208 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



ture of the cliiuate and the general fertility of 

 the soil, the returns which it yields to the farmer 

 are most abundant. Humboldt writes that in 

 the valley of Mexico the maize harvest yields 

 two hundred for one. The Indians and Meti- 

 zoes, who form a large proportion of the inhabi- 

 tants of the republic, feed on maize and manchol, 

 or the produce of the cassava plant, the consump- 

 tion of wheat being principally confined to the 

 white inhabitants of the towns. In the tempe- 

 rate and polar districts of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, tlie order of cultivation is very similar to 

 that pursued in similar latitudes and elevations 

 north of the tropics. In America, wheat is com- 

 monly found in the southern provinces of Bra- 

 zil, in Buenos Ayres, and in Chili. The same 

 grain predominates at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 the flour which it yields being of beautiful 

 quality, and accompanied by less than the usual 

 proportion of bran. In Australia, wheat also 

 forms the principal object of cultivation on the 

 part of the settlers ; but in the southernmost por- 

 tions of that vast island, or rather continent, and 

 in Van Dieman's land, barley and rye are like- 

 wise to be found. 



Wheat. This is perhaps the most valuable 

 of all the cerealia. As for the manufacture of 

 bread, that " staff of human life," it possesses 

 qualities superior to any of the other species of 

 grain. 



Tnticum, or wheat, of which there are several 

 species and varieties, is an annual herbaceous 

 plant, possessing the usual characteristics of the 

 graminesE. The seed is a compressed oval, en- 

 closed in a scaly pericarp, or chaff, from which 

 it is easily separated. The cotyledonous matter 

 is separated into halves by a deep gs. 

 groove (fig. a.), which runs along that ^ 

 side of the grain that, while the plant " fflp 

 was attached to the ear, was placed \jj|f 

 next to the rachis or stem. On the 

 other side, which is more convex, is seen 

 an oval body, where the embryo is a 

 situated, and where the germ of the fu- f_a 

 ture plant springs from. The vessels by ^Gy 

 which the grain was attached to the pa- 

 rent plant, and by which it was nourished, were 

 attached to this end of the seed lobe. When the 

 seed is matiu'ed, these umbilical vessels separate, 

 the point of separation then closes up, and the 

 grain may then be easily detached from the chaff 

 by which it is enveloped. There are two sorts 

 of wheat generally cultivated in this country, 

 triticum hybernum, or winter wheat, and triticum 

 (psfinim, spring or summer wheat. 



Ifinter Wheat has a large plump ear, smooth, 

 or destitute of awn, with a conspicuous bloom, 

 and a strong, vigorous, and erect stem. It is 

 Hf)wn in autumn, begins to vegetate and remains 

 green during the winter, and comes to maturity 

 towards the end of the following summer. It is 



Winter Wheat. 



very apt to pass into varieties, 

 arising from soil, climate, and 

 modes of culture. Two of the 

 most marked of them are the 

 red and white wheat. The red 

 wheat has a thicker and rougher 

 envelope, is of a hardier nature 

 than tlie other, and consequently 

 more suited for cold and high 

 situations ; but it is less produc- 

 tive, and yields a flour of an in- 

 ferior quality. 



Spring Wheat. This is sup- 

 posed to have come from the 

 north of Europe. It is less hardy 

 than the winter wheat, the stem 

 is more slender and delicate, 

 the ear thinner and di-ooping, 

 and furnished with beards or 

 awns. This grain, which, in 

 our uncertain climate, cannot be safely or pro- 

 ductively cultivated throughout the kingdom, is 

 yet domesticated in the more southerly and the 

 midland districts. As its grain is smaller than 

 that of the common winter wheat, and as its pro- 

 duce is less abundant, the farmer would not be 

 led to its cultivation could he be certain of suc- 

 cess with earlier sown seed, or if, in the progress 

 of his agricultural operations, the land could al- 

 ways be got ready for the autumnal sowing. The 

 principal advantage to be derived from the adop- 

 tion of summer wheat consists in the security 

 which it offers against the injurious effects of a 

 cold and rainy spring ; so that, in situations and 

 seasons where winter sown wheat is so far in- 

 jured as to destroy all prospect of a harvest, this 

 delicate but more rapidly growing species may 

 be more confidently depended on for yielding 

 its increase. Some farmers, when they per- 

 ceive that the seed which they have sown in 

 autumn fails and goes off in patches from any 

 untoward causes, are accustomed to rake spring 

 wheat into the vacant spaces, and wherever the 

 plants appear weak and thin. By this means 

 the uniformity of the crop is restored ; and if 

 the operation has not been delayed beyond the 

 beginning of April, the spring wheat will be ma- 

 tured, and ready for the sickle at the same time 

 with the earlier sown plants. This mixture of 

 grain is of no consequence to the miller ; but it 

 would of course be improper to employ the pro- 

 duce as seed. When spring wheat is sown by 

 itself, the season for this operation is in April or 

 the early part of May, from which time onward 

 the farmer has but little to dread from any se- 

 verity of weather. It is said that this species of 

 wheat is not subject to blight, According to 

 the analysis of Sir II. Davy, the nutritive quality 

 of this kind is not quite equal to that of winter 

 wheat, the proportions being 95^ per cent, in the 

 latter, and only 94 per cent, in the former, of 



