CROPS. 451 



try. I imported, some years since, a wheat from Spain, highly 

 commended for its rapid growth and early maturity, but in these 

 respects it showed no superiority over the kinds ordinarily culti 

 vated in the country. 



We are already, in the United States, in possession of many 

 beautiful kinds of wheat. I can only add, if we could import a 

 few of the French bakers to instruct us in the useful and impor 

 tant art of making bread, it might prove a signal advantage. I 

 believe nowhere is so good bread to be found as in France ; and 

 this, not in the cities only, but throughout the country ; even at 

 the meanest village tavern you will ordinarily find bread of the 

 best quality. 



The Egyptian wheat, which I have seen growing several 

 times in the United States, and which is known by its producing 

 several heads upon the same stalk, is highly productive on rich 

 land. Its flour, however, is not highly esteemed. It does not 

 well bear the cold. It is liable to degenerate, and to produce, at 

 last, only one head. 



A large portion of the soil of France is unfavorable to wheat, 

 from its excessive dryness. Though, beyond doubt, a soil par 

 tially calcareous is favorable to wheat, yet this quality in excess 

 is unfavorable. The soil for wheat cannot be too good, though 

 it would seem as though there were exceptions to this remark in 

 some of the rich alluvions of the West ; but it may be made too 

 rich by manure, and especially by manure applied in too green a 

 state. It is in general the custom to apply the manure to the 

 previous crop, though in many cases, and especially where liquid 

 manure is attainable, it is applied immediately b.efore the sowing 

 of the crop. This was particularly the case in the instance 

 which I have given, of seventy-two bushels being produced to 

 an acre. 



A naked fallow is sometimes resorted to in France, especially 

 where the land abounds in weeds, and more particularly the 

 squitch-grass,* which peculiarly infests the old lands in Europe. 

 The quantity sometimes collected from land, in what are called 

 even good farming districts, is surprisingly great, and would lead 

 one to infer, in some cases, that it was the principal crop grown. 



As to the crop which is deemed best to precede wheat, I shall 



Triiicum repens. 



