CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 83 



produce; the red are the more hardy; and, in general, the thin 

 and smooth-chaffed are preferred to the woolly and thick- 

 chaffed. 



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, Lam- 

 mas or winter wheat. This circumstance has perplexed some 

 writers, who have evidently drawn distinctions between the 

 winter and spring wheat of the farmer which do not exist. 



But it is a curious fact that wheat sown in spring, changes 

 its habit with relation to the period of ripening. The produce 

 of wheat sown in spring, acquires the habit of coming much 

 sooner to maturity, than the produce of that sown in autumn. 

 Hence the farmer, when he sows wheat in spring, should sow 

 the produce of that which had been already sown in spring, 

 and not the produce of that which had been sown in autumn. 



This change, in the habit of ripening, though it may at first 

 view appear somewhat singular, takes place in all the cereal 

 grasses, and also in many other cultivated plants. The minor 

 varieties of any species of wheat, are not permanent in their 

 character, though under given conditions, they will remain 

 unchanged for an indefinite period. Under other circum- 

 stances, however, they degenerate; and hence particular kinds 

 that were once valued, have now ceased to be so.* 



Wheat is of very general cultivation on all classes of soils; 

 but the soils best suited to it, are those which are more or less 

 clayey. So peculiarly is wheat suited to the stiffer soils, that 

 they are familiarly termed wheat-soils. The soils of the 

 lighter class are the least suited to wheat; and it is an error in 

 practice to force the production of wheat on soils, and under 

 circumstances, which are better suited to the production of the 

 other grains. 



Good wheat land, ought, therefore, always to possess a cer- 

 tain degree of consistence; for, although light soils, composed 

 chiefly of sand and gravel, will often produce wheat of good 

 quality, yet rich heavy loams and strong clays, with a proper 

 portion of sand, always yield that which is the weightiest in 

 the bushel, and the most productive in the crop. 



If, along with a small quantity of sand, it have about fifteen 

 per cent, of lime, it may be classed among soils of the best 

 quality for the production of this crop, provided it also con- 

 tains a sufficient portion of nutritive humus, or mould. Soils of 

 this description are generally of a dark brown colour, and work 

 freely, in consequence of the mixture of lime, which prevents 

 them from being too adhesive. 



* Professor Low, page 234. 



