WHEAT. 



and wide for producing good seed, 

 and it is well known that this seed 

 degenerates in other soils, so that 

 the original soil is resorted to for 

 fresh seed. Many places have been 

 noted for this peculiarity, and among 

 them we may mention (;cnesee,New- 

 York : the wheat which grows there 

 is sold for seed at a price considera- 

 bly above the average. It has been 

 asserted of late, and we have no rea- 

 son to doubt the assertion, that the 

 various noted seed-wheats, when 

 analyzed, are found to contain the 

 different elements of which they are 

 composed in nearly the same propor- 

 tion, especially the starch and glu- 

 ten. For bread, that which contains 

 most gluten is preferred, as we ob- 

 served before ; but to produce a per- 

 fect vegetation there should be no 

 excess of this substance, nor any de- 

 ficiency. The seed, also, should have 

 come to perfect maturity. This last 

 is usually obtained by beating the 

 sheaves over a block of wood or a 

 cask, without untying them, by which 

 means the ripest seeds fall out. The 

 proportion between the starch and 

 gluten is easily ascertained by care- 

 fully washing the flour when the 

 wheat has been ground. It is most 

 convenient to tie up the flour in a 

 cloth, which, shaken and beaten in 

 water, will let all the starch pass 

 through, and retain only the gluten. 

 The operation should be continued 

 as long as the water is tinged with 

 the white starch. Any one can read- 

 ily make the experiment ; and as 

 soft wheats vary much in the propor- 

 tion of the gluten they contain, the 

 difference will be readily ascertained. 

 This leads to a practical conclusion : 

 if we wish to grow any peculiar sort 

 of wheat for seed, and if we find 

 that, by our preparation of the soil, 

 or its original composition, we pro- 

 duce a wheat in which the gluten and 

 starch are in a different proportion 

 from that of the original seed, vs-e may 

 conclude that this is owing to more 

 or less animal or vegetable manure 

 in the soil ; and by increasing tiie ' 

 one or the other, we may bring our 

 wheat to have all the properties of 

 858 



the original seed. This is a valuable 

 discovery, and deserves to be fully 

 confirmed by experience. The glu- 

 ten varies from 10 to 35 per cent. 



" Diseases. — While the wheat is 

 growing, it is exposed to various ac- 

 cidents, which it is often difficult to 

 foresee, and more difficult to guard 

 against. The smut and burned ear 

 are diseases which may be generally 

 prevented by a proper preparation of 

 the seed before it is sown. (See 

 Smut.) Many corrosive substances 

 have been recommended to steep the 

 seed in, such as blue vitriol and arse- 

 nic, and those who have used these 

 steeps place great confidence in them. 

 It seems, however, that washing the 

 seed well with plain water, or with 

 salt and water, and afterward drying 

 it with quicklime, sufficiently destroys 

 the germ of the smut to prevent its 

 propagation. The most common steep 

 is water in which so much salt has 

 been dissolved as will enable it to float 

 an egg. In this the seed may be left for 

 twelve hours or more, and then spread 

 on a floor, and mixed with as ranch 

 quicklime as will absorb the moisture, 

 and allow it to be sown or drilled, with- 

 out the grains adheringto one another. 



" In the second volume of the 

 ' Journal of the Royal Society of Agri- 

 culture of England,' Part I., is a val- 

 uable paper, by the Rev. T. S. Hens- 

 low, on the diseases of wheat. He 

 describes the different fungi which 

 produce the various diseases of pep- 

 per brand, dust brand, rust, and mil- 

 dew ; he doubts the truth of the as- 

 sertion that Berbery trees or bushes 

 cause mildew in wheat which grows 

 near them, although this is believed, 

 by many farmers. 



" The ergot in wheat is an excres- 

 cence from the ear, like a small horn, 

 into which the seed is transformed. 

 It has a poisonous qualit}', and is 

 medicinal. See Ergot. 



" Another disease of the seed is 

 called ear-cockles, and is caused by 

 extremely minute insects, like eels, 

 which fill the skin of the seeds instead 

 of flour. This insect, which is call- 

 ed Vibrio tritici, is described by Mr. 

 Bauer in the ' Philosophical Trans- 



