Values of Wheat 



43 



result fi^reatly exceeds any conception of it that had been previously 

 entertained. 



The inferences which, it is presumed, may be drawn from the 

 above details, are the following : — 



1st. With regard to the hardiness of the varieties, which, as we 

 have already said, may, to a certain extent, be deduced from the 

 particulars contained in the sixth column, that they may be placed 

 in three classes. Nos. 5, 6, 8, 12, 15, 4, and 2, being the hardiest; 

 Nos. 13, 14, 16, and 10, being the most delicate ; and Nos. 1, 3, 

 7, 9, and 11, occupying an average station. 



2nd. With regard to the property of tillering, of which we have 

 already spoken, that Nos. 12, 14, 16, and 1, possess it in the 

 greatest degree ; that Nos. 3, 13, 4, 5, 6, 15, 8, and 2, possess it in 

 the least ; and that Nos. 7, 9, 10, and 11, hold a medium rank. 



3rd. That with respect to the relative value of each variety men- 

 tioned in the table, No.42 is undoubtedly the best of any, in pro- 

 ductiveness, and in being sufficiently hardy; that No. 13 is as un- 

 doubtedly the worst of any, as will be seen by a reference to any of 

 the columns ; and that the others vary greatly, some possessing nearly 

 three times the productiveness of others. 



These 16 different sorts of wheat, with the exception of Nos. 13, 

 15, 16, which are bearded, are merely varieties of one species of the 

 genus Triticum ; and the circumstance of differences existing among 

 them, some possessing three times the value of others, shows that 

 any variety is capable of improvement. This, indeed, is shown by 

 many other plants besides the wheat. The originals of the potato, 

 the carrot, and the turnip, were comparatively insignificant and 

 useless in their application as food, and it was only by careful and 

 repeated cultivation that they were at length brought to their pre- 

 sent condition, and made to hold such an important rank among the 

 many nutritive plants cultivated for the food of man and beast. It 

 is supposed then, and where it has been tried experience shows it 

 to be a fact, that^ by first ascertaining the best of many varieties of 

 wheat, and planting the finest and plumpest seeds selected from 

 the best sample that could be obtained of it, the last of a succes- 

 sion of crops, the first of which was raised in this manner, and all 

 the others from seeds selected out of the produce of the preceding- 

 harvests, would, at length, afford a wheat of a more productive 

 and valuable kind than has hitherto been used by the farmer. The 

 experiment here detailed is, then, merely the first step in the 

 process — it merely points out the best of the varieties which were 

 tried. The improvement of these by repeated cultivation still re- 

 mains to be effected. 



During the growth of the wheat, a journal was kept, an extract 

 from which is given here, as it refers to an insect which was ob- 



