No. 5, Varieties, Properties, and Classification of fV/teni. 



147 



to live upon, as the fine rich nutriment to 

 bo met with in a plump, round, fiirinitceous 

 grain, full of meal. As well miijlit a 

 fiirnier expect to have a fine fat skippinor 

 calf from a poor lean cow, fed, or rather 

 starved, on Dartmoor Heath. 



ON THi; TENDENCY OF WHEAT TO DEGENE- 

 RATE. 



This term "degenerate," is in common 

 use amon<T farmers, from a want of having 

 duly reflected on the subject, and acceptin<r 

 for truth the traditions or sayinirs which 

 become proverbial from father to son. 



If I rightly understand the siornification 

 of the term, it should mean that the wheat 

 has chanrred its nature, it has become of an 

 inferior quality, less productive, and less 

 suited to the soil than when oriirinally sewn. 

 Now, havintr sliown the very considerable 

 difference of produce in various varieties, 

 some producinfT nearly double what others 

 do ; it stands to reason that if a farmer pro- 

 cured what he used to consider a fine sam- 

 ple, apparently tolerably pure — and that a 

 few (/rains, of a productive but coarse sort, 

 were intermixed with it, say, for the sake of 

 argument, fifty grains in a bushel, on the 

 average, that this variety produced sixty 

 grains to the ear, with an average of eight 

 tillers to each grain; here would be four 

 hundred and eighty grains, the produce of 

 one single ear, multiplied by ihe fifty grains 

 in the bushel, or twenty-four thousand 

 grains in the produce of each bushel, of an 

 inferior sort, in the crop, the following year 

 The second or third year, if careful atten- 

 tion were omitted in the selection of the 

 seed, from the original sort meant to be 

 produced, the crop would be thus almost 

 changed, not degenerated .- it would be no 

 fault of the superior sort first imported, but 

 wholly the consequence of neglect in not 

 having preserved it pure; for the original 

 sort would remain the same as regards 

 quality, but diminished in quantity. So it 

 will be in a greater or less proportion, with 

 each of these varieties, that lurk in a good 

 crop, which they deteriorate in proportion to 

 their inferiority, either in point of produce 

 of meal or straw. This is the case even 

 among the careful selections which I have 

 made, for in the operations of thrashinfr, 

 winnowing, or preparing it, by washing, or 

 pickling ; with all the care imaginable, it is 

 of so small bulk, that some stray grains, if 

 several sorts are grown on a farm, will inva- 

 riably lurk, and get into the most pure crop 

 — Uiis I hold under such circumstances to 

 be almost inevitable, but where only one or 

 two good and suitable sorts are cultivated 

 on a farm, mixtures ought to disappear al- 



together; and the stock continue pure as 

 long as proper attention is paid. This 

 should be done by metiiodical arrang.-^ment ; 

 first, by seeing the seed intended to sow 

 down an acre or two, as future stock for a 

 larg» farm, carefully selected by hand if 

 necessary. That sown by a drill machine, 

 with a double distance between each sowing 

 of the drill, to enable a careful person to 

 reach from each side to the middle of the 

 drill, when the wheat is ripening, to cut off 

 any ears foreign to the crop. A guinea ex- 

 pended in extra labor in this manner, would 

 amply repay the farmer, in the future beauty 

 and produce of his cro|i. 



W hen the sheaves are tied, I further send 

 a person round them, to see if all strangers 

 to the crop are excluded from it. 



All this may appear discouraging, but 

 what success is to be obtained in this, or 

 any other profession, (for I do not hesitate to 

 call farming both a science and a profes- 

 sion,) without mental application, added to 

 the ^^ sweat of the trou'," in order to learn 

 how to cultivate the soil with proper skill. 



A very good farmer in the Lotiiians sent 

 me a sample of wheat of his own growth — 

 it had been intended for a white wheat, and 

 was called so, but most of the white grains 

 were ill-grown and poor, whereas, a few 

 grains of a red variety, mixed in the sample, 

 were very plump and farinaceous, evidently 

 marking that the degenerated or red sort, as 

 it probably was considered, was that which 

 would have ensured a heavy, well-ripened, 

 and remunerating crop. 



I trust that the growing of seed, for particu- 

 lar localities, may become a distinct branch 

 of the agricultural profession. I do not feel 

 envious of those admirable establishments 

 the nursery gardens of the kingdom, which 

 hourly clothe the face of the country with 

 new beauties, and refresh it with delicacies 

 — the result of close, and scientific investi- 

 gation, extracting, like bees, sweets from 

 every climate under the sun, and naturalizing 

 them to a soil so foreign to many of their 

 habits — yet I do hope to see a species of 

 nurseries for wheat, established in all parts 

 of the empire, where it will be known what 

 sorts of wheat are best suited for its diflfer- 

 ent soils, whether of clay, lime, sand, 

 granite, or other bases. 



It must inevitably stand to reason, that the 

 fine white wheat which is grown on a rich 

 .fertile loam, suitably retentive of moisture, 

 'cannot be the proper sort to be sown on a 

 poor black soil, which of itself is incapable 

 of retaining or attracting- moisture. 



But it will not be denied, that if a red, or 

 coarse variety, equally productive as to 

 i quantity, though perhaps less farinaceous, 



