570 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



it ought to be every where that wheat grew, and 

 spelt could grow. Still, the absurdity ot the 

 opinion, more surprisingthan that ol'ihe same belie!" 

 ae to cheat, did not prevent its being very gene- 

 ral where spelt was known.' And to this was 

 added anotlier ridiculous and yet common belief; 

 which served to spread these pesis still more. 

 This was, that spelt and cheat, being produced 

 Irom wheal, did not spring at all from their own 

 seeds — and therefore no care was laken by many 

 persons to destroy seeds which they had no thoughi 

 would germinate. Such iblly and carelessness in 

 a i'ew farmers, and the danger not being enough 

 feared by others, caused the pest to spread rapidly, 

 and Btill more by the change of seed wheat from 

 larms so infected to others. It was by a purchase 

 of seed wheat from a crop so mixed, that my own 

 farm was set with spelt, so ae to be a serious evil 

 for twenty years after. 



When the cheat controversy was carried on 

 actively in the agricultural papers in 1831 and 

 1832, I sent to Gideon B. Smith, esq. then editor 

 of the American Farmer, a specimen of our 

 epelt ; and from him, lor the first time, learned 

 its botanical and its vulgar European name. It 

 was the first time he had seen the plant, and had 

 not known that it was in this countr}'. Our cor- 

 respondence on the subject drew forth these in- 

 teresting facts from Gen. Th. Emory, that the 

 plant was known on Kent Island, and only there 

 (as he believed,) in Maryland ; and not there 

 until alter the last war, when the British had pos- 

 session of the island, and kept cavalry horses 

 there for some time. This, added to the (acts 

 that at City Point, in Prince George county, 

 nearly all the race horses imported from England 

 had been landed, with the remains of their En- 

 glish provender, and that spelt was abundant in 

 these two neighborhoods, renders it almost certain 

 that in this manner the seeds were brought from 

 England. My volume ol the Anjerican Farmer 

 for that year has been lost, and I here repeat the 

 facts there stated from recollection ; but believe 

 that there can be no material variation, in that, 

 or other circumstances that will be here added. 



Though all the seeds of spelt cannot be removed 

 from a crop of wheat, by the most laborious or 

 wasteful tanning and screening, the greater part 

 may be separated by throwing ofi with it as 

 much or more of good wheat. Of such "tail- 

 ends'' of wheat, the refuse remnant of a crop 

 in Prince George, very much mixed with spelt, 

 some flour was made, and bread of it eaten by 

 two negro men belonging to the farmer who 

 raised the crop. They were both attacked the 

 same night with such violent spasms, or convul- 

 sions, that their lives were despaired of. How- 

 ever, both recovered. Another farmer, who had 

 part of his crop left, because much intermixed with 

 spelt, though warned by knowledge of this oc- 

 currence, used the flour lor his negroes, as only a 

 small part of their food, and as he thought, cau- 

 tiously enough to prevent any harm. Still, some 

 of his slaves were made sick, and though much 

 less violently, in such manner as to leave no doubt 

 of the spelt being the cause. These proofs ol 

 the grain being poisonous convinced me of the 

 fact, before having heard of it upon any other 

 authority. My wheat left on hand because adul- 

 terated with epelt, was boiled to prevent the 

 sprouting of the spelt, and led cautiously to hogs. 

 No evil eHecl was observed on tht;m. 



Whoever has not yet had his fields and wheat 

 crop contaminated by this abominable weed, 

 should use every care to prevent any of the seeds 

 being introduced in purchased wheat or otherwise. 

 If the injury has been already sufl^'ered, every 

 care should be used to lessen it, by sowing only 

 clean seed wheat, and preventing the increase of 

 the growth of spelt. Making the land productive, 

 and having the wheat to stand thick and vigorous, 

 is the most certain mode of keeping down the 

 growth of spelt when the seeds are actually in 

 the land, or are necessarily sown with the wheat. 

 And when the growth of wheat is thin and feeble, 

 the spelt will be in proportion flourishing and 

 productive. The same remarks apply to cheat. 

 And hence it is that the wheat of bad and slo- 

 venly larraers, and on poor or unproductive land, 

 is so generally believed to be changed to spelt 

 and to cheat ; while, under reverse circumstances, 

 such conversions do not appear to take place, 

 and perhaps the possibility of the conversion is 

 even denied, by the raisers of these better crops. 



Since writing the above, I have heard, from 

 Richard Furt, esq., a well informed flour miller 

 of Petersburg of long experience and extensive 

 business, some facts in regard to spelt, which are 

 important as confirmation of some of the views 

 presented above. Mr. Furt, as a purchaser and 

 miller, has been receiving and examining a con- 

 siderable proportion of the wheat that has come 

 to this market for about 40 years. He is confi- 

 dent that he never observed any grains of epelt 

 in wheat brought lor sale until in 1816, and then 

 (as he well remembers) in a particular large crop 

 of a farmer of Dinwiddle. Since, it has been gra- 

 dually increasing inthesamplesofwhcai in general; 

 and now, more or less spelt is found in two out of 

 three of all the wagon loads of wheat that come to 

 this market. In Prince George, (the county adjoin- 

 ing Petersburg, and Dinvviddie,) where I suppose 

 that spelt was first introduced from England, the 

 crops of wheat were the most mixed with spelt 

 at an early period of the time since 1816 ; but 

 latterly and now, no neighboring county sends 

 wheat entirely clear of spelt. The wheat of 

 Lunenburg county, of all vviihin its distance 

 from Petersburg, Mr. Furt thinks is the least 

 affected by the contamination. What gives va- 

 lue to the liacts stated by Mr. Furt, in addition to 

 his long experience and means lor observation, 

 is that, notwithstanding this and all other testi- 

 mony to the contrary, he is still a believer in the 

 convertibility of wheat to spelt — and supposes 

 that spelt here was at first the product of degene- 

 rated wheat, and the degeneracy caused by poor 

 land and bad tillage. E. R. 



RYE GRASS — LOLIUM PERENNE. 



Synonymes and provincial names. — Lolium pe- 

 renne — Bye grass, and Ray grass, in England 

 — English greensward, by some seedsmen in 

 London and in the United States. For botani- 

 cal description, see above. 



This is a perennial grass, commonly cultivated 

 and valued in England, sown either alone or 

 mixed with red clover for mowing. It has been 

 but little tried in this country, and was not enough 



