WHEAT. 



sidered prudent tc add half a bushel or more to 

 he acre. I consider this to be a very hardy 

 wheat, affording much herbage and straw, very 

 fit fur 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- 

 ar ribr t was in bloom on the sar.;e 

 day. Prom the purity of the seed, and the 

 ; appearance of the crop, it does not 

 appear likely to degenerate, nor does it seem 

 able 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 

 ranch overrated: the millers dislike it, and in 

 certain situations it is apt to blight. 



4. Btllrrut Talavrrn. 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 

 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 

 nabt(5. 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 



WHEAT. 



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, wfych 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. 



"Hickling'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: 



llowing is an excellent account of an | The profits of farming, whether the land be 

 ative values of several pasture or arable, and the tenant be a feeder 

 Mr. John Morton, which of stock or a tiller of the ground, may be in- 



1 " a om the fir sl volume of the creased in two ways. The stock-farmer knows 



*?.Jgr. Snr., p. 39. i t i s f rom very wel , that the return ne obtains from his 



ly earned out experiments, cattle depends, not only on the kind of food 

 shall be able to arrive given to them, and the manner in which it is 

 value of different species , supplied, but also on the feeding qualities of 

 es of wheat, and from which i the breed to which they belong; and he in- 

 to select the good and re- creases his chance of profit as much when, on 

 I purchasing from the breeder, he selects with 



