WHEAT. 



WHEAT. 



wards of 150 varieties or sub-varieties. (Le \ 

 Couteur on Wheat.) 



The most popular description of the different 

 species of wheat which admit of cultivation 

 for their seed is that given by Professor Low, | 

 in his work on the Elements of Agriculture, and '< 

 I shall therefore avail myself of his scientific 

 description. 



Specific character. The calyx of wheat con- 

 sists of 2 valves or glumes, enclosing several 

 florets. In each of these florets there are 2 

 valves, forming the corolla, and enclosing the 

 seed. Sometimes the corolla encloses a per- 

 fect seed, and sometimes the seed is not per- 

 fected. Each calyx, with the florets which it 

 encloses, is termed a spikelet. The part to 

 which the spikelets are attached is termed the 

 rachis or shaft, and the spikelets placed one 

 above the other, on each side of the rachis, 

 form the ear or head. The rachis is jointed, 

 and the spaces between the joints are termed 

 the internodii. 



Species. 1. Spring or summer wheat (T. cesti- 

 vum) PI. 2, a, has awns both on the calyx and 

 corolla. Each spikelet has usually 5 florets, 

 of which 2. are barren. The grain is too ten- 

 der to bear the frosts of the winter, but as 

 quick in progress from its first shoot to ripe- 

 ness as barley, oats, or any other spring corn. 

 It requires a shorter period to complete its ve- 

 getation than any of the other kinds. Summer 

 wheat is the prevailing species of warmer 

 countries, and is cultivated in many parts of 

 Europe. It is much used in France, where it 

 is called btt de Mars, from the season in which 

 it is usually sown, and in some provinces bleds 

 tronois, from the time it takes between seed- 

 lime and harvest. In Spanish it is called trigo 

 de margo ; in Portuguese tri%o tremes ; and in 

 German sommer waitzen, all which names mark 

 distinctly the difference between this and win- 

 ter corn. It does not appear from the older 

 books on husbandry, that it was at any period 

 much cultivated in England ; the more modern 

 ones are, in general, silent on the subject of it; 

 they mention, indeed, under the name of spring 

 wheat, every kind of winter wheat which will 

 ripen when sown after turnips in February. 

 This is probably the reason why the real spring 

 wheat has been so little known ; agriculturists 

 in general conceiving themselves to be actually 

 in the habit of sowing spring wheat, when, in 

 reality, they were substituting winter wheat in 

 its place, have been little inclined to inquire 

 into the properties of the true spring wheat 

 when they had an opportunity of so doing. 



. Its grains are, for the most part, small, and 

 the produce of the straw is less than that of 

 some other species, when cultivated under the 

 same circumstances. Professor Low says, that 

 *' the trials which have been made with it in 

 this country have shown it to be inferior in 

 productiveness and quality to the better kinds 

 of winter wheat. The advantage which it pos- 

 sesses is the earlier period of its ripening, on 

 which account it may be sown so late, even in 

 this climate, as the beginning of May." The 

 Board of Agriculture being desirous of bring- 

 ing spring wheat into general cultivation, in 

 1805 offered large premiums to those who 

 should, in the spring of that year, sow the 



greatest quantity of land with spring wheat. 

 In one of the communications made to the 

 Board, Sir Joseph Banks states that "in the 

 countries best acquainted with its culture, 

 spring wheat is preferred to all other corn for 

 raising a crop of seeds. This is owing to the 

 small quantity of leaf it bears, less, perhaps, 

 than any other corn, and to the short duration 

 of the leaf, which fades and falls down almost 

 as soon as it has attained its full size. 



" In cases where red wheat has been da- 

 maged by the wire-worm, a mischief 'which 

 seems of late years to have increased in Great 

 Britain, spring wheat appears to hold out an 

 easy and simple remedy. In the first week of 

 May the ravages of the worm have somewhat 

 abated ; if then the seed of spring wheat is at 

 that time dibbled, or only raked with a garden 

 rake, into the naked spots left by the worm, 

 though it will not attain the growth at which 

 the worm begins to prey upon it till he has 

 changed his state for that of a winged beetle, 

 it will certainly be ripe as soon as the winter 

 wheat, and may be thrashed out and sold with 

 it ; or, if it is preferred, may be reaped sepa- 

 rately, as the appearance of the ears, which, in 

 the Lincolnshire sort, have longer beards or 

 awns than the rivet or cone wheat, will point 

 it out to the reapers in such a manner that no 

 great error can happen in separating it from 

 the Lammas." (Com. to Board of A%r. vol. v. 

 p. 181.) To the miller this mixture of grain 

 can be of no consequence ; but it would be 

 scarcely safe to employ the produce as seed. 



From the analysis of Sir H. Davy it may be 

 inferred that bread made of the flour of spring 

 wheat is more nutritious than that made of 

 winter wheat, because the former contains a 

 larger proportion of gluten or half-animalized 

 matter. He found that 



2. Winter, or lammas wheat (T. Lyburnum), 

 PL 2, b, is distinguished from the last by its 

 appearance, being much more vigorous in the 

 stem, more erect and thick in the ear, by hav- 

 ing no awns upon the calyx, and only short 

 awns upon the corolla, near the summit of the 

 spike. But the awns not being a good botani- 

 cal character, many botanists have conceived 

 the species to be the same. The characters, 

 however, of either kind being permanent and 

 remaining under given circumstances un- 

 changed for an unknown period, they may be 

 regarded as species. The winter wheat has 

 usually 5 or 6 florets, of which 2 are barren. 



Winter wheat is that which is the most im- 

 portant with relation to its cultivation in North- 

 ern Europe. It is, in England, generally sown 

 in autumn, or previously to the winter months, 

 and ripens its seed in the following summer ; 

 but it is an annual plant, and may be sown in 

 spring. 



5B 1117 



