88 
Improvement of the Plants of the Farm. 
per se, can occasion any variation, except in size and vigour ; 
but among the host of varieties always produced, some will suit 
one climate, some another. Some plants are possessed of great 
variability of character ; others have greater fixity, and are less 
disposed to adapt themselves to new conditions of growth. 
That which applies broadly to cultivated plants in general, 
applies also to each species, more or less. Each variety of 
every species of cereal has its individual traits which adapt it 
for culture in certain localities, varying in soil and climate and 
the method of cultivating, to which the prescience and expe- 
rience of agriculturists will confine it. 
In 1853 my curiosity was excited by a sort of wheat with 
wiry straw, which is grown on a patch of land in Sussex, the 
rich diluvium of the coast between Portslade and Arundel. In 
this district the crops of straw are heavy, and are apt to become 
laid, and the insignificant Peaked-ear still holds its own, on 
account of the toughness of the straw. It bends before the 
storm without breaking, and, remaining uninjured, it is enabled 
to lift itself again, so that the filling of the ear can be completed 
when other wheat in the same predicament would be ruined. 
Some improvements, therefore, are relative rather than abso- 
lute. Italian rye-grass may be altered in habit, like many 
another plant, so as to become actually more productive and 
valuable wherever it may be grown ; but the customary improve- 
ments of more difficult subjects, such as cereals, are generally 
relative to soil and climate, and consist in a skilful adaptation 
of the right variety to the right position. I could mention a 
robust, coarse kind of wheat, which a small farmer told me had 
put 50?. into his pocket since its introduction many years ago. 
He spoke, however, of fine seasons and a poor soil, and the 
same kind of wheat under other circumstances has been de- 
scribed as the worst in the world. 
I have received from many correspondents interesting reports 
of the varieties of wheat. It is evident there is no such thing 
as a national variety of the bread-corn of England. In reading 
the reports I have referred to, one comes to the conclusion that 
instead of one best sort, there are a dozen varieties which may 
each claim the highest position in its own particular locality'. 
As the favourites of particular growers, their merits may seem 
indisputable, but they are in fact entirely relative and dependent 
on soil and season. In the neighbourhood of Hitchin, and in 
similar districts, where superior sorts prevail, the two white 
varieties. Improved Uxbridge and Hardcastle, are esteemed, with 
Nursery for quality, Golden Drop and IJrowick for quan- 
tity. Air. James Long, of Ilenlow, Beds, a selector of Hard- 
castle wheat, claims for it an exemption from mildew. The 
