[*8« 1 



No. VIII. 

 COMMUNICATIONS ON SPRING WHEAT. 



I. 



By the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Barf, 



IvEAL spring wheat, the Triticum (Estiviim, or summer wheat of the botanists, 

 is a' grain too tender to bear the frosts of the winter, but as quick in progress from 

 its first shoot to ripeness, as barley, oats, or any other spring corn. 



It is well known on all parts of the Continent, and much used in France, where 

 it is called Ble de Mars, from the season in which it is usually sown; and in some 

 provinces Bleds Tremois, from the time it takes between seed time and harvest; in 

 Spanish it is called Trigo de Marzo; in Portuguese, Trigo Tremes; and in Ger- 

 man, Somtner Waitzen; all which names mark distinctly the difference between 

 this and winter corn. 



It does not appear from the older books on husbandry, that it was at any former 

 period much cultivated in England; the more modern ones are in general silent 

 on the subject of it; they mention, indeed, under the name of spring wheat, every 

 kind of winter wheat which will ripen when sown after turnips in February. This is 

 probably the reason why the real spring wheat has been so liule known, agricul- 

 turists in general conceiving themselves to be actually in the habit of sowing spring 

 wheat, when in reality they were substituting winter wheat in its place, have been 

 little inclined to inquire into the properties of the real spring wheat when they had 

 an opport\inity of so doing. 



In the lower parts of Lincolnshire, where the land is the most valuable, and con- 

 sequently the most subject to mildew, spring wheat has been long known, and it is 

 now cultivated to a great extent. Mr. Scrs, of Gedney, near Spalding, has this 

 year claimed a premium of the Board for the largest quantity of land sown with 

 spring wheat, in 1805 ; his quantity is 241 acres, and there is no reason to suppose 

 thai he added a single acre to his crop on account of the Board's offer. He is a. 



