504 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



for the belief that tLc improvemeut in tlio quality of tbe "Pedigree wheat" has 

 not kept pace with size aud productiveness, we have testimony in a comparison 

 of sundry new wheats reported in the "Gardener's Chronicle," and reprinted 

 in "the Pennsylvania Farmer aud Gardener" for June 1864, where the bread 

 made fi-om "Hallett's Pedigree wheat" is described as "of raost inferior de- 

 scription." The error of this improver thus appears to have been that he has 

 disregarded quality in the pursuit of extraordinary size and productiveness. 

 That all these merits are compatible may yet be shown in the productions of 

 other experimenters who shall properly regard them in combination. Be this 

 as it may, it is quite probable that Mr. Hallet's system may furnish valuable 

 hints to those engaged in growing seeds for market, and incite them to closer 

 attention to the importance of securing clean and perfect seed. 



A new variety of wheat introduced into a district has in some instances 

 proved of very great value. It is said that the product of one quart, of a 

 variety brought from North Carolina in 1845, had in nine years benefited the 

 farmers of Preble county, Ohio, alone, more than $100,000 by the gain over 

 what would have accrued from the continued use of the old varieties. From a 

 few heads uninjured by rust or midge, found in the midst of a field seriously 

 injured by both maladies, a careful and observant farmer grew the famous Lam- 

 bert wheat. This variety ripens even earlier than the MediteiTanean, and as 

 into the composition of its chafi" a larger proportion of silicious matter appears 

 to enter, it probably for that reason escapes the attacks of the midge. A su- 

 perior variety of spring wheat, known as the China or black -tea wheat, origi- 

 nated from a few kernels found in a chest of black tea. Hunter's wheat, one 

 of the oldest and most esteemed varieties in Scotland, was discovered half a 

 century ago by the roadside in Berwickshire. Through long culture and want 

 of care this variety has greatly deteriorated. The Fenton wheat, a very valu- 

 able variety, which yields heavily on very strong soil, such as that on which it 

 originated, was derived from a few ears found growing among the rubbish de- 

 rived from a quarry of basaltic rock. Piper's thick-set, a wheat which yields 

 largely on meadow soils, having produced sixty bushels to the acre, but is de- 

 ficient in straw product, was derived from a remarkable ear found in a wheat- 

 field and its product carefully cultivated. 



The above-cited examples clearly indicate the importance of careful obser- 

 vation and the judicious selection of material for the production of new or im- 

 proved kinds. The varieties thus obtained ai-e, however, veiy apt to deteri- 

 orate, and can only be kept pure by continued care in selection. The average 

 wheat crop of England has been estimated at thirty-six bushels per acre. In 

 the United States the average may be placed at or below fifteen bushels per 

 acre. Many English formers annually raise fifty bushels per acre. This 

 large product is the result of judicious cultivation and care in the choice of seed 

 rather than of the influence of climate, for the same success has attended 

 wheat-growing in America where every attendant circumstance was properly 

 regarded and the demands of the wheat-plant fully supplied. 



The principal climatological source of injury to wheat arises from the ex- 

 treme humid tropical heats to which the warmer temperate zone, both in the 

 Mississippi valley and on the Atlantic slope, is liable, whereby are originated 

 rust, mildew, &c. During the colder months wheat may be grown within the 

 tropics but little removed above the level of the sea, but where the humid heats 

 intrude into the cooler zone, as along the Atlantic coast as high as Norfolk, 

 and over much of the interior plain of the Mississippi, below the Ohio, wheat 

 cannot be successfully grown. 



In the months of Slay and June, 1858, at Marietta, Ohio, south, southwest, 

 and' southeast winds prevailed. During May there fell twelve and a half 

 inches of rain, with maximum heats of 84° and 99° for the respective months, 



