WELL. 



WHEAT. 



low colour of the paint called Dutch piuk is 

 obtained from weld. 



To save seed, select a few of the largest and 

 healthiest plants, and leave them to ripen. The 

 seed is easily separated. 



The, chief disease of weld is the mildew, to 

 which it is very liable when young, and this 

 is one reason that it is often sown with other 

 crops. 



WELL (Sax.). A term sometimes applied 

 to a chimney or vent-hole left in a rick or mow 

 of hay, or other similar materials, to prevent 

 its overheating. 



WHEAT (Tritium). This is undoubtedly 

 the most important genus of the order Grami- 

 necB ; for wheat is that species of grain which 

 is more generally cultivated than any other, 

 and, from the universal demand and high price 

 it obtains, best repays the European farmer's 

 toil and outlay. 



The flour of wheat is the most nutritious and 

 palatable of all the cereal grasses used as the 

 food of man. Linnocus comprehended all the 

 different varieties of wheat known in his day 

 under six species ; but modern botanists enu- 

 merate about 30 species, and some hundreds 

 of sub-varieties brought into existence by con- 

 tinued cultivation. It has been well observed 

 that for mere practical purposes it is sufficient 

 to have two general classes, namely, white and 

 red, and the varieties distinguished by their 

 spikelets, as the smooth or bearded, the woody- 

 chaffed or the hairy-chaffed. There are some 

 varieties characterized, also, as spring or win- 

 ter (Lammas) wheats, though these are fre- 

 quently apt to lose their distinguishing charac- 

 ters, and to accommodate their habits to the 

 season in which they are sown. 



"It is to be presumed," says Colonel le Cou- 

 teur, " from the passage ' In the sweat of thy 

 face shall thou eat bread,' (Gen. iii. 19), that 

 wheat was coeval with the creation ; and that 

 upwards of a thousand years before the Chris- 

 tian era, some improvement in its culture and 

 some knowledge of a superior variety had been 

 attained, by the circumstance of its being stated 

 that ' Judah traded in wheat ofMinnith.' " (Ezek. 

 xxvii. 7.) 



Columella, who wrote about the time of our 

 Lord, makes some interesting remarks on 

 wheat : 



"The chief and the most profitable corns for 

 men," he observes, "are common wheat and 

 bearded wheat. We have known several kinds 

 of wheat; but of these we must chiefly sow 

 what is called the red wheat, because it excels 

 both in weight and brightness. 



"The white wheat must be placed in the 

 second rank, of which the best sort in bread is 

 deficient in weight. 



"The trimestrian shall be the third, which 

 husbandmen are mighty glad to make use of; 

 for when, by reason of great rains or any other 

 cause, the early sowing has been omitted, they 

 have recourse to this for relief; it is a kind of 

 white wheat." Pliny says that "this is the 

 most delicious and the daintiest of any sort of 

 wheat, exceeding white, but without much sub- 

 stance or strength, only proper for moist tracts 

 of land, such as those of Italy, and some parts 

 of Gaul; that it ripens equally, and that there 

 1116 



is no sort of corn that suffers delay less, be- 

 cause it is so tender that such ears of it that 

 are ripe presently shed their grains ; but in the 

 stalk it is less in danger than any other corn, 

 for it holds its ear always upright, and does 

 not contain the dews which occasion blasting 

 and mildew." (This description of Pliny's 

 seems to accord with the spring wheat of the 

 present day, which, be it remembered, came to 

 us from Spain.) 



" The other sorts of wheat are altogether su- 

 perfluous," continues Pliny, " unless any man 

 has a mind to indulge a manifold variety, and 

 a vainglorious fancy. But, of bearded wheat, 

 we have commonly seen four sorts in use ; 

 namely, that which is called clusinian, of a 

 shining bright white colour; a bearded wheat, 

 which is called venuculum ; one sort of it is of 

 a fiery red colour, and another sort of it is 

 white, but they are both heavier than the clusi- 

 nian. The trimestrian, or that of 3 months* 

 growth, which is called halicastrum ; and thi 

 is the chief, both for its weight and goodness^ 

 But these sorts, both of ordinary common 

 wheat and of bearded wheat, must, for these 

 reasons, be kept by husbandmen; because it 

 rarely happens that any land is so situated that 

 we can content ourselves with one sort of seed, 

 some part of it happening, contrary to our ex- 

 pectation, to be wet or dry. But common 

 wheat thrives best in a dry place, and bearded 

 wheat is less affected by moisture." 



Hence it appears that Romans were aware 

 of the propriety of selecting their wheat, and 

 that it was then believed that winter or beard- 

 less wheat was best suited to dry uplands, and 

 bearded wheat to low or moist lands. In addi- 

 tion to the winter wheats, some of which he 

 states to be bearded, he distinctly alludes to the 

 trimestrian or spring wheat, of which I shall 

 speak hereafter. In the edition of Gerard's 

 Herbal, printed in London in 1660, only 5 kinds 

 of wheat are enumerated ; and, although this 

 was the leading botanical work of the day r 

 these are most indistinctly described. 



Modern writers generally are equally vague ;. 

 they merely designate a number of varieties ; 

 but no attempt appears to have been made to 

 class them correctly, or to ascertain their rela- 

 tive values by comparison. 



In Sinclair's Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, 43 

 of the cultivated varieties are enumerated as 

 winter or spring wheats, according to the ar- 

 rangement of Linnaeus, which this illustrious 

 writer has merely given as a sort of botanical 

 classification. 



The Maison Rustique for 1835, enumerates 39 1 

 varieties ; and, although a short notice is given 

 of them, it is by no means sufficient, as their 

 farinaceous qualities are not explained. Mr. 

 Paxton, in his Botanical Dictionary, enumerates 

 25 distinct species, besides several varieties. 



A classification of wheat is much required, 

 pointing out the relative value of varieties, in 

 their quantity of meal, the weight of bran and 

 pollards, with the weight of straw of each, and 

 their adaptation to soils. That this is a deside- 

 ratum no one, I imagine, will deny ; but that it 

 requires time, attention, and perseverance, to. 

 make such discoveries, will also be conceded, 

 when it is stated that I already possess up- 



