Letters on the Diseases of Plants. 



Q 



use. The specimens from which the present description is drawn are tall 

 and have heads of medium length. The straw is 

 yellow, dull in lustre, coarsely furrowed, very hollow, 

 of medium thickness, sti:ff, and rather brittle. The 

 smooth, yellow, straight, erect heads are bald, of 

 medium length or rather short, very regular, com- 

 pact or even crowded at the tip, clubbed, flat, blunt 

 at both ends, and present four or five sterile spike- 

 lets at the base. The spreading fertile spikelets con- 

 tain three grains each. The chaff is of medium length, 

 acute, with bent mucrons, short-awned towards the 

 tip of the ear, rather stiff, dull in lustre and uniform 

 in colour, deep, almost angular-backed, firmly 

 attached, and lies close enough to the grain to pre- 

 vent much shelling. The grain is of medium size and 

 length, straight, almost hump-backed, plump, opaque, 

 yellowish, plump-bosomed, blunt at the tip, rather 

 blunt at the base, and has an abundant brush, a 

 rather deep crease, and a floury cross-section. A 

 back-crease is rarely visible. The germ-sculpture is 

 one-third as long as the grain. 



This is a prolific mid-season variety, subject to rust, and one that must be 

 sown early. There are short-eared and long-eared strains of this variety. 



Fig. 4.— Ear of Oregon Club 

 or Chili, one-third full size. 

 Grains full size. 



3. Rattling Jack. 



A third variety, concerning which there has been considerable inquiry, is 

 Eattling Jack, otherwise known as Grrosse's Prolific. (See plate at end of 

 this pamphlet.) This variety is a first-rate sort for the 

 stripper, its even growth making it possible to take off 

 all the heads without choking the machine with straw. 

 It has most of the qualities, good as well as bad, of the 

 Purple Straw wheats, but is more inclined than they 

 to shell. This is an old and well-known sort, which, 

 however, has of late years gone somewhat out of favour. 

 It is quite short and stiff, and grows a dense stool.* 

 The straw is stiff and strong, of medium and rather 

 uniform thickness, very hollow, only fairly tough, dis- 

 tinctly furrowed, and purplish in colour. The sheath 

 of the upper leaf reaches considerably more than half- 

 way from the last joint of the ear. The foliage is 

 abundant, light-coloured, and drooping. The bald, 

 smooth, straight, erect, regular, short, rosy ears are 

 clubbed, quite crowded, flattened, blunt at the tip, 

 tapering at the base, where there are three or four 

 sterile spikelets. The three-grained spreading spike- 

 lets are supplied with chafi" of medium length. In the 

 lower part of the ear the chaff is bluntly mucronate, 



but at the tip of the ear there are several rather long awns. The crowding 

 together of the spikelets tends to prevent shelling, though some shelling does 

 occur. The grains are very large, of medium length, straight, of medium plump- 

 ness, opaque, yellowish, rather flat-bosomed, blunt at both ends, especially the 

 tip, with a very abundant brush, a rather deep crease, and a germ-sculpture 



* See the four centre rows in Fig. 19, p. 18. 



Fig. 5. 



Ear of Eattling Jack, 

 one-third size. Grains full 

 size. 



