WHEAT. 



WHEAT. 



sidered prudent to add half a bushel or more 

 the acre. I consider this to be a very hardy 

 wheat, affording much herbage and straw, very 

 fit for being eaten down by sheep in the spring 

 when sown early in the fall. The Whittington 

 is rather a late wheat, ripening a week or ten 

 days' later than the Jersey Dantzic before de- 

 scribed, though it was in bloom on the same 

 day. From the purity of the seed, and the 

 uniform appearance of the crop, it does not 

 appear likely to degenerate, nor does it seem 

 more liable to disease than other wheats. The 

 straw is brittle, and many ears break off. I* 

 am of opinion, from what I have witnessed, 

 that the value of this description of wheat is 

 much overrated: the millers dislike it, and in 

 certain situations it is apt to blight. 



' 4. Bellevne Talavera. This admirable variety 

 is invaluable where it is adapted to the soil 

 and climate. The seed being large, a greater 

 quantity of it should be allowed than usual. 

 This wheat has succeeded in the north of Scot- 

 land, and is sufficiently hardy to withstand the 

 winter in its grassy state, but it is otherwise 

 more valuable as a spring crop : without doubt 

 it may be sown as late as the first week in Feb- 

 ruary in all the milder parts of England, with 

 a prospect of reaping quite as good an average 

 crop from it as from any other wheat, but with 

 a certainty of obtaining more flour than from 

 most. There is no tendency to degenerate ob- 

 servable in this wheat, as far as the experience 

 of five or six years goes ; nor, from its early 

 habits, is it at all likely to become intermixed 

 by fecundation from other varieties, though 

 sown about the same period, as it will, in such 

 cases, flower a fortnight or three weeks before 

 them. It is not more liable to disease than or- 

 dinary white wheats, and affords a very fine, 

 clear, white straw: it is, indeed, one of the 

 Italian bonnet-making varieties. There is, 

 however, one disadvantage in it, which is, that 



to the ear is so heavy that it is apt to break down, 

 though not break off, when swept by a gale 

 about the period of ripening; but it has a 

 countervailing good quality, of ripening the 

 grain equally well though bent down ; as is the 

 case with spring wheats, which ripen their 

 seed well though quite laid, which with winter 

 wheats is doubtful. Another peculiarity is the 

 tenacity of the chaff to the ear, more remain- 

 ing on it after passing through the thrashing- 

 machine than any other variety I am acquainted 

 with. 



The following sorts I have also grown expe- 

 rimentally, but, not having raised them in quan- 

 tities sufficient to warrant a positive opinion, 

 which probably might only tend to mislead, 

 they are merely named. 



The "golden drop" is one of the best red 

 wheats, affording great produce in corn and 

 straw, and a larger quantity of flour than some 

 white wheats. 



"Bidding's prolific red" is a productive va- 

 riety, but rather coarse. The properties of this 

 wheat are, straw long, stout at the bottom, and 

 tapering at the head ; head short, thick, close, 

 and heavy; kernels four in the row across the 

 ear, and red in colour, with the chaff white ; in 

 sample the wheat is short, plump, thin-skinned, 

 and looks as if it would flour well : colour 

 dark orange-red. 



Brown's "ten-rowed chevalier," or prolific, 

 is well named, where it suits the soil and cli- 

 mate: it is, when pure, a very fine variety. 



"Gale's Hampshire" is a very enormously 

 productive sort of bearded wheat. "Essex 

 red," a very good variety. " The duck's-bill" 

 wheat is very productive, but shedding greatly, 

 and not very farinaceous. 



In order to present the particular points of 

 comparison between the four principal varie- 

 ties above-described, the results are appended 

 in a tabular form: 



N. B. In the estimate of profit, in the last column, the calculation is not made with relation to the respective 

 values of the wheats as to their productiveness in flour, which it might be, but according to the ordinary market- 

 able value of good wheat; the straw is valued as intended for manure. 



The following is an excellent account of an 

 experiment on the relative values of several 

 varieties of wheat by Mr. John Morton, which 

 I have extracted from the first volume of the 

 Journ. of the Eng. Jlgr. Soc., p. 39. It is from 

 practical and carefully carried out experiments, 

 such as these, that we shall be able to arrive 

 at the proportionate value of different species 

 and new varieties of wheat, and from which 

 we may be enabled to select the good and re- 

 ject the bad kinds. 

 1120 



The profits of farming, whether the land be 

 pasture or arable, and the tenant be a feeder 

 of stock or a tiller of the ground, may be in- 

 creased in two ways. The stock-farmer knows 

 very well that the return he obtains from his 

 cattle depends, not only on the kind of food 

 given to them, and the manner in which it is 

 supplied, but also on the feeding qualities of 

 the breed to which they belong; and he in- 

 creases his chance of profit as much when, on. 

 purchasing from the breeder, he selects with, 



