THE WHEAT CULTURIbf. 



91 



THE PEDIGREE WHEAT. 



This celebrated variety of wheat, which caused so much 

 surprise among the farmers of America a few years 

 ago, is a winter variety ; and one of the heads is rep 

 resented by the accompanying illustration, 

 as the heads appeared before the variety 

 had been improved by judicious selection 

 of seed from year to year in connection with 

 thorough cultivation on a rich soil adapted 

 to this kind of grain. I have had one of 

 the original heads engraved, for the pur- 

 pose of showing how grain may be im- 

 proved. 



The heads are not smooth and beautiful, 

 like many of our popular varieties ; and 

 there is nothing remarkable about the 

 variety, any more than there would be in 

 any of the choice varieties of winter wheat 

 that are now raised in various parts of the 

 United States. - 



This Pedigree Wheat was a very prolific 

 variety ; and had the samples which were 

 sown been cultivated on rich wheat soil, 

 this variety would, doubtless, have proved 

 one of the choicest varieties of wheat that 

 was ever cultivated in America. This va- 

 riety was defective in one very important 

 respect, namely, the grain was liable to shell 

 out easily, when the crop was not harvested 

 before the wheat was dead ripe. The grain 

 made excellent flour, and there was a small 

 percentage of bran. 





