200 
partake of the qualities of spring wheat. The same experiments have 
been reversed with occasional, but not satisfactory success. If not sown 
too early, and the season proved propitious, spring wheat has endured 
the winter, and ripened in July. Such experiments can be of no practi¬ 
cal value—they are interesting merely as botanical studies. 
Experience can easily detect spring from winter wheat, by the appear¬ 
ance of the berry. The flour of spring wheat is not as white, is more 
soft and moist, and is adhesive and elastic in kneading. The bread has 
a slight peculiar fresh sweetness of taste. 
The next more noticeable distinction is that between red and white 
wheat. The red varieties are generally more hardy, less subject to dis¬ 
ease, and less affected by the weather. They yield more bran in propor¬ 
tion to the flour, and the flour is coarser and harsher. The white wheats 
are more delicate, yield a thinner cuticle, the chaff is not so heavy, and 
the straw is clearer and smoother. The flour is white, fine and rich. 
Some kinds of red are less subject to rust, disease and insects, than most 
varieties of white wheat. 
The next distinction is between bald and bearded wheat. This distinc¬ 
tion, however, bears no relation to the grain, and no difference is dis¬ 
coverable after threshing and cleaning. What may be the purpose of the 
beard, or awns, is hardly susceptible of explanation. Experience and 
reason alike teach us that even the most careless and bounteous exuber¬ 
ance is not without an object in the economy of nature—that nothing 
lives, or is, but what has some definite purpose and end, not apparent 
to eye or sense, but no less existent, no less faithful to its appointed 
mission and service. 
The minor distinctions are almost innumerable. Some of the leading 
varieties are as follows : 
Old Red Chaff .—This is one of the oldest and most substantial varie¬ 
ties. Its cultivation, in the Eastern and middle States, may be traced 
backward for sixty or seventy years, and at the West back to its first set¬ 
tlement. It has been regarded as one of the best kinds under cultivation. 
It is without beard—straw long, and stands up well—chaff, slightly 
brown. Its flour is white. It is not so reliable of late years as formerly, 
and suffers from blight, mildew, and winter-kill. In short, it is regarded 
as about worn out. 
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