704 



TRI 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



TRI 



improbable, from the nature and habits of Wheat, that it 

 may have come originally from the hilly country of the East, 

 and have been rendered hardy by time and cultivation in 

 this and most other parts of the world. Of this grain there 

 are two different species in cultivation in this country : the 

 Smooth or Polled, and the Cone or Rough-bearded Wheat. 

 The first is the most general, and best adapted to the general 

 soil of Great Britain ; as it also produces the finest flour. 

 Numerous varieties are also preferred, for peculiar situations. 

 The latter is often called Rivet Wheat, and has likewise 

 several varieties, principally differing in the colour of the 

 chaff, and the form of the ears. It yields the largest quan- 

 tity of produce on stiff moist clayey lands; and, though it 

 does not afford the finest flour, being less subject to diseases 

 and injury from too much moisture, and less liable to lodge 

 from its firmness of stem, it is frequently preferred on stift 

 clayey soils. It must, however, be allowed, that the number 

 pf sorts of this grain is annually increasing by importation 

 from foreign countries ; and it is admitted, that the old sorts 

 are the Brown and Yellow Lammas, the White Straw, Ful- 

 ham, and the White or Egg-shell. The Brown Lammas was 

 the kind chiefly cultivated in Kent till within the last thirty 

 years, and has now given way to a varjety of the new kinds, 

 as well as some of the other older sorts, experiment having 

 proved it to be the least productive. It is the common 

 Brown-strawed Wheat, that grows with a long jointed ear, 

 the chaff of a dark brown colour, the straw long and apt 

 to fall, the hull or bran thin, the flour very white, and the 

 corn mellow in grinding, which causes ft to be esteemed by 

 the millers as the best of the old sorts. The Yellow Lam- 

 mas resembles the Brown in every respect, except that the 

 colour of the grain is of a yellow hue, and the chaff of a 

 somewhat lighter colour than the others. A Red Lammas, 

 with a red straw, red ear, and red kernel, is noticed by 

 Young, as being reckoned by many farmers the best of all 

 the sorts hitherto known, as yielding the finest and whitest 

 flour. Mr. Boys says, that the White- strawed Wheat takes 

 its name from the colour of its ear, and in other counties 

 has the title of the Kentish White Straw. He observes, 

 that it sends out a greater number of stems from the stool 

 or plant than the other sorts, and in that way is often a 

 very thick crop on the land ; also that the straw is shorter 

 than in many other sorts, and less liable to fall in rainy 

 seasons. On these accounts it is much sown in the eastern 

 parts of Kent, but, from its dull colour, thick bran, anil 

 often grinding very steelly, is generally disliked by the 

 millers. It is remarked, that the Fulham sort produces a 

 white straw, which grows short and coarse, but is very 

 productive, particularly on poor land; the grain however is 

 coarse, and the bran thick. The Egg-shell Wheat is known 

 by its producing- a white straw, a smooth white chaff, and 

 very white grain, the bran of which is very thick, but the 

 flour remarkably white. It works mellow in grinding, is 

 very early ripe, and so free in the ear as to blow out in 

 windy weather, which is a disadvantage. The principal new 

 sorts of Wheat are the Hoary White, the Nonpareil, the 

 Pilbeam, the Square-ear, the Hoary Brown, and the Hoary 

 White, called by some the Velvet-eared, which last is by 

 far the most valuable, being very productive. It has a 

 thick straw, white and short; the chaff covered with a thick 

 fine down, somewhat of a brownish blue; the grain remark- 

 ably small, and of a dull white colour; the bran very thin, 

 go that the grain in some cases is almost transparent when 

 held up to the lijiht. It grinds very mellow, and yields a 

 tine white flour. Owing to the quantity of down upon the 

 chaff, and its small ears binding up very close in the sheaf, 



in rainy reasons it is liable to vegetate too freely in the field, 

 and on that account is not so proper to cultivate in a moist 

 climate, and in small enclosures that are not open to the 

 influence of the sun and winds. The Nonpareil is said to 

 have been brought into this country from America : it has a 

 bright straw, with a brown ear; and the grain is very white, 

 large, and plump. It is very productive on all soils ; thrashes 

 very freely, and yields in that operation the greater part of 

 its chaff, thereby producing a great quantity of horse-meat ; 

 it grinds very mellow. The Pilbeam is a brown Wheat, grow- 

 ing very stiff, and generally thick on the land. The grain 

 is small and plump, somewhat of a yellow-brown. It is 

 accounted very productive on rich lands, and is a valuable 

 kind to mix with others, but will not of itself make good 

 bread, because it does not ferment properly in that operation. 

 The Square-eared Wheat is a very productive sort, but is 

 apt to drop out in the field before it is ripe, and in gales of 

 wind, on which account it is not so much cultivated. The 

 Hoary Brown is but lately introduced, and but imperfectly 

 known ; so also is the Hoary White, which has a white 

 straw, ear, and grain. The Hedge Wheat is also white, 

 and very productive. The Velvet-eared is distinct from the 

 Hoary White ; but is not weighty, though white, and afford- 

 ing much flour, having- a thin skin. There are also different 

 varieties of Cone or Bearded Wheat. Of the Rivet Wheat 

 already mentioned, there are two sorts, the White and the 

 Brown, neither of which are much cultivated in Kent. They 

 both ripen late in the season, and are so coarse and steelly 

 as to be unfit for making bread, unless mixed with a large 

 proportion of a better sort of flour. Besides being very 

 productive on strong wet lands, and also in very poor wet 

 cold soils, it is thought to be the best adapted to such kinds 

 of rich lands as have been newly broken up, and where 

 there may be danger of the crop lodging from too great 

 luxuriance, as its straw is firm and strong-. The White and 

 the Red are the sorts most esteemed among the Polled kind ; 

 the former affording; the whitest flour, but the latter being 

 generally most productive. Of the several sorts of Wheat 

 cultivated in the county of Sussex, the Velvet-eared is pre- 

 ferred in the weald part of it, as having by much the thin- 

 nest skin, and being there called Stuffed. It weighs from 

 fifty-nine to sixty pounds a bushel. The Clark Wheat is 

 not bearded, has a red blossom, red chaff, and red straw ; 

 and is a great yielder, requiring to be cut forward. The 

 Hedge Wheat, called Chidham White, is much cultivated 

 in the southern and northern counties : it is white, of a very 

 fine berry, and remarkably long in the straw. A few year's 

 ago, as a person at Bradfield was walking through his Wheat- 

 fields, when the corn was in full blossom, he was struck 

 with the variety of hues which the blossoms assumed, which 

 he at first conceived might be owing to their different stages 

 of forwardness; but on particular examination, and more 

 mature reflection, he concluded they were certain signs of 

 a specific difference in the quality of the Wheat: impressed 

 with this idea, he selected the ears of different lines, and 

 particularly marked eleven distinct numbers; noting very 

 minutely their characteristic qualities and appearance in the 

 field. These he gathered, and kept separate when ripe, and 

 anted them apart from each other in his garden ; where 

 the same characteristic difference was observed to continue, 

 upon the several numbers, when growing in the garden, as 

 was observed in the field during the preceding summer. 

 The common autumn or winter sort of this grain is in general 

 most suited to the heavier descriptions of mellow soils, which 

 do not retain too much moisture. They should, however, 

 be of a fertile quality, and capable of affording ;i fine sur- 





