THE WHEAT CROP. 87 



Jardin des Plantes, he found 267 per cent.; and in another 

 specimen (winter wheat), no less than 33 - 3 per cent. The 

 hard wheats which come into our markets from foreign 

 ports mix well with the inferior wheats of our own 

 growth, and thus enable skilful millers to work up an 

 article (flour) of excellent quality from materials which, 

 by themselves, would have had a low nutritious as well as 

 commercial value. 



The great object to be gained from the analysis of the 

 wheat plant is to know what ingredients it takes from the 

 soil, and their relative proportions per cent., so that, when 

 we know these, we have only to obtain the exact weight 

 of the crop, to show us how far the soil has been exhausted 

 by it, and what manurial application is necessary to restore 

 the soil to its normal fertility, by replacing those ingre- 

 dients which have been removed from it. The crop con- 

 sists of the roots and stubble which are left in the ground 

 and thus need not enter into the calculation and of 

 the straw and grain which are removed from it, and thus 

 have to be replaced by some equivalent in dung or arti- 

 ficial manure. The straw and the grain, however, have 

 to be considered separately, as they exist in very variable 

 proportions in the different varieties of wheat, and, indeed, 

 in the same wheat grown in different soils, or in different 

 seasons. 1 For ordinary market calculations the straw and 

 chaff are usually estimated at twice the weight of the grain. 

 The mean of thirty-eight experiments by Mr. Way, how- 

 ever, gives us a lower rate of difference viz., as 1 of grain 

 to 1'244 of straw and chaff Another series gives us 1 of 

 grain to T545 of straw and chaff. These, probably, were 

 more or less picked samples, and gave superior results to 

 what the whole produce of the country would furnish. 



1 The season 1840-41 was remarkable for its excessive wetness. The follow- 

 ing season, 1841-42, was as remarkable for its extreme drought. In the first, 

 the weight of the grain to the straw was as 40 to 100 ; in the second, it was 

 as 90 to 100. 



