CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



CHAPTER SECOND. 



BOTANICAL PECULIARITIES, AND VARIETIES OP WHEAT 



SEED STEEPING. 



2. Wheat belongs to the order of plants monocotyledonous 

 that is, having one seed-lobe, and having endogenous 

 stems that is, stems which are increased from within, and 

 are hollow and nearly parallel, or of equal diameter through- 

 out, not increased by layers or rings (exogenous). The 

 leaves are long and tapering, and have parallel veins not 

 reticulated like the leaves of exogenous plants. This class 

 of plants is termed Glumoles, from the glumes which take 

 the place of the calyx or outer envelope of ordinary flowers. 

 The order in this class of plants to which wheat belongs is 

 called Graminacece, and the genus Triticum ; so called 

 because the seed is to be ground or triturated (from, tritum) 

 before being fit for use as food. The species of the family 

 of triticoid plants are exceedingly numerous, and various 

 writers have adopted various classifications. M. Yilmorin 

 classifies them under seven heads, and the arrangement is 

 adopted in Professor Wilson's excellent work, " Our Farm 

 Crops." The principal classes are T. sativum and T. tur- 

 gidum. (1.) Triticum sativum, or common wheat, this 

 being divided into two classes, the " bearded " and the 

 " smooth," the bearded having twenty-seven, and the 

 smooth seven varieties ; to one of these belong our common 

 winter and spring wheat, these again being distinguished 

 by one colour, as red and white. Of the white varieties, 

 the following are named by Professor Wilson Brodies, 

 Chiddham, Dwarf Cluster, Essex, Fenton, Hopetoun, Hun- 

 ter's, Pearl, Spring, Talavera, Uxbridge, Velvet-eared or 

 Rough-chaffed. Of the red varieties Barwell, Browick, 

 Bristol, Glover's, Heckling's Prolific, Keningland, Lammas, 

 Piper's Thickset, Spalding's, Yelvet or Woolly-eared, 

 Bearded. The second class of cultivated wheat is Triticum 

 turgidum; this class is, however, not in general cultivation, 



