334 



THE WHEAT CrLTTJEIST. 



the quality of flour will be better, than if the same 

 grain were harvested pre^dous to, or after that time. 

 That is the decisive point for harvesting wheat. Let ns 

 consider some of the stages of development through 

 which the wheat passes, as the growing grain approx- 

 imates the period of perfect matmity. The first state 

 is "the milk period." The heads of grain and the 

 kernels are now as large and heavy as they ever will 

 be ; and the kernels will measure more at this period 

 than at any other. Sometimes the extensive fields of 

 wheat look like a sea of waving gold. But the grain is 

 not fit to harvest. And if the straw be cut down, more 

 or less loss must be sustained, as the material that forms 

 the kernels contains a large proportion of the water 

 which must be worked out by the vital action of the 

 growing plants ; and its place must be supplied by sub- 

 stances exquisitely fine, which have been collected, atom 

 by atom, infinitesimally small, and brought to the ears 

 and deposited in the kernels in the place occupied by 

 particles of water. If, at this period, the cradle be thrust 

 in, and the golden grain be cut down, the water remain- 

 ing in the kernels will quickly escape, before its place 

 can be supplied by this fine material that forms the 

 flour. The consequence is, the kernels shrink, and the 

 yield of grain will not reach its maximum quantity. 

 At tliis period, most of the leaves may, sometimes, be 

 entirely lifeless, and the circulation of the vital fluid in 

 the straw may have ceased. Yet, the process of chang- 

 ing from thin to thick milk, and from a semi-fluid to a 

 plastic state, continues until the material in the kernels 

 is of the consistence of dough when it is put into the 

 baker's oven. This period is denominated the " dough 

 state." The next is the period of perfect matm'ity. 



