THE WHEAT CULTUIilST. 



115 



straw, and as the price per bushel was often twenty to 

 thirty cents less in market than other wheat, this va- 

 riety was almost discarded in many localities. 



At present we have the Red Mediterranean and the 

 White, both of which are cultivated with eminent satis- 

 faction, where the seed has not been allowed to mix and 

 to degenerate by injudicious management. Both the 

 white and the red varieties yield bountiful crops ; and 

 resist the midge nearly as well as any other variety. 

 The Mediterranean wheat matured ten to fifteen days 

 before other varieties when first introduced. But, by 

 slack management of the seed, the variety lost its early- 

 matm-ing character. This wheat is known as a bearded 

 and bald ; and as white and red grain. 



I have found so many diflerent varieties which pass 

 for the Mediterranean, that it will be utterly useless to 

 attempt to pen such a description of the Mediterranean 

 wheat as will prove of any service or satisfaction to 

 even a small number of the readers of this book. Mr. 

 Klippart, in his " Wheat Plant," speaks very favorably 

 of the Mediterranean wheat ; and my own experience 

 is, that where the seed has not been allowed to degene- 

 rate by slack cultivation, this variety is one of the 

 most profitable kinds that American farmers can cul- 

 tivate. 



When the Mediterranean Red variety was first intro- 

 duced into the best wheat-growing regions of ]N"ew York, 

 many farmers refused to employ this variety for seed, 

 simply because the straw was so slender that it would 

 lodge, and frequently be tangled into a complete snarl, 

 before harvest-time, thus diminishing the yield of grain, 

 and greatly augmenting the labor of harvesting the 

 crop. 



