Book VI. 



The first, second, fourth, and fifth sorts, are by many botanists considered as only va- 

 rieties, and it is doubtful whether the third and sixth may not be the same; the seventh 

 has all the marks of a distinct species, but it is very questionable whether, if much cul- 

 tivated, it would always continue to produce one row of grains. 



4602. The spring or summer wheat (a) is distinguished from that generally sown, by its narrower ears, 

 longer beards, smaller grains, and shorter and more slender straw, and also, that it will not endure our 

 winters. It is commonly sown in April, or even so late as May. It was known to Parkinson in 1666, but 

 has never been much cultivated, excepting in Lincolnshire. It was tried and given up in Northumber- 

 land and Mid Lothian, and also in some counties near London. Many varieties of summer wheat were 

 transmitted a few years ago to the president of the Board of Agriculture from the Agricultural Society 

 of Paris, for the purpose of experiment, and were divided among several distinguished agriculturists, 

 {Communications to the Board of Ag7-iculture, vol. vii. p. 11.) ; but there has not yet been time for estab- 

 lishing their comparative merits, or their adaptation to the climate of Britain. Summer, or as it is often 

 called, spring wheat, has however been long and extensively cultivated in some parts of England, par- 

 ticularly in Lincolnshire ; and it is probable may be found a valuable crop in the southern counties ; but 

 the trials that have been made in the north, do not seem to entitle it to a preference over winter wheat 

 sown in spring, or even oats or barley, in that climate. 



4603. Of the winter or common wheat (6), there are a great number of varieties. Professor Martyn, in 

 Miller's Dictionary, has described forty-nine sorts, and Professor Thaer speaks of a hundred, but affirms 

 that those who describe them know nothing about them, and in all probability include one sort 

 under different names. All the varieties may be reduced to two, the white, and the brown or red 

 grained. As subvarieties, there are the bearded and beardless, the wooUy-chafFed, and thin or hairy 

 chaffed, both of the reds and whites. To these some add another variety, which is the spring-sowing 

 common wheat. It is stated by those who maintain that this variety exists, that through long sowing, the 

 progeny, after a number of generations, acquires a habit of coming earlier into blossom than seed from 

 winter-sown grain. This we think very likely, but are not aware that the variety is distinctly known by 

 any recognizable marks in the plants. The red or brown wheats are universally considered as more 

 hardy than the white, but as yielding an inferior flour : the woolly-white is supposed to yield the best 

 flour ; but woolly-chaffed wheats are considered as more liable to the mildew than any other. 



4604. The Egyptian, or many-spiked wheat (c), the turgid grey pollard or duck-bill wheat (rf), and the 

 Polish wheat (c), may, for all agricultural purposes, be considered as only varieties of the common winter 

 wheat. They are cultivated in a few places in England, and seeds of them may be procured from the 

 public botanic gardens ; but they are in little estimation. 



4605. Spelt wheat {d), the epautre of the French, is known by its stout straw, which is almost solid, 

 and by its strong spikes, with chaff partially awned, the awns long and stiff. The chaff" adheres so close to 

 the grain as not to be separated without great difficulty. This grain, as we have seen, is a good deal 

 sown in the south of Europe. In France it is sown in spring, on land too coarse for common wheat, and 

 it ripens in July and August. It is the principal wheat sown in Suabia and the north of Switzerland ; 

 and is a good deal sown in Spain. The grain is light, and yields but little flour ; but it is said to contain 

 a larger portion of gluten than common wheat, and for that reason is recommended as superior to any 

 other in pastry and confectionary. It is not cultivated in Britain. 



4606. The one-grained wheat (g) is known by its small thin spike, and single row of grains; the leaves 

 and straw are remarkably small, but very hard ; and the plants tiller remarkably. It is chiefly cultivated 

 in the mountainous parts of Switzerland, where its straw, like that of the former species, is much u.sed for 

 thatching. The grain makes a brown light bread ; but its great excellence, according to Villars, is for 

 gruel. 



4607. To procure new varieties of wheats, the ordinary mode is to select from a field 

 a spike or spikes from the same stalk, which has the qualities sought for ; such as larger 

 grains, thinner chaff', stiffer straw, a tendency to earliness or lateness, &c. ; and picking 

 out the best grains from this ear or ears, to sow them in suitable soil in an open airy 

 part of a garden. When the produce is ripe, select the best ears, and from these the 

 best grains, and sow these, and so on till a bushel or more is obtained, which may then 

 be sown in a field apart from any other wheat. In this way, many of the varieties of 

 our common winter wheat have been obtained ; as the hedge- wheat which was reared 

 from the produce of a stalk found growing in a hedge in Sussex, by one Wood, about 

 1790. Other varieties have assumed their distinctive marks from having been long 

 cultivated on the same soil and climate, and take local names, as the Hertfordshire red, 

 Essex white, &c. 



