AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 3 



195. In judging of seed wheat^the dimpled end of the grain 

 should be distinctly marked, and the point from which the lit 

 tle roots proceed must be somewhat prominent ; the end from 

 which the blade springs should also be slightly covered with 

 hairiness or wooliness. The little protuberances at either of 

 those ends must not have been nibbed off, as the grain is there 

 by deprived of vitality. Kiln-drying spoils grain for sowing. 

 It may be known by unusual hardness, and a smoky odor. 

 Wheat that has heated in the stack will taste bitter ; if slightly 

 sprouted, sweet ; and if long kept in the granary it will smell 

 musty, and look dull and dusty. If eaten by the weevil it may 

 be detected by pressing the kernel with the fingers. If rusted 

 it will be shrunk ; if smutty, it will have a black appearance and 

 a peculiar smell. 



196. The weeds that principally injure wheat in the United 

 States are (a,) Cockle, (Lychnis Githago ) (b,) Chess or Cheat, 

 (Bromus secalinus;) (c,) Pigeon-weed, or Red-root, Steen- 

 crout, Stony-seed, Wheat-thief, ( Lithospermum arvense;) (d,) 

 (chiefly in spring wheat,) Field-mustard or Charlock, (Sinapis 

 arvensis;) (e,) Vetch, or Black-pea, Tare, ( Vicia sativa ? and 

 Americana?) (f,) Wild-radish, also called Charlock. (Ra- 

 phanus Raphanistrum.) These are all annuals; for perenni 

 al weeds are confined to no particular crop. 



Cockle (a,) is a strong growing upright plant, one to two and a half 

 feet high, with a purple flower, and seed pod full of black seeds. It in 

 jures the wheat chiefly in grinding for flour, discoloring it, and giving 

 an unpleasant bitter flavor. 



Chess, (&amp;gt;,) a species of grass. There are two other species of the 

 same genus indigenous to the United States, and two more introduced 

 from England. The leaves and stalk, in their earlier stages, greatly re 

 semble wheat, but the flowers, stamens, and seeds, are very different. 

 It grows chiefly in soil plowed in the Fall, but is also met with in mead 

 ows, and among spring crops, where no wheat was ever sown. It is 

 probably a native of most parts of the Northern States, and like other 

 weeds, the germs are contained in the soil ready to vegitate as soon as 

 the conditions of growth are favorable. The seeds are very numerous. 



