46 



Varieties, Properliea, and Claxsijicafion of Wheat. Vol. III. 



tnethod to grow the most pure, and farinace- 

 ous wheats. 



The number of grains in the ears, of four- 

 teen sorts, were carefully counted ; in the 

 smallest car, there were twenty-three grains, 

 in the largest seventy-four. The soil intended 

 for their reception was a fine rich loam, sev- 

 eral feet in depth over red clay ; a bushel of 

 ashes of sea-weed was spread over the sur- 

 face, which was dug about the same depth that 

 the plough was intended to turn the furrow, 

 for a wheat crop. The seed having been 

 soaked in strong brine, in separate glasses, 

 was then dried with slacked lime, the drills 

 were made nine inches apart, and the grains; 

 were dropped in singly, at about three inches 

 depth, at distances from each other of from 

 three inches, to eleven ; the whole being in 

 a square of twenty-two feet, or a perch (Jer- 

 sey.) { 

 By referring to the Table A, it should be! 

 noticed, that the rowsNos. 15 and 16, which, 

 were sown very thick, and rows 17, 18, and 

 19, which weie sown moderately thick, about 

 as much so, as by a drill machine, at the rate 

 of two or three busiiels to the acre, appeared 

 above ground on the 24ih of December, or in , 

 17 days; whereas, all the single grains, of \ 

 every sort, came up two days later. A curi- j 

 ous, but satisfactory proof, which experiments 

 repeated since, tor the purpose, have con- j 

 firmed, that the grains of wheat, when ' 

 sown thickly, impart a certain degree of 

 warmth to each other, and to the soil, which 

 hastens their growth two or three days earlier 

 than a single grain. | 

 Owing either to the cold, worms, or birds, 

 (though care was taken to watch,) or unknown 

 causes, several of the single grains never 

 came up, as will be seen by the column, how 

 mmy died. No, 13, called "Grand Rubel- 

 Itim," by the Professor, or the red Lammas 

 wheat, I believe, out of 58 grains lost 14 : 

 Vvhereas No. 5, the Coturianum, lost none. 

 No. 1, a variety suspected to be delicate, but 

 one of the best wheats, both for produce and 

 meal, from 04 grains, only lost 3. In this 

 manner I was led to judge of the hardiness of 

 the varieties, and I was well pleased to observe 

 that the white, or most valuable sorts, were 

 full aa hardy as the red. 



It appeared that out of seven hundred and 

 fifly-four grnins, the whole number sown 

 singly, seventy-four never came up ; a loss of 

 one tenth, even with the care and attention I 

 bestowed on them. 



I have further discovered, that some sorts 

 are still more delicate, of very precarious and 

 uncertain habits. 



The habit of growth of many varieties, dif- 

 fers very considerably ; some being of a close, 

 upright growth, others spreading and trailing 

 along the ground ; some tillering sooner than 



others: those in the experiment had all done 

 so by the middle of March. On the 27th, 

 they were hoed for the second and last time, 

 an^ were afterwards perfectly free from 

 weeds. 



I was not, at that early period of my re- 

 search, so attentive to the moment of flowering 

 as I have since been ; as the knowledge of that 

 precise moment might prove the greatest im- 

 portance to an mtelligent farmer, there being 

 an interval of a week, or ten days in the period 

 of dowering of some of the sorts. Hence, a ju- 

 dicious selection, with due care as to the time 

 of sowing the variety, that will soonest come 

 into flower, would enable him, not only to 

 keep his crops from intercrossing by the inter- 

 mixture of their farina, but as they would ri- 

 pen in succession, enable him also to bring 

 in liis crops in rotation, as each variety ripens, 

 withoiit being hurried by his whole crop be- 

 ing fit for harvesting at the same moment, 

 which is now too often the case. 



It may be noticed that a single gtain, 

 picked upon the high road by chance, which 

 I inmiediatcly perceived to be of an entirely 

 difierent form, and of a larger size, than any 

 I had yet seen, though sown a week later than 

 the others, was the first to ripen, and was cut 

 on the 31st of July. It has still preserved its 

 early habit, which I know, having now a small 

 field of it. 



No. 9, the latest, was only ripe on the 8th 

 of Auo-ust. This dilTerence in the period of 

 flowering and ripening, could fuithcr be in- 

 crea.'-ed by arrangement, as to exposition and 

 soil. 



The next and chief object of attention, wa3 

 their comparative produce in crain. 



No. 1, produced 3 lbs. 3 oz. from 61 grains, 

 and 3 lbs. 9 oz. weiirht of straw, of a beauti- 

 ful white color: whereas No. 14, a red varie- 

 IV, only produced from 59 grains, 1 lb. 10 oz. 

 of wheat, and 2 lb. 5 oz. of straw. Here then 

 was an immense advantatje in favor of No. 1, 

 which produced nearly douMe the quantity 

 of wheat, and a third more straw — its average 

 of tillers heinir fen, wherens that of the infe- 

 rior sort was only six; and Prolessor I, a Gas- 

 c.\, it must he recollected, imaoined thnt this 

 last, was one of the mo?t productive varieties, 

 evincinixthe positive necessity of comparative 

 exiierinuMits. to ascertain the relntive produce 

 of wheat, which the theory alone, even of the 

 learned Professor himself, could never have 

 discovered; he merely having judged from the 

 external appearance ofthe wlieat, its square- 

 ness, atid compact form ; than which, nothing 

 could have proved more deceptive. 



No. 8, a downy variety, was still more pro- 

 ductive than No. 1, as filty-five grains pro- 

 duced 4 lbs. 4 oz. of wheat, and 3 lbs. 13 oz. 

 of straw, its average of tillers being 11 : the 

 straw of a fine color, and the sample very 



