60 THE WHEAT CXTLTUEIST. 



germ of the new growth, and the guardian care of man 

 is needed to preserve unimpaired or to perfect the al- 

 ready 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 pre- 

 vent defeneration that the seed be taken from a differ- 

 ent field ; but that grown on a soil of different quality is to 

 be preferred ; and if from a different climate, but not 

 widely diverse, it is found that the product is increased 

 in quality and in quantity. 



" English-grown seed when sown in Ireland generally 

 comes to maturity ten days or two weeks earlier than 

 the native-grown seed. In general, plants propagated 

 from seed produced on a warm, sanely soil, will grow 

 rapidly in whatever soil the seed is sown ; and plants 

 from seed produced in a stiff, cold soil are late in grow- 

 ing, even in a warmer soil. On limestone soils, which 

 are often heavy, wheat seed, the product of sandstone 

 regions, generally succeeds best. The experience of a 

 Kentucky farmer shows that seed wheat obtained from 

 a northern locality has failed with him, owing to late 

 ripening and consequent injury from rust. The experi- 

 ment was tried with three varieties of northern-grown 

 seed, and with the same result in each case. When 

 wheat from a southern locality was sown by the same 

 experimenter, his crop ripened early, was free from rust 

 and disease, and improved in sample over the original ; 

 while the main crop, in the same district, was ruined by 

 rust and other diseases. This experience was corrobor- 

 ated by the result of four seasons of growth ; and the 

 southern-grown seed, because of its early ripening, is 

 rapidly superseding all the later wheats in the district 

 referred to. The kind of wheat introduced from the 



