NEW ENCJL<AN» FAMMER. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, NO. 52, NORT:i MARKET STREET, (at the A<;ricui.tiirai, Waiuhouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR 



vol.. XI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1832. 



NO. 8. 



A ff r i c u 1 t H r e , 



From tilo Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 



WHEAT. 



By common consent, and in every climate where 

 it can be cultivated, Wheat — Triticum — is held 

 in the highest estimation of all tlie cereal grains. 

 The cost of its production, compared with that of 

 some other substantive articles of almient, does, 

 indeed occasion it to be but little consumed in 

 countries where the bulk of the inhabitants are 

 constrained by poverty to subsist upon the cheap- 

 est description of food that will sustain life. 

 Where, however, the people are in a situation 

 which enables them to indulge their choice in res- 

 pect of food, wheaten bread, with scarcely an ex- 

 ception, constitutes the chief material for con- 

 sumption. 



Grain of Wheat, upper and under aides. 



A full-grown and perfect grain of vvh«at will, 

 on examination, be found to resemble the above 

 figures. In form, it is a compressed oval, and is 

 inclosed firstly in certain chaft'y scales, whiih are 

 readily to be separated from it, and secondly in a 

 membranous tunic, which invests the seed nueh 

 more closely. Along that side of the grain whcl'?. 

 while the plant was growing, was turned towarJs 

 the rachis, a groove may be observed. At tlr. 

 base, on the opposite or convex side, is to be seen 

 a small protuberant oval space, which indicates 

 the germ or embryo of the future plant, and whicli 

 is at this time covered by the tunics. The ves- 

 sels whereby the grain was attached to the plant, 

 and through which it drew noiuishment until its 

 maturity, had their point of attachment at the basal 

 termination of this protuberance. When the seed 

 is perfectly ripe, the umbilical vessels separate ; 

 the point of separation speedily heals in the san 

 manner as a portion of a deciduous tree fro 

 which a matured leaf has detached itself, and the 

 grain may then be easily threshed out from the 

 chaff in which it had lain buried; sometimes, in- 

 deed, it sheds itself spontaneously. 



Several species, and a still greater number of je produce as .seed. When spring wheat is sown 

 varieties of wheat are to be found. Many of these itself, the season for this operation is in April, 

 differences are doubtless to be referred to iiifluen- 1 the early part of May, from which time on- 

 cesof climate and inodes of culture. There are prd the farmer has but little to dread from any 

 but two sorts generally and extensively cultivated verity of weather in the above mentioned dis- 

 in this kingdoin, and these have distinguishingicts. It is said that this species of wheat is not 

 names given to them, in agreement with the sea-ihject to blight. According to the analysis of 

 sons in which they are sown, one being calledir Humphry Davy, the nutritive quality of this 

 Spring or Summer Wheat, the other Winter oriid is not quite equal to that of winter wheat 

 Lammas Wheat. e proportions being O.'jJ. per cent in ihe latter 



Sprins;^ or Summer Wheat, — (Triticum (estivum,IU\ only 94 per cent in llie former, of the entire 

 is supposed to be a native of Siberia, in the laiidilk of the grains. The gluten contained in the 

 of the Beschkirs. It is less hardy than the winterW kinds varies in a greater degree, that of winter 

 sown kind, and the whole plant has a weaker a])-heat being 24, while that of springsown corn is 

 pearance ; the stem is thin and delicate, the cardy 19, so that the winter variety is most elioible 

 more slender and less erect, and it is providedr the purpose of the baker, 

 with much longer beards or awns. This descrip- m„hr, or Lammas Wheat,-(Triticvm hyber- 

 tion of gram, which, in our tmcertain chmate, can-.m,j may easily be distinguished by its appear- 

 not be safely or productiyely cultivated through- ice, being much more vigorous in the stem, more 



out tic kingdom, is yet domesticated in the more 



soutliuly and the midland districts. As its grain 



is siiidler than that of the commoner sort, and as 



its (reduce is less abundant, the farmer would not 



be I'/J to its cultivation, could he be certain of I th;it its pollen' is Iwth more easily 



success with earlier sown seed, or if, in the pro- more liable to be destroyed 



gres^of his agricultural operations, the land could 



alwas be got ready for the autumnal sowing. 



en ct and thick in the ear, and, in 

 with the other, destitute of beard 

 which reason its bloom is more cons] 

 same cause may bo cited to account 



comparison 

 or awn, for 

 )icuous. The 



for the fact, 

 diffused and 



Ear and Plant of Spring W heat. 



Tp principal advantage to be derived from the 

 adojion of summer wheat consists in the securi- 

 ty 'hich it offers against the injurious effects of 

 a old and rainy spring ; so that in situations and 

 ssons where winter-sown wheat is so far injured 

 aio destroy all prospect of a harvest, this deli- 

 ce but more rapidly growing species may be 

 nre confidently depended on for yielding its in- 

 case. Some farmers, when they perceive that 

 e seed they have sown in autumn fails and goes 

 ! in patches frotn any untoward causes, are ac- 

 komed to rake spring wheat into the vacant 

 ices, and v/herever the plants appear weak and 

 tn. By this means the uniformity of the crop 

 restored ; and if the operation has not been de- 

 led beyond the beginning of April, the spring 

 leat will be matured and ready for the sickle at 

 i same time with the earlier sown plants. This 

 xtiire of grain is of no consequence to the mil- 

 ', but it woidd be manifestly impioper to employ 

 e produce as .seed 



E»r and Plant of Winter Wheat. 



This plant is sown in autumn, stands through 

 the winter, and ripens its seed in the following 

 summer. Slight varieties of this species are ex- 

 ceedingly common in different localities, and are 

 probably attributable to some peculiarities in the 

 mode of culture. The common varieties of winter 

 wheat are distinguished from each other accord- 

 ing to the color of the tunic enveloping the grain, 

 and the difference observable in their chaff. The 

 colors are usually divided into white and red, the 

 latter of these including many different shades of 

 brown. Red wheat is commonly said to be mora 

 hardy than white; it is therefore thought better 

 suited for cultivation in bleak and upland distiicts. 

 The plant is, however, not so productive as the 

 white, and the flour which it yields is seldom of 

 so desirable a quality. 



Ear and Plant of Duck bill t\ hent. 



The cidtivation of another description of wheat, 

 called, from the form of the ear, the Duck-bill^ or 

 Conical ffheat, (TViticum turgidumj has been 8t- 



t 



