THE TVHEAT CrLTTEIST. 



57 



ClbiatoloGtY of T\^heat. 



For more than thirty vear^, I have taken observations 

 on this subject, with a special reference to ascertaining 

 Avhat are the facts in the case witli reference to the ch- 

 rnatology of the Avheat plant. ]Mt purpose has been, 

 if possible, to lav do^vn sorne reliable guide for be- 

 ginners v.-ho rnay exi-t hereafter. But I regret to say, 

 that I have been able to hnd nothing to corroborate the 

 popular theory in relati'jn to selecting wheat from dif- 

 ferent latitudes, with a view to sectire a variety that 

 will ripen as early as it p'Ossible f jr a crop of wheat to 

 mature. iT may ^tate, in parentheses, in this place, as 

 the idea is quite irrelevant to the subject, that the ulti 

 mate object in proctiring seed wheat from other climates, 

 is to get a variety of grain that will ripen before the 

 wheat midge commences its ravages. Late-ripening 

 wheat is far more hable to be destroyed by the wheat 

 midge than if the grain matured ten to f luirteen days 

 earlier. See this subject elucidated under its appro- 

 priate heading — Selecting Eo.rly Yarietles.) 



Tarmers have always said that, in order to obtain a 

 variety of grain that will ripen earlier in the season, the 

 seed must be obtained in a latitude farther to the north, 

 except for wheat, which must be brought from a south- 

 ern latitttde. Xurnerous experiments have been re- 

 corded, showing that wheat brought from a latittide 

 farther north, failed to mature as early in the season as 

 the same variety had been acctistorned to ripen where the 

 seed grew ; and when the seed was brotight fi'om the 

 south, the same failure was observable. 



I have, therefore, arrived at the following deliberate, 



