92 



THE WHEAT CULTTJRIST. 



Fig. 13. — Improved Pedi- 

 gree wheat. 



The head of wheat on this page re- 

 presents the same variety as is shown 

 on the preceding page. But this head 

 is an exact representation of the Ped- 

 igree Wheat after the variety was im- 

 proved by judicious management, 

 with the exception that this cut is 

 more than one inch shorter than 

 the original head. The pages of this 

 book are too short to receive an illus- 

 tration of the full length of the im- 

 proved ears. 



This variety of wheat had one rad- 

 ical defect, as a popular variety for 

 cultivation, which is this: the chaff 

 was very open and loose, so much so 

 that the grain would shell readily, at 

 harvest time, unless the crop were 

 gathered before the kernels were fully 

 ripe. Besides this, as the chaff was 

 loose and open, the grain was much 

 more liable to be infested with the 

 wheat midge. 



Large numbers of American farmers 

 procured small quantities of seed of 

 European wheat-growers, with the 

 expectation that they would be able 

 to raise forty bushels of choice wheat 

 per acre, where they had heretofore 

 grown only ten to tv/enty bushels. 

 But, in almost every instance, they 

 were wonderfully disappointed, as the 

 heads grew but a trifle longer and 

 larger than our improved varieties. 



