21 [' Varictie.t of Wheat and Methodx of hnproruij them. 
bat it has proved scarcely liardy enougli to bear tlie cold of 
the neighbourhood of Paris. M. de Vilmorin speaks of a wheat 
which has been introduced into the valley of the Loire under 
the name of Australian wheat, which appears to be allied to 
Talavera. It should be borne in mind that several of the older 
v>'h?ats present a variety of forms. Talavera and Chidham, each 
alike, exist in several well-marked varieties, each of which pro- 
bably owes its departure from the original type to changes 
induced by the environment of the plant. It does not appear 
that climate alone is sufficient to induce considerable and per- 
manent changes, but climate and soil together may do so. It 
can easily be understood that some of the IVench and English 
wheats which have been introduced into Australia may have 
become natm-ally modified in their new home, and that some of 
those very numerous varieties of European wheat which ai'e now 
sown in the United States may involuntarily produce new 
varieties even without artificial selection. 
Another sort tried by Colonel Le Couteur was the White 
Downy, or Hoary— the " Veloute " of the French, believed to be 
the same as that described by Boys, in his General View of the 
Agriculture of Kent, as the " Hoary White," or " Velvet Ear," 
a sort said by that author to have been once much prized by the 
millers, bat lost at the time of his writing. In the Jersey ex- 
periments it was second best, yielding 48 bushels per acre, and 
2,402 lbs. of finest flour with 4,557 lbs. of straw, as against 
2,485 lbs. and 5,480 lbs. in the case of Talavera. In all pro- 
bability this is very similar, if not quite the same, as the variety 
described by that excellent authority Mr. Raynbird, of Basing- 
stoke, as Velvet-ear, Woolly-ear, Fluff", or Rough Chaff". This is 
a favourite wheat in the south and east of England, where on 
fine wheat soils it produces good crops of semi-transparent white 
grain, yielding flour of the first quality. On rich loamy land it 
proves a reliable variety of wheat alike for quality and quantity 
of 2)roduce. France and the Channel Islands still come to 
England for the seed of this wheat. Among its sub-varieties are 
" Thick-set Rough Chaff"," with an ear resembling " Square Head " 
in shape, and with short stiff" straw ; " Long-ear Rough Chaff'," 
" Rough Chaff" Talavera or Malaga," a very early kind, and the 
" Golden Rough Chaffs." Mr. Robert Hewitt has successfully 
irapi'oved this wheat by selecting the best ears and growing no 
other sort on his farm. He reports it to be an early variety, 
which he has observed to be less liable to blight than other sorts. 
Colonel Le Couteur thought that Chidham, a white wheat 
of high quality, grown on fine and favourable soils in Suri'ey and 
elsewhere, is identical with the sort called in Berkshii'e Trump, 
