156 BRITISH HUSBANDRY, fCh. X. 



whatever species It may be, it should also be carefully examined, to see that it 

 be of a bric;lit and healthy appearance, the grains of nearly equal size, and un- 

 mixed with the seeds of weeds, and smutty or sprouted corn. The smell 

 should likewise be noted ; for the least taint of its sweetness is a sure sign of 

 its having been either damp or heated. The weight can be guessed within 

 a pound or two in the bushel, by being poised in the hand by any one accus- 

 tomed to examine samples ; but accuracy of judgment can only be attained 

 by long experience. The quality of any one species can thus be correctly 

 estimated by any one who is in the habit of attending a corn-market; but 

 large quantities are imported from abroad, and also made up for sale by the 

 dealers of this country in a mixed state. 



The foreign li-heaiim^orted into this country comes principally from the 

 Baltic, and the finest qualities produced in any part of the world are grown 

 in the Polish provinces of Volliynia and Sandomir. It is of a surprising 

 degree of whiteness: the grain is fine, hard, and thin-skinned; and, in con- 

 sequence of the small quantity which it contains of bran, it yields a larger por- 

 tion of flour than the finest specimens of the celebrated Kentish or Essex 

 species. It is, however, generally mixed with red-wheat, and is known in 

 our markets under the denominations of "good," and "fine high mixed" — 

 "red-mixed," and some more ordinary qualities; tiie first weighing Irom 

 61 to 64lbs.*; and the latter from 56 to 58lbs. per bush., running in the pro- 

 portions of one-third white to two-thirds red; and the price varying from 

 10s. to 1 5s. per quarter less than the superior articles, in proportion to the 

 quantity of red. This mixture, however, although not rejected by the millers — 

 who frequently find the use of a portion of it indispensably necessary to the 

 grinding of the new corn — yet renders it unfit for the use of the farmer as 

 seed ; for the different qualities could neither be advantageously grown on 

 the same land, nor would they ripen at the same time. The wheat which 

 is shipped in large quantities from Odessa, on the Black Sea, and which in 

 scarce years sometimes finds its way to this country, it would be also danger- 

 ous to use as seed, for the length of the voyage generally occasions it to 

 become heated. Some fine species have lately been imported from the 

 Cape of Good Hope and from Van Diemen's Land; but it was found, when 

 sown on one of the finest farms in Bedfordshire, that it would not grow ; and 

 it is said — though we know not with what truth — that " scarcely any wheat is 

 ever known to vegetate in this country that had crossed the Line, unless 

 particular care be taken to preserve it from the effects of the atmospheret." 



DISEASES OF WHEAT. 



That all plants are liable to disease is generally admitted ; but wheat is 

 more subject to various distempers than any other species of grain, each 

 proceeding from some unknown cause hostile to its growth, either in the 

 soil, the atmosphere, the encroachment of parasitic plants, or the attacks of 

 the numerous tribes of insects with which the air and earth abound. It is 

 thus difficult to ascertain the cause of the maladies with which it is affected, 

 for thev are often of a complicated nature, pi-esenting different symptoms 

 according to the season, though they are well known under the names 

 of ' Smut,' and ' Rust,' or 'Mildew;' all, however, whatever may he their 

 origin, being usually comprehended under the common term of ' Blight.' 

 Sir Joseph Banks thus takes it for granted, that blight, rust, and mildew 

 are one and the same ; though most farmers, and among them Sir John 



* We recollect having, in one instance, seen it of the weight of rather more than 661bs. 

 but it more commonly averages 631bs. per bushel. 

 I Dimsdale on the loreign Corn Trade, 



