Book VL 



WHEAT. 



811 



in use many years ago. A method of mowing corn much practised in the county 

 of Durham, and possibly Yorkshire, has lately been introduced into Northumberland, 

 but does not appear to make much progress, the low priced Irish reapers doing the work 

 so much more neatly and with less waste, though it costs more money to the owner. 

 The scythe has a cradle similar to that described (405.) ; it is handled and used differ- 

 ently from the bow and grass scythes, and has only one short handle or " nib " on the 

 " sned," or long handle, for the right hand ; the left grasps the " sned " with the palm 

 upwards : this enables the mower, who generally mows " from the corn," to bring the 

 back of the scythe and cradle to the ground, and leave the cut corn in a beautiful state 

 for being put into sheaves. A good workman can do two, and some three acres a day : 

 they charge about 5s. per acre for mowing, binding, and stooking (shocking) : this prac- 

 tice may be advantageously followed wherever the crop is not stricken down by rains, 

 particularly barley crops. (C near Aimvick, in Gard. Mag. vol. vi.) 



4996. Frosted corn, like frosted seeds of any sort, may be detected by dissection and 

 comparison with unfrosted corn. By frosted corn is to be understood corn that has been 

 frozen on the plant before it was perfectly ripe, in consequence of which the germ of 

 the future plant or vital part of the seed is deprived of its vitality by the expansion 

 produced by the freezing of its watery parts. 



4997. Frosted oats. The oat being one of the latest corns, and a corn of cold rather than of warm 

 countries, is more liable to be frozen tlian any other ; but fortunately, also, frozen oats are more easily 

 detected than either frozen wheat or barley. The Rev. James Farquharson, who has paid much attention 

 to this subject, and written an elaborate article on it in the Farmer's Magazine (vol. xix.), observes, that 

 every kernel, when stripped of the husk, will be found to exhibit the appearance of a groove on one side. 

 If the bottom of the groove has a smooth clear translucent appearance from end to end ; if it is not 

 much shrunk into the substance of the kernel j and if the kernel splits with difficulty in its direction, 

 then we may pronounce the vital part of the seed to be free from injury by frost. If, on the contrary, 

 there is a black speck seen in the groove at the root end of the kernel ; if the groove cuts deep into the 

 kernel, so that it may be split in that direction ; and if, when the kernel is so split, the blackness, accom- 

 panied with a rotten scaly appearance, is seen extending from end to end at the bottom of the groove, 

 then the vital part or future plant may be pronounced entirely unfit for being used as seed. 



4998. Frosted barley. The nature of the injury that ripening barley suffers from frost is similar to that 

 suffered by oats. The husk of barley, like that of oats, consists of two unequal parts; the small part 

 covering the groove of the kernel. In sound grain, when dry, the hull is firmly attached to the kernel ; 

 but in frosted grain the small part of the hull becomes loose, and feels soft on being pressed ; aiKl if, in 

 such grain, this part of the hull is stripped away, a blackness and rottenness, resembling that in frosted 

 oats, wilt be seen in the bottom of the groove. In frosted barley the husk becomes loose all round the 

 root end ; but, as this is a circumstance that is occasionally observed likewise in barley that was never 

 exposed to frost, it certainly sometimes arises from other causes, perhaps from wet ; and this, unless the 

 grain has germinated, does not render it unfit for seed or malting. The only sure mark of damage from 

 frost is the blackness and rottenness in the bottom of the groove. 



4999. Frosted ivheat. Upon an attentive inspection of wheat that has been exposed to the frost, it will 

 be observed that in a Large proportion of grains there is a rotten scaly appearance where the embryo of 

 the plant is attached to the cotyledon or mealy part of the grain ; that the groove is much deeper than in 

 wheat that was saved before the frost; and that the grains are easily split in its direction. From this it 

 is inferred that wheat, in its ripening stage, suffers from frost an injury of the same nature with that sus- 

 tained by oats and barley. {Farm. Mag. vol. xix.) 



5000. The nutritive products of the plants to be treated of in this section, are thus given 

 by Sir H. Davy. 



Sect. I. Wheat Tnticum T,. ; Tridndria Digi/7iiaL,., and Grammece J. Froment, 



Fr. ; Weitzen, Ger. ; Grano, Ital. ; and Trigo, Span. 



5001. TFheat is hy far the most important of the cereal grasses, the flour made from its 

 grains or seeds, from the quantity of gluten they contain, making the best bread in the 

 world. A greater proportion of mankind are nourished by rice than by wheat, but 

 there is no grain which comes near wheat in its qualities for bread-making. Rice 

 and maize are comparatively unfit for it, and oats, barley, and rye but imperfectly 

 adapted. Rye, however, comes nearer to wheat in its bread-making qualities than any 

 other grain. 



5002. Of what country wheat is a native, is totally unknown ; it has been supposed 

 indigenous to Asia and Africa, and unquestionably it is more likely to belong to these 



