THE WHEAT CKOP. 5 



to the wheat crop are well worthy of our attention. They 

 insisted upon the necessity of having the land in good 

 heart, so as to be able to produce and perfect a good plant ; 

 that it should be carefully freed from all noxious weeds, 

 which abstract from the soil the food that should support 

 the growing crop ; that the soil should be broken down 

 into the finest tilth possible, and that it should be 

 ploughed as deep as the farmer's force would permit, so 

 that the roots of the plant might be able to penetrate the 

 subsoil in search of its necessary food. 



The Romans were evidently keen observers of results, 

 though they were not so well acquainted with their 

 causes as we are. Their farmers had not the advantages 

 which chemistry places in the hands of ours; and yet 

 many of their practices and precepts are even now entirely 

 neglected by the majority of us, and only to be seen 

 exemplified on the farms of our most enlightened and 

 intelligent agriculturists. On heavy lands they recom- 

 mended fallowing, and exposure to the sun and to the 

 frosts ; on good loamy soils they recommended that wheat 

 should follow a crop that 'differed from it in its habit 

 of growing and its requirements from the soil; and on 

 light sandy or gravelly soils, that the soil should have 

 the necessary firmness given to it by means of the roller 

 or other implement. They were more particular, too, in 

 keeping the seed pure and unmixed, in selecting the best 

 for the purpose of sowing, and in changing their seed and 

 adapting it to the soil in which it was to be used. These 

 are all points which we shall have to refer to as we discuss 

 the subject of this treatise, and which never can be 

 neglected with impunity in the cultivation of wheat. 



In describing the different species composing the Genus 

 TKITICUM, wellnigh every writer has adopted a different 

 arrangement, and consequently considerable confusion and 

 misapprehension exist, not only as to the species, but as to 



