86 THE WHEAT CULTUR1ST. 



lie had no control, it was delayed. The next day a 

 thaw ensued, and I was enabled to stir np the mud in 

 one corner of my garden to the depth of three inches, 

 when I came to frost. A small portion of the wheat 

 was put in, one grain in a place, six inches square. Of 

 course it made no show until spring, when it came up 

 early ; but not very thickly, though it tillered out so 

 that the number of stalks varied from eleven on the 

 best, to five on the worst stool. It did not all grow, 

 and future experiment demonstrated that about sixty- 

 five per cent, was injured in its passage across the ocean. 

 The remainder was planted in the fall of 1865, just 

 before our regular seeding time ; and one quarter of an 

 acre planted came up in about the above proportion ; 

 that is, about thirty-five grains out of every hundred 

 grew. This was truly a dull prospect, and was made 

 more so from the fact that the midge injured the grain 

 of what did grow. Early in the fall of 1866 we planted 

 some of the best of our own seed as thinly as our drill 

 would put it on — say one bushel to four acres ; and 

 having some of our imported seed left, we put a ])ortion 

 of it in, alongside of that of our own growth, at the 

 same rate, without any allowance for injured grains in 

 either case. At this time the difference is in favor of 

 our own seed, it being quite as thick as our regular wheat 

 on another part of the farm, while that from the im- 

 ported seed makes but little show, nor should we reason- 

 ably expect much from wheat seeded at the rate of six- 

 teen pounds per acre, and but thirty-five per cent, of 

 this to grow. Those who have tried to acclimatize 

 foreign wheat know that it cannot be done in one or two 

 years. Thus far my experience confirms Hallett's idea 

 that by ' breeders ' he has fixed the peculiar type of 



