WHEAT WHEEL. 



SI 



resources, by rejecting an offer of restoration to his 

 title and estate, made him by Sir Robert Walpole. 

 Overwhelmed with debts, he went to Paris, where 

 he lived for some time meanly and disreputably. 

 At length he returned to Spain, and, ruined in 

 health as well as in fortune, he was proceeding to- 

 wards a mineral spring in Catalonia, when he died 

 at a small village, in 1731. Towards the close of 

 his life, he engaged in writing a tragedy on the 

 story of Mary, queen of Scots. His poems, speeches, 

 and letters, with his life prefixed, were published 

 in 1731, in two volumes, octavo. 



WHEAT (triticum sativum). Among the dif- 

 ferent kinds of grain which form the principal nutri- 

 ment of the civilized world, and to the culture of 

 which civilization is even attributed, by ancient and 

 modern writers, the first rank is universally con- 

 ceded to wheat. It is now cultivated in almost all 

 temperate climates, throughout the greater part of 

 Europe, in all the provinces of China, in Natolia, 

 Syria, Persia, and the other temperate parts of Asia, 

 in the north of Africa, and at the cape of Good 

 Hope, in the United States, and even in the extreme 

 southern parts of South America. The plant belongs 

 to the family of the grasses, like the other cerealia. 

 The spikelets of the flowers are sessile, and disposed 

 on two opposite sides of an axis, the whole forming 

 a terminal spike or ear, which, in one variety, is 

 even branched. The culture of wheat, from time 

 immemorial, and in different soils and climates, has 

 produced numerous varieties, which, in some in- 

 stances, have even been mistaken for distinct spe- 

 cies. Winter wheat, sown in the spring, will ripen 

 the following summer, though the produce of suc- 

 ceeding generations of spring-sown wheat is found 

 to ripen better. White, red, awned and beardless 

 wheat change and run into each other in different 

 soils and climates ; and even the Egyptian wheat is 

 known to change into the single-spiked common 

 plant. The most permanent varieties are the red 

 and white grained, and the spring wheat, which is 

 generally red. Wheat succeeds best when treated 

 as a biennial, though it does not remain above one 

 year in the ground. Provided the soil be well pre- 

 pared and dry, and the grain sown in time, the 

 plants do not suffer from the greatest cold, especi- 

 ally if the ground be covered with snow. Animal 

 substances are the best manure for wheat, as con- 

 taining much gluten, a substance found in a greater 

 proportion in this grain than in any other ; and next 

 in importance is lime, as tending to the same effect 

 by chemical combinations. Wheat yields a greater 

 proportion of flour than any other grain, and is also 

 more nutritive. Gluten is so essential an ingredient 

 in bread, that fermentation cannot go on without 

 it ; hence its inferiority in wet seasons, and when 

 the wheat is blighted or ill ripened ; and hence the 

 advantage of having a stock of old grain. Wheat 

 starch is made by steeping it, and afterwards beating 

 it in hempen bags. The mucilage, being thus mixed 

 with the water, produces the acetous fermentation, 

 and the weak acid thus formed renders the mucilage 

 white. After settling, the precipitate is repeatedly 

 washed, and then put in square cakes for drying. 

 The straw of wheat, from dry, chalky lands, is 

 manufactured into hats. Leghorn hats are made 

 from a bearded variety of wheat, not unlike rye, 

 raised on poor, sandy soils, on the banks of the 

 Arno, between Leghorn and Florence, expressly for 

 this manufacture. It'does not grow above eighteen 

 inches in length, is pulted green, and bleached, like 

 flax, on the gravelly bed of the river. The straws 



are not split, which renders the plait tougher and 

 more durable. (See Straw.") We are ignorant of 

 the country whence this valuable grain was first 

 derived ; but it was very early cultivated in Sicily. 

 Spelt (T. Spelta} appears to be a distinct species, 

 and more hardy than common wheat. It has a 

 stout straw, almost solid, with strong spikes, and 

 chaff adhering firmly to the grain. The grain is 

 light, yields but little flour, and makes but indif- 

 ferent bread. It is raised in Switzerland, in ele- 

 vated situations, where common wheat would not 

 ripen ; and also in Bavaria and other parts of Ger- 

 many. 



WHEEL, PEBSIAN, in agriculture. No arable 

 culture is carried on in Persia without artificial 

 watering, and various modes are adopted for raising 

 the element from wells and rivers for this purpose. 

 The Persian wheel is well known, and is of the most 

 simple construction. A great improvement of this 

 wheel has been made at Blair-Drummond. The 

 moss of Kincardine or Blair-Drummond is situated 

 in the parish of that name not far from Stirling, and 

 contains upwards of 2000 acres, 1500 of which belong 

 to the estate of Blair-Drummond It lies upon a 

 bed of clay, which is a continuation of the rich al- 

 luvial soil which forms the flat vales called Corses 

 of Stirling and Falkitk. This vale or plain had 

 been covered with trees, which appear to have been 

 felled by the Romans, and this, by stagnating the 

 water, ended in producing the moss. Lord Kaimes 

 took possession of this moss in 1766, and, soon af- 

 ter, conceived the idea of floating off the moss into 

 the Frith of Forth, and exposing the alluvial soil 

 for corn culture. 



A stream of water sufficient to turn a common 

 corn-mill will carry off as much moss as twenty men 

 can throw into it, provided they be stationed at the 

 distance of 100 yards, from each other. The first 

 step is to make in the clay, alongside of the moss, 

 a drain to convey the water ; and, for this opera- 

 tion, the Carse clay below the moss is peculiarly 

 favourable, being perfectly free from stones and all 

 other extraneous substances ; and at the same time, 

 when moist, as slippery as soap, so that not only is 

 it easily dug, but its lubricity greatly facilitates the 

 progress of the water when loaded with moss. The 

 dimensions proper for the drain are found to he, 

 two feet for the breadth, and the same for the 

 depth. If smaller, it could not conveniently receive 

 the spadefuls of moss ; if larger, the water would 

 escape, leaving the moss behind. The drain has an 

 inclination of one foot in a hundred yards : the 

 more regularly this inclination is observed through- 

 out, the less will the moss be liable to obstructions 

 in its progress with the water. The drain being 

 formed, the operator marks off to a convenient ex- 

 tent, alongside of it, a section of moss ten feet 

 broad; the greatest distance from which he can 

 heave his spadeful into the drain. This he repeat- 

 edly does, till the entire moss be removed down to 

 the clay. He then digs a new drain at the foot of 

 the moss bank, turns the water into it, and proceeds 

 as before, leaving the moss to pursue its course into 

 the river Forth ; upon the fortunate situation of 

 which, happily forming for several miles the southern 

 boundary of the estate, without the interposition of 

 any other property, depended in some measure the 

 very existence of the whole operations. 



To procure water for floating off the moss was 

 found to be the greatest difficulty ; but it was 

 readily overcome by Mr Whitworth, an eminent 

 engineer, and Mr George Meikle, of Alloa, a skilfuJ 



