138 



THE WHEAT CELTTTvIST. 



is less abiindaHt tlian the lionev wliicli the bees may 

 gather from the opening tloTvers. teaches the cultivator 

 of the soil the transcendent importance of fertilizing, 

 pnlverizing. and teasing the land hj all the mechanical 

 means in his power to bring it into that pecnliar state of 

 prodnctireness. which will snpplv the greatest amount 

 of available material for the formation of wlieat milk. 



Domestic goats that roam about the streets of om* 

 populous cities, are ever ready to devour every sort of 

 garbage, even to broAvn wrapping-paper : and their di- 

 gestive organs are so powerful that milk is formed by 

 these animals out of the roughest and poorest qualities 

 of food. But the functions of the gro^nng wheat plant 

 are so delicate, that other plants which are stronger and 

 more hardy than the wheat plant, mtist prepare pabulum 

 for the rocits C'f this plant to feed upon. For this pur- 

 pose there is no other plant like clover for transforming 

 the rough material in the soil into available plant-food, 

 stich as the organs of the wlieat plant will appropriate 

 to the prodnetion uf wheat ;nrilk.'" The hardy roots 

 of clover will decompose and digest, so to speak, only 

 a rery small quantity of earthy matter which will form a 

 wheaten milk, after the ground has been ploughed, and 

 the clover routs have decayed. Yet. if the fine pabu- 

 lum is in the soil, and if the land be prepared properly 

 by tliorougli pulverization, the roots of the wheat plants 

 will find the little atoms which are adapted to the p^e- 

 culiar reqifirements of those organs that prodtice the 

 seeds. 



The great practical point, therefore, for wheat-grow- 

 ers to Consider is. fattening the soil with alumina, phos- 

 phorus, silica, and other fertilizing substances, which 

 will afibrd an aljundant supply of the right kind of pab- 



