58 



THE WHEAT CULTTIEIST. 



and I think correct conclusion : that wheat is not differ- 

 ent from Indian corn, and other grain, as it regards 

 climatology. I believe that seed wheat is governed by 

 the same laws that control other nseful plants. The 

 seasons are so different that the same variety, cultivated 

 by the same farmer, and where soil and location are as 

 nearly alike as it is practicable to have them, will not 

 ripen at the same period in two, three, or four succeed- 

 ing harvests. Consequently, when seed is brought from 

 the north, and it fails to produce a satisfactory crop, and 

 to ripen as soon as the same variety has been accus- 

 tomed to mature, nothing definite is proved, in regard 

 to the climatology of the wheat plant; because the 

 field where the wheat was grown, may have been a 

 warm and quick soil, having a southern exposure ; and 

 the crop may have had the advantages of superior culti- 

 vation and a propitious season, and every circumstance 

 favoring a bountiful crop. On the contrary, the seed 

 may be sowed in a soil not so fertile as where it grew, 

 which would make a marked difference in the next crop. 

 Besides this, the soil may be cold, clammy, and late, the 

 cultivation inferior, the season uupropitious, and everj^- 

 thing adverse to the production of a bountiful crop early 

 in the growing season. 



This is the manner in which all our experiments have 

 been conducted. Consequently, the conclusions are in- 

 correct. Because some farmers have obtained their seed 

 wheat at a few degrees south of their own locality, and 

 by suj^erior cultivation and richer ground and propi- 

 tious seasons have succeeded in raising better crops 

 than southern farmers, it is not safe and in accordance 

 with the laws of vegetable physiology to conclude that 

 we must secure seed wheat from a southern latitude in 



