108 



Varieties, Properties, and Classification of Wheat. Vol. III. 



The same weight of spring' wheat flour 

 made twenty-four pounds of inferior, brown- 

 ish bread. 



The same weight of Rostock and Dantzic 

 flour, from wheat grown in the Baltic, made 

 only tioenty-three pounds of bread, very lieht 

 and good, but not so white by many shades, 

 or well flavored, as that made from tlie two 

 first varieties of home growth. 



These experiments having been made in 

 my own presence, may be relied on. The 

 dough was worked in the French mode, not 

 pushed down, turned and worked with closed 

 hands, but drawn up into long Ktrinjjs and re- 

 peatedly lifted, in order to expose it to the 

 action of the air as much as possible, which 

 tends greatly to improve the bread, by ren- 

 dering ic more light and easy of digestion. 



The superiority of the meal of the h.oary 

 variety of wheat, which furnished three 

 pounds more bread on a baking of eighteen 

 pounds of flour, or an increase of one sixth, 

 over the Dantzic and Rostock, which was also 

 a very fine sample of flour, is thus clearly 

 es-tablishod. 



It is said in the article "Baking," in the 

 2nd volume of tiie Encyclopedia Britannica, 

 "that a sack of flour, weighing 280 lbs., and 

 containing five bushels, is supposed capable 

 of being baked into eighty loaves, in tho Act 

 of Parliament regulating the assize upon 

 bread. According to tliis estimate,, one fifth 

 of the loaf consists of water and sak, the 

 remaining four-fifths of flour. But the fact 

 is, that the number of quartern loaves that 

 can be made from a sack of flour, depends 

 entirely upon the goodness of that article. — 

 Good flour requires more water than bad, and 

 old flour than new. Sometimes, eighty-tv/o, 

 eighty-three, or even eighty-six loaves, may 

 be made out of a sack; sometimes, scarcely 

 eighty." 



Now, assuming these data to be correct, 

 the results I have obtained, p.'-ove that the 

 hoary wheat, No. 8, will aflbrd flour that vi'ill 

 make ninety-thi ee quartern loaves from a sack, 

 being a superiority often loaves on each sack, 

 taking the medium number eighty-three ; and 

 this, be it observed, without adulteration, the 

 pure home-made bread, unmixed with alum 

 to whiten it, or potatoo meal to moisten it. 



This superiority, he it further observed, is 

 over a good quality of flour, not over that of 

 some spring wheat, or inferior red wheat, both 

 of which I shall indicate hereafter. 



ON MANURi; FOR WHEAT. 



The effect of different manures on wheat, 

 is very remarkable; it will not bo necessary 

 to siy much on the subject, as it is almost ex- 

 hausted, linviu'jf been fiilly treated by ftr more 

 able pens ; but having made iome experiments 



on the subject, I may be excused from pub- 

 lishmg their results, 



I confine my observations to those manures 

 which are within the reach of most farmers, 

 with one or two exceptions. 



Stable manure will, in ordinary good soils, 

 have the eflTect of causing the planUs to tiller 

 much, or to make straw and grass; thereby 

 diminishing the produce in grain and meal 

 considerably. 



Liquid manure, one third stable drainings, 

 and two thirds water, which I caused to be 

 poured once, over wheat that was just tiller- 

 ing, made the straw grow rank and coarse, the 

 orain of every variety of wheat was dark an ' 

 thick-skinned, hence, containing less meal. 



The same quantity and mixture of liquid 

 manure, poured a second time over another 

 portion of wheat, caused it to grow so rank 

 and full of leaves, rather than straw, that only 

 a few of the plants produced ears of wheat, 

 some having run up into sharp points, with 

 merely the rudiments of ears indicated. The 

 few ears that produced grain, displayed it in its 

 worst form, hardly in the shape of meal, of a 

 doughy soft texture, evidenily unfit for the 

 food of man ; besides, some of them were 

 smutty. Thus, an over application of manure, 

 excellent, when judiciously applied, becomes 

 a poison, precisely m the same manner, as in 

 the human constitution, a surfeit is usually 

 the parent of some disease. 



The wneat on either side of these experi- 

 ments, which had only been manured with 

 the ashes of kelp, or sea-weed, was iiealthy, 

 productive, and farinaceous in the highest de- 

 gree. 



My attention was particularly called to the 

 proper application of manures by an old and 

 experienced farmer, who considered Kelp or 

 the ashes of rock sea-weed, that which is 

 cut, the best of all. I am convinced by sub- 

 sequent experience, that two or three prounds 

 worth of it, per acre, spread at the proper pe- 

 riod, about two months before sowing time, 

 would always more than repay itself. 



It attracts moisture from the atmosphere, it 

 materially increases the volume of the grain 

 and fineness of the sample ; but does not add 

 to the weight of the straw, thougli rendering 

 it whiter and more nourishing to cattle. It 

 causes the wheat to assume a rich healthy 

 appearance, and is an excellent application, 

 after a crop of potatoes or parsneps, both of 

 which, require land to be richly dressed with 

 stable or other strong manures, and has not 

 the effect of decomposing them, as lime does. 

 It is also destructive to insects, and to their 

 eggs, which lie in the soil or turf — it forces 

 the earth-worms and wire- worms from their 

 lurking places to come to the surface and die ; 

 particularly when laid on, in a lartrcr quantity 

 than 1 have named, some tiirmers beii: s; in the 



