

Vol. XX, Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., NOVEMBER, 1859. 



No. 11. 



THE WHEAT PLANT. 



John H. Klippaet, Secretary of the Ohio State 

 Board of Agriculture, has prepared a book, of some 

 sevea hundred pages, on the "Wheat Plant; its 

 origin, culture, growth, development, composition, 

 varieties, diseases, &c., &c." 



A work on such a subject was much needed. 

 The author, in his preface, says : " To me it has 

 been a matter of surprise that no American has 

 produced a treatise on the wheat plant ; and more 

 than all, that even professional agricultural writers 

 have been content to leave the 'scattered fragments 

 of thought' on so important a topic as the pliysiol- 

 ogy, culture, varieties, diseases, &c., of the wheat 

 plant, dispersed through a multitude of journals or 

 serial publications." 



This is true ; we had previously no work on the 

 cultivation of wheat; and yet information on the 

 subject is greatly desired. "That portion of the 

 present volume," says the author, "published in 

 the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1857, caused the 

 entire edition of 20,000 copies to be absorbed in 

 less than sixty days from the date of publication." 



From this we should be led to infer, not only 

 that such a work was needed, but also that it was 

 one of real value. We have accordingly given it a 

 careful perusal, and propose to give our readers 

 some idea of its contents. 



From the preface, we were led to expect a work 

 of some originality and great research. The author 

 there says: "The study of the wheat plant is the 

 study of a lifetime. * * * So far as the growth, 

 the physiology of the plant is concerned, I have 

 been careful either to verify every statement which 

 is contained in this book, or else obtain it frqm 

 such authority as to render verification unneces- 

 sary, * * * On all doubtful points, I have con- 

 sulted the best authorities to which, I could obtain 

 access, and have availed mysglf of the advantages 

 offered by a constant and close attention to the best 

 American, English, German, and French agricultu- 

 ral periodicals." 



Now, with such anticipations as these remarks 

 are calculated to excite, let us turn to the book 

 itself. 



The first chapter is headed a " General View of 

 the Organic World," and has little connection with 

 the wheat plant. 



The second chapter is on " Cereals and Grasses." 

 Several pages are taken from Schouw's account of 

 the geographical distribution of grasses, but where 

 the quotation ends we have no means of determin- 

 ing. The author says cereals "contain the ele- 

 ments to form bone,, muscle, and fat." Do not 

 other plants contain the same elements? This 

 chapter concludes witli a " brief sketch of the most 

 important cereals other than wheat." This is very 

 well, but somewhat out of place in a treatise on 

 wheat. We are also treated to a " short, brief de- 

 scription of the culture of rice." 



In the next chapter we have the "History of tlie 

 Wheat Plant,"— including the author's reasons lor 

 believing that wheat will not turn into chess. 



The fourth chapter treats of the " Origin of the 

 Wheat Plant." It contains fourteen pages devoted 

 to a botanical descri[)tion of JSgjlops, and an 

 account of the experiments of M. Fabre, wliich 

 resulted in his. obtaining wheat from them. 



The next chapter is on the "Structure and Com- 

 position. of the Wheat Grain," taken principally from 

 the Natural History of Ncic York. 



The next chapter is on the " Germination of the 

 Wheat Plant," and is quite interesting. We make 

 a few extracts; The vitality of a grain of wheat, 

 it is stated, is not destroyed by cold short of bS° 

 below zero. " Wheat will not mature at a lower 

 temperature than 45*^. Potatoes require 52°, bar- 

 ley SQ''." "If a grain of wheat be steeped, during 

 fifteen minutes only, in water having a temperature 

 of 122° Fah.— a temperature but little above blood^ 

 heat — the germinating principle will be totally de- 

 stroyed." "A German writer states that wheat 

 sowed from one to four inches germinated the 

 deeper the better ; but from four to seven inched, 



