pegglesham;" in Berkshire, "Trump;" in Essex, "Hardcastle;" in some counties, “Old Suffolk;” in Scotland, "Hunter's White;" and assuming several other names. This wheat is not quite so hardy as the "hoary;" it is, nevertheless, considered sufficiently so to succeed throughout the kingdom, excepting the northern parts of Scotland. In rich soils it tillers amazingly, and produces a longer straw than the hoary, nor is it so liable to sprout in a moist climate from being smooth-chaffed: in very severe, moist, and stormy weather, it will be laid sooner than the hoary. It ripens a week earlier at least than the variety last described, and should be reaped while the grain can be marked by pressure from the thumb-nail, as it is rather liable to shed if over-ripe, a disadvantage which the hoary is peculiarly free from, as it is tenacious to the ear. In the dry season this wheat will afford a beautiful, clean, white straw, fit for bonnet-making, or any purpose of thatching: it is firm and tenacious. In wet seasons it is rather subject to rust, which, under such cir cumstances, almost all wheat suffers from. 3. Whittington Wheat.-The seed was obtained from Mr. Whittington himself, and was a very fine, pure sample. The grain is large, full, and plump, rather of a whitish-red cast, and a little thick-skinned. The seed was washed, pickled, drained, and limed, then sown in drills seven inches apart, about three bushels to the acre. When the seed is large, it is con sidered prudent to add half a bushel or more to the acre. I consider this to be a very hardy wheat, affording much herbage and straw, very fit for being eaten down by sheep in the spring when sown early in the fall. The Whittington is rather a late wheat, ripening a week or ten days later than the Jersey Dantzic before described, though it was in bloom on the same day. From the purity of the seed, and the uniform appearance of the crop, it does not appear likely to degenerate, nor does it seem more liable to disease than other wheats. The straw is brittle, and many ears break off. I' am of opinion, from what I have witnessed, that the value of this description of wheat is much overrated: the millers dislike it, and in certain situations it is apt to blight. 4. Bellevue Talavera.-This admirable variety is invaluable where it is adapted to the soil and climate. The seed being large, a greater quantity of it should be allowed than usual. This wheat has succeeded in the north of Scotland, and is sufficiently hardy to withstand the winter in its grassy state, but it is otherwise more valuable as a spring crop: without doubt it may be sown as late as the first week in February in all the milder parts of England, with a prospect of reaping quite as good an average crop from it as from any other wheat, but with a certainty of obtaining more flour than from most. There is no tendency to degenerate observable in this wheat, as far as the experience of five or six years goes; nor, from its early habits, is it at all likely to become intermixed by fecundation from other varieties, though sown about the same period, as it will, in such cases, flower a fortnight or three weeks before them. It is not more liable to disease than ordinary white wheats, and affords a very fine, clear, white straw: it is, indeed, one of the Italian bonnet-making varieties. There is, however, one disadvantage in it, which is, that the ear is so heavy that it is apt to break down, though not break off, when swept by a gale about the period of ripening; but it has a countervailing good quality, of ripening the grain equally well though bent down; as is the case with spring wheats, which ripen their seed well though quite laid, which with winter wheats is doubtful. Another peculiarity is the tenacity of the chaff to the ear, more remaining on it after passing through the thrashingmachine than any other variety I am acquainted with. The following sorts I have also grown experimentally, but, not having raised them in quantities sufficient to warrant a positive opinion, which probably might only tend to mislead, they are merely named. The "golden drop" is one of the best red wheats, affording great produce in corn and straw, and a larger quantity of flour than some white wheats. "Hickling's prolific red" is a productive variety, but rather coarse. The properties of this wheat are, straw long, stout at the bottom, and tapering at the head; head short, thick, close, and heavy; kernels four in the row across the ear, and red in colour, with the chaff white; in sample the wheat is short, plump, thin-skinned, and looks as if it would flour well: colour dark orange-red. Brown's "ten-rowed chevalier," or prolific, is well named, where it suits the soil and climate: it is, when pure, a very fine variety. "Gale's Hampshire" is a very enormously productive sort of bearded wheat. "Essex red," a very good variety. "The duck's-bill" wheat is very productive, but shedding greatly, and not very farinaceous. In order to present the particular points of comparison between the four principal varieties above-described, the results are appended in a tabular form: N. B. In the estimate of profit, in the last column, the calculation is not made with relation to the respective values of the wheats as to their productiveness in flour, which it might be, but according to the ordinary marketable value of good wheat; the straw is valued as intended for manure. The following is an excellent account of an experiment on the relative values of several varieties of wheat by Mr. John Morton, which I have extracted from the first volume of the Journ. of the Eng. Agr. Soc., p. 39. It is from practical and carefully carried out experiments, such as these, that we shall be able to arrive at the proportionate value of different species and new varieties of wheat, and from which we may be enabled to select the good and reject the bad kinds. The profits of farming, whether the land be pasture or arable, and the tenant be a feeder of stock or a tiller of the ground, may be increased in two ways. The stock-farmer knows very well that the return he obtains from his cattle depends, not only on the kind of food given to them, and the manner in which it is supplied, but also on the feeding qualities of the breed to which they belong; and he increases his chance of profit as much when, on purchasing from the breeder, he selects with |