THE WHEAT PLANT. 13 



tern ; both modes have given valuable sorts of wheat. 

 The pedigree system is best and most convenient ; it con- 

 sists in selecting, from year to year, the best specimens, 

 saving them for seed and planting them year after year. 



SPRING AND WINTER WHEAT. 



The great mass of the wheat grown in this country is 

 the Triticum vulgare, which is divided into two sub- 

 species or races T. hibernum, Winter Wheat; and I 7 . CBS- 

 tivum, Spring Wheat. These are arranged in many 

 groups, as the bald and bearded, the hard and soft, the 

 white and red ; and still further subdivided as varieties 

 which are known by texture and color of the kernel, the 

 color and quality of the chaff or straw, and by many 

 other characteristics which need not be enumerated here. 



In regions where forests abound, and where heavy 

 loam or clay lands exist, winter varieties of wheat are 

 most suitable. For light, friable soils, like the prairies, 

 where there is but little snow, and the soil is liable to be 

 blown away, spring varieties succeed best, because, be- 

 ing planted in spring, they are not subject to be laid 

 bare and destroyed by winter wind and frost. On moist 

 lands, such as river-bottoms and alluvial formations, the 

 rapid-growing, quick-ripening varieties (whether winter 

 or spring) succeed best. Maturing in shorter time, they 

 are more likely to escape rust and other calamities inci- 

 dent to such localities. 



Yet, almost every natural land can, by proper man- 

 agement, be made a fair wheat soil. Under-draining, 

 thorough pulverization, and a fair supply of vegetable 

 manures, with ashes or lime, will render sand, gravel, or 

 clay land a suitable soil for successful wheat-growing. 

 But, first of all, it must be well drained and made fine 

 and rich. 



