CHAP. in. WHEAT. 943 



particularly valuable as litter on account of its toughness. Square- 

 head, Golden Drop, Defiance, and many others do well on strong land 

 and on medium loams. Talavera, Essex Rough Chaff, Hardcastle, 

 &c., are good white wheats. So too, almost without exception, are the 

 varieties brought out by the leading cereal seed firms. 



It is impossible here to enter into the various methods of preparing 

 the land for wheat, for they are almost without end, owing to the 

 different crops which it follows, and to the great variety of soils on 

 which it is grown. Strong soils are best suited for its growth, and 

 these require liberal manuring. Tilth wheats should be sown as early 

 after harvest as possible, but the greater part of the crop, which 

 follows peas, beans, clover leys, and in some districts early roots, may 

 be considered to be sown in good season if it is seeded any time 

 between Michaelmas and the end of November. The seed should be 

 put in on a firm seed bed : six pecks will suffice on a tilth seeded in 

 September, but the same land, if it were after a ley and not seeded 

 until November, would require 9 or 10 pecks. Occasionally as 

 much as 3 bushels (12 pecks) are sown, but it is not to be recom- 

 mended, as the crop is liable to be grassy, whilst the grain will be 

 small. 



Although some authorities have argued in favour of the specific 

 identity of all kinds of wheat, Metzger recognized the following seven 

 species : 



1. Ordinary or soft wheat 



2. Plump wheat . 



3. Hard wheat . 



4. Polish wheat . 



5. Spelt . 



6. Starchy wheat . 



7. One-berried wheat 



Triticum sativum, Lam. 

 Triticum turgidum, L. 

 Triticum durum, Desf. 

 Triticum polonicum, L. 

 Triticum Spelta, L. 

 Triticum amyleum, Seringe. 

 Triticum monococcum, L. 



M. Henry L. de Vilmorin, of Paris, the highest modern authority on 

 wheats, -would reduce these species to five, by including T. polonicum 

 with T. durum, and T. amyleum with T. Spelta. 



More than two-thirds of the cultivated varieties are soft wheats of 

 the species T. sativum. Of forty-eight of these, enumerated in 

 M. de Vilmorin's work, " Les Meilleurs Bles," forty-one are beardless, 

 and the remainder bearded. The latter are further divided according 

 as they have white ears or red ears, Shirreff's white being an example 

 of the former and red-bearded autumn wheat of the latter. Of the 

 beardless soft wheats a triple division is made according as the ears 

 are white, reddish, or red ; and the white and red varieties are again 

 divided into groups determined by the circumstance as to whether the 

 ear is smooth or downy. Of the soft, beardless wheats, however, 

 only two of the white-eared varieties are enumerated as having downy 

 ears, and only two, also, of the red-eared sorts. The final division 

 of the smooth-eared kinds, whether white or red, is determined by the 

 colour of the grain either white on the one hand, or red or yellow on 

 the other. Among the varieties with white grains, smooth white ears, 



