66 



THE WHEAT CULTDKIST. 



germination and freezing. It is probable that winter 

 wheat sown in the fall, so late as only to germinate in the 

 earth, without coming up, would produce a grain which 

 would be a spring wheat if sown in April instead of 

 September. The experiment of converting winter wheat 

 into spring wheat has met with great success. It re- 

 tains many of its primitive winter-wheat qualities, and 

 is inferior in no respect to the best varieties of spring 

 wheat, and produces at the rate of twenty-eight bushels 

 per acre." 



The Fastldiousxess of GKOwmG Wheat. 



It has been stated by a certain writer, that " the 

 wheat plant has no greater enemy than another wheat 

 plant." But I cannot coincide with that assertion, as it 

 is not in keeping with the habit of the wheat plant. 

 If the wheat plant disliked the presence of another 

 wheat plant, the original stool would not surely throw 

 out numerous stems by its side, which should be attached 

 to the same system of roots. But it is safe to say 

 that the growing wheat dislikes the close proximity of 

 grass or noxious weeds. And more than this, wheat 

 has a capricious taste for its plant food, quite as much 

 so as human beings, whose taste is so delicate that they 

 can subsist on none but the most delicious and con- 

 centrated nourishment. Wheat must bear undisputed 

 sway where the plants grow, or the stems, leaves, and 

 grain will never be fully developed. Besides this, the 

 growing wheat will not appropriate its nourishment from 

 the rough material, as grass and clover do. Some plants 

 will decompose stones, and hard atoms of the earth, and 

 thus prepare plant food for its own use. But if a lib- 



