500 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



in a field of ripe wheat, sowing them in a garden or in a part of the field, the 

 variety which may have been produced by some fortnitou.H impregnation, or by 

 some peculiarity of the soil of the spot where it grew, may be perpetuated. By 

 carefully adapting the seed to the soil, and by a careful and garden-like culti- 

 vation, and adding those manures which are found to be best adapted to favor 

 its perfect vegetation, crops of wheat have been raised which at one time would 

 have been thought miraculous, and in Great Britiiin, where only is its culture 

 regarded as its importance demands, and the highest skill, the result of enlight- 

 ened inquiry into the requirements of this invaluable grain, been persistently 

 applied, the average product has been greatly increased on all soils. 



To original defect in the soil or inadequate fertilization we may reasonably 

 ascribe the deterioration observed to follow cultivation of varieties of wheat 

 which at first appeared well adapted to the locality and to the climate. The 

 demand for new seed-wheat to repair the loss arising from continued decline in 

 the product from year to year, should induce cultivators to seek for a cause for 

 this deterioration, either in the condition of the soil and its constituents, or in an 

 unwise culture and indifference to the selection of the best product for continuing 

 the crop. We have many recorded instances of the very valuable results of 

 care in selecting the largest and heaviest grains for seed. In some instances 

 the crop has been quadrupled in quantity and quality by the use of the choicest 

 seed selected from that with which the rest of the field was sown. 



When importing seed-wheat and any other seed of new or superior varieties 

 of plants, attention should always be directed to the peculiarities of the soil and 

 climate imder which they originated, and those under which it is proposed to 

 grow them. English varieties of spring wheat are sown in February or early 

 in March, have the benefit of early spring growth, and of a milder aud moistcr 

 summer than a spring-sown wheat can have in the eastern tknited States. The 

 failure that has attended recent attempts to introduce English varieties of wheat 

 is no new thing, such having been the almost universal result for many years 

 past. 



The distinction between winter aud spring wheat is one which arises entirely 

 from the season in which they have usually been sown, for they can readily be 

 converted into each other by sowing earlier or later, and gradually accelerating 

 or retardin.2j their growths. If a winter variety is caused to germinate slightly, 

 and th • > checked by exposure to alow temperature, or freezing, until it can be 

 sown in spring, it may be converted mto a spring wheat. 



The difference in color between red and white wheats is owing chiefly to the 

 influence of the soil, white wheats gradually becoming darker and ultimately 

 red in some stiff, wet soils, and red wheats losing their color and becoming first 

 yellow and then white in rich, light, and mellow soils. The grain changes 

 color sooner than the chaff aud straw, hence we have red wheats with white 

 chaff, and white wheats with red chaff. The blue-stem, long cultivated in 

 Virginia, was formerly a red, but is now a beautiful white wheat, says General 

 Harmon, in the Patent Ofiice Report for 1845. 



If it be true that each variety of gi-ain is adapted to a specific climate in which 

 -it grov.^s perfectly, and where it does not degenerate when supplied with proper 

 and sufficient nourishment, may not the consideration of the origin of each 

 variety we propose to sow be of more importance than has yet been accorded 

 to it in the selection of minor varieties, the product of our own country ? The 

 varieties of wheat that have originated, apparently by accident, (for there ai'e 

 no accidents in nature.) or from peculiar culture, do not enjoy all the surround- 

 ings necessary for perfect continuous product. Causes yet unexplained arc 

 < ver at work modifying the germ of the new growth, and the guardian care of 

 man is needed to preserve unimpaired, or to perfect the already improved sorts. 

 In most soils, we are aware that wheat degenerates rapidly if the seed be sown 

 year after year where it was produced. Nor is it sufficient to prevent degene- 



