&amp;lt;6 Cultivation of Arable Land. Wheat, different Sorts of* Spring-wheat* 



ferves &quot; that fpring- wheat was known to the Romans as a fpecies diftincT: from the 

 common wheat, and defcribed as fuchby Columella, who conceived it very accepta 

 ble to the farmer, when, on account of floods, or rains, or other caufes, he had 

 been prevented from fowing the autumnal kind . And Mr. Dickfon, in his account 

 of the Agriculture of the Antients, took it for granted that it had never been 

 cultivated in England, and exprefTed a wim that the experiment might be made. 

 Heconfiders it as well adapted to the wet climate of Scotland, where, owing to 

 heavy rains, the farmers are frequently reftricled in regard to the quantity of wheat 

 that can be fown. Common wheat, he fays, has been fown in fpring in Scotland, 

 but has frequently failed. By Linnaeus it is termed Triticum aftfaum, fummer or 

 fpring wheat. 



&quot; It has four flowers in the calyx, three of which mofily bear grain : the calyxes 

 ftand pretty diftant from each other on both fides of aflat fmooth receptacle. The 

 leaves of the calyx are keel ihaped, fmooth, and they terminate with a fhort arifta. 

 The glumes of the flowers are fmooth and bellying, and the outer leaf of the glumes 

 in every calyx is terminated by a long arifta ; but the three inner ones are beardlefs. 

 The grain is rather longer and thinner than the common wheat. It is fuppofed 

 to be a native of fome part of Tartary.* 



&quot; Mr. Ray alfo, he fays, clafTes it as a diftincT: fpecies. It is generally fuppofed to 

 have been introduced into this country about the year 1773, under the name of 

 Siberian wheat, Switzerland wheat, or bled de Mars. It is however mentioned by 

 Harrifon, an hiftorian in the time of Elizabeth, though he fays it was known only 

 to few hufbandmen. 



&quot; In Defile s Memoirs of Agriculture and other (^Economical Arts, Vol. III. a de 

 tail, the Docftor obferves, is given of fome experiments on the cultivation of this 

 wheat, communicated by feveral gentlemen to the Society of Arts. The obferva- 

 tions there recorded, he fays, agree with his own experience. The lateft fown, how 

 ever, was the latter end of April; the produce is dated at three and two quarters 

 per acre. The experiments feem to agree in deciding, that no advantage was 

 gained by fowing it early. Wheat fown in April is ripened as early as what had 

 been fown the beginning of March. That it does not tiller like common wheat, 

 but moots up immediately from its firft appearance above ground. That the grains 

 are fmaller than common wheat, but increafe in fize when Yown on rich land. 

 That it is liable to the fmut. That it would fucceed in the fens and low lands, 



* Bryant s Flora Diaetetica. 



