Experiments on Varieties of Wheat. 23 



path. The trellis thus formed is 25 ft. by 8 ft., so that the 

 plant covers, with its shoots only 4 in. apart, a space of 200 square 

 feet. Until November last, it stood in the middle of the same 

 pit, and grew at random ; but it occupied so much room, that 

 removal or cutting became necessary. When the present plan 

 suggested itself, a great deal of the actual size of the plant was 

 unavoidably lost, in reducing it to its present figure. It suffered 

 little from being moved; and, during the time of flowering, there 

 were often from thirty to fifty of its magnificent flowers expanded 

 at once, forming a most splendid object. The centre shoot is 

 carried over the path, and trained on the back wall, to form an 

 exact counterpart to that already on the trellis ; when this is 

 completed, it will form a path literally beset with thorns ; and 

 prove, perchance, the finest specimen of the sort in Britain. In 

 the meantime, I should like to know where there is one to match 

 it in its present state. — Folkstone, Oct., 1834. 



Art. V. The Result of certain Experiments in cultivating different 

 Varieties of Wheat. By John Rivers. 



Agreeably to your request, upon the distribution of M. Vil- 

 morin's wheats in 1836, I with pleasure communicate the result 

 of my experience of the two seasons they have been in my posses- 

 sion. In the first instance, I am convinced of the erroneousness 

 of the idea so very general amongst farmers, that wheat (like the 

 i?rassica tribe) is subject to promiscuous impregnation : such is 

 not the case, except under very extraordinary circumstances ; a 

 proof of which is, that each distinct variety remains the same at 

 present as it was seven years since, when they were grown in the 

 Chelsea Botanic Garden. As a convincing proof, the small 

 kinds, of which the botanical character is more difficult to dis- 

 cover, will be found, upon the examination of the sample, to be 

 complete and permanent. 



It is evident that plants are subject to the same laws of adapt- 

 ation to soil and climate as animals; but still this adaptation does 

 not take place in the first instance, though it shows itself in the 

 future generation. It is apparent, also, to observation, that a 

 variety adapted to the soil is less likely to degenerate; as in- 

 stances are common of wheat having been grown upon one soil 

 for nearly a century, without change of seed, by merely using 

 the precaution of having the most perfect ears cleaned, and saved 

 for future seed. A sudden change of soil, or thinness of the 

 plants on the soil, may effect a trifling alteration in the form- 

 ation of the ear ; but the original properties will remain perma- 

 nent and distinct. The manner in which I have grown the 

 numerous varieties of wheat which you were so kind as to send 



c 4 



