344 
The French Peasant- Farmers' Seed Fund. 
narrow outcrop of the Fontainebleau sands and its associated strata. 
According to its strength, which is somewhat variable, it would 
probably be worth from 25 to 30 shillings an acre, judged from 
an English standpoint, if it were in faij- condition, which, by the 
way, is not the case. The course of the cropping is simply 
(1) wheat or rye, (2) barley or oats, (.3) bare fallow. It is un- 
necessary to enter further into details of cultivation, because the 
accessories of such a system are tolerably well known. It is 
sufficient to state that this commune received on the 10th of 
April 3062 litres (about 11 qrs.) of spring wheat, and 2937 litres 
(about lOJ qrs.) of barley. The latter yielded what was con- 
sidered a very good crop ; but of the former, 1049 litres pro- 
duced an excellent result, while the remaining 2012 litres 
produced nothing at all. The Mayor informed us that there 
were evidently two kinds of wheat, and his descriptions, as well 
as those of the cultivators, enabled us to recognise the April and 
the Nursery varieties. The bearded or April wheat had pro- 
duced a crop varying by estimate from 15 to 20 bushels per acre, 
as much as 24 being mentioned in one instance, which our in- 
formant stated was the best crop of wheat he had ever seen. It 
is worthy of remark that the two kinds of wheat were sown both 
side by side, and mixed together; after barley, after wheat, and 
after bare fallow, but always with the same result. As the Mayor 
remarks in a letter : — ' Nous avons pu voir dans la meme piece 
de terre, un ble de printemps magnifique, et a cote, un ble 
n'epiant pas et ayant toutes les apparences d'un ble d'hiver.' " 
(Pp. 11-13.) 
" It is thus evident that the Nursery wheat failed, while the 
April wheat succeeded ; and it is worthy of remark that the latter 
has considerable affinity with the 'Ble de Mars' of the country. 
" On this point Mr. Patrick Sheriff, who is well known as an 
authority in such matters, has expressed the opinion that there 
are two distinct varieties of Nursery wheat, one being a winter 
and the other a spring kind. It may be that our seed was of the 
former variety, or, at any rate, that it was tlie produce of winter- 
sown Nursery wheat, which had thus got the habit of growth of a 
winter plant, namely, a period of growth, followed by a period of 
rest, and again succeeded by a period of growth, during which the 
flower and grain are successively formed.* That this was the 
habit of our wheat is shown by the following translation of the 
* " Since writing this Report I have been able to consult Mr. Darwin's work, 
'The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,' and have found the 
following striking confirmation of this opinion : — '' Wheat quickly assumes new 
habits of life. Tlie sinnmer and winter kinds were classed by Linuicus as distinct 
species ; but M. Monnier has proved that the difference between them is only 
temporary. He sowed winter wheat in spring, and out of one hundred plants 
