19 ELEMENTS OF 



One-grained Wheat. 

 Polish Wheal. 



The most important in the rural economy of this 

 country is the winter-wheat. 



Winter-wheat is sometimes termed spring-wheat. — 

 This merely arises from the period of sowing. If it is 

 sown in spring, it is termed spring-wheat; if previous to 

 winter, Lammas or winter-wheat. 



Wheat is of very general cultivation on all classes of 

 soils ; but the soils which are best suited to it, are those 

 which are more or less clayey. 



W^heat is subject to various accidents and diseases, 

 some of them peculiar to itself The most dreaded and 

 destructive of these is blight or mildew. 



This disease is indicated by the presence of certain 

 minute plants of the order of Fungi, or the mushroom 

 tribe, which grow upon the stem and leaves, and doubt- 

 less feed upon and exhaust the juices of the plant. 



One of this tribe of plants, and apparently the most 

 destructive, is Puccinia graminis, which appears in the 

 form of small spots upon the stem, and gradually extends 

 in lines on the surface. 



A disease termed rust is also very frequent and hurt- 

 ful. It appears in the form of a brownish dust upon the 

 stem and leaves ; and it is produced likewise by a par- 

 asitical plant of the same family. 



Another . (disease of wheat, produced also by minute 

 fungous plants, is smut. 



Farmers, when their wheat is greatly injured by this 

 disease, sometimes wash it, by immersing it in vats or 

 cisterns partly filled with water. The smut-balls and 

 lighter grains floating to the surface are skimmed off, 

 and the heavy and sound grain after being washed, is 

 exposed to the air to dry, or dried in a kiln with a mod- 

 erate heat. 



Certain Hies also attack the wheat, at a later stage of 

 its growth. The Cecidomj/ia Tritici is a fly with an 

 orange-colored body and white wings. About the month 

 of June the female ascends the ears of wheat, and de- 



