60 THE WHEAT CULTUKIST. 



germ of the new growth, and the guardian care of man 

 is needed to preserve unimpaired or to perfect the al- 

 ready improved sorts. In most soils we are aware that 

 w T heat degenerates rapidly if the seed be sown year after 

 year where it was produced. ISTor is it sufficient to pre- 

 vent degeneration that the seed be taken from a differ- 

 ent field ; but that grown on a soil of different quality is to 

 be preferred ; and if from a different climate, but not 

 widely diverse, it is found that the product is increased 

 in quality and in quantity. 



" English-grown seed when sown in Ireland generally 

 comes to maturity ten days or two weeks earlier than 

 the native-grown seed. In general, plants propagated 

 from seed produced on a warm, sandy soil, will grow 

 rapidly in whatever soil the seed is sown ; and plants 

 from seed produced in a stiff, cold soil are late in grow- 

 ing, even in a warmer soil. On limestone soils, which 

 are often heavy, wheat seed, the product of sandstone 

 regions, generally succeeds best. The experience of a 

 Kentucky farmer shows that seed wheat obtained from 

 a northern locality has failed with him, owing to late 

 ripening and consequent injury from rust. The experi- 

 ment was tried with three varieties of northern-grown 

 seed, and with the same result in each case. When 

 wheat from a southern locality was sown by the same 

 experimenter, his crop ripened early, was free from rust 

 and disease, and improved in sample over the original ; 

 while the main crop, in the same district, was ruined by 

 rust and other diseases. This experience was corrobor- 

 ated by the result of four seasons of growth ; and the 

 southern-grown seed, because of its early ripening, is 

 rapidly superseding all the later wheats in the district 

 referred to. The kind of wheat introduced from the 



