244 
the Bards, or the Druids, to ufea more 
familiar, but lefs appropriate, term ; but 
that thefe monuments were really raifed 
over the graves of eminent men. Some- 
times they appear only as the appendage 
to the tome, or earth-mound, and thecarn, 
or the heap of ftones; but in many in- 
ftances, they did not divide the honour, 
for tHey are frequently found alone. 
The bardic inftitution, ftill preferved in 
Wales, clearly fhews, that the only thing 
like an altar, which belonged to its wor- 
flip, was the /foxe of covenant, and which 
was always placed in the middle of the 
conventional circle. - But the monuments 
called cromlegi, of which that defcribed 
above is one, are not found furrounded 
with circles of upright ftones ; and this is 
one proof of their not being altars ; ano- 
ther proof is, that many of them are fo 
conftructed as to render it impoffible to 
ufe them for fuch a purpofe; and other 
proofs might be produced from Welfh 
records, which point out the graves of 
fome ancient heroes by fuch monuments 
of ftones, raifed up in honour of them: 
fuch is the following ; 
Piau y bez pedryval, 
Ai bedwar main am y tal: 
Bez Madawg marcawg dywal. 
‘To whom belongs the quadrangular grave, 
Withits Four sTones inclofing the front? 
The grave of Madoc, a ferocious warrior. 
Memorial verfes on the graves of the warriors 
of Britain. 
The ambiguity wherein the ancient 
monuments of Britain are fill involved, 
may, at a future opportunity, Mr. Editor, 
induce. me to form a claffification of them, 
by the aid of records and notices contain- 
ed in the Welfh language. 
March 1.  Iremain, Sir, your's, &c. 
MEIRION. 
Go the Editor of the Montoly Magazine. 
SIR; 
S the public mind has been fo much 
A agitated and alarmed, left the pre- 
fent fcarcity of corn fhould rife to fuch a 
height as to produce a famine in the Jand 
(though I hope thefe fears are groundlefs) ; 
it certainly becomes the duty of every 
member of the community to contribute 
all in his power to fupply the deficiency 
of corn now inthe country. 
There is, I believe, no zwmediate danger 
of famine; whatever, therefore, can tend 
to produce an early fupply at the enfuing 
harveft, might, I would hope, either pre- 
Dr. Wilkinfon on Culture of Spring Wheat. 
as altars, confecrated to the worfhip of. 
[A D as = 
vent this dreadful fcourge of famine from 
being felt at all, or at leaft, in fome de- 
gree, alleviate its calamitous effects, by 
fhortening its duration. .With this view, 
I beg leave to recommend to the publie 
an extenfive cultivation of fpring-wheat, 
as a fpecies of grain, which, although 
fown fo late as the 11th of May, I have 
found, by experience, to ripen with the 
autumnal wheat. Having cultivated it 
for fome years paft, I fhall make fomé mi- 
nutes of my own experience, as Well as of 
the information I have been able to pro- , 
cure from other authors on this fubjeét. 
Spring-wheat was known to the Romans as 
a fpecies diftinét from the common whieat, 
and as fuch is defcribed by Columellas 
Tertiunt eff trimeftre, cujus ufus agricclis gratiffi- 
mus, nam ubi propter aquas aliamve caufam ma- 
tura fatio eft omifja, pr afidium ab boc peétitur; id 
genus eft filiginis. Columella, lib. it. cap. vi. 
He conceives it, therefore, to be very ac- 
ceptable to the farmer, when, on account of 
floods, or rains, or other caufes, he has 
been prevented from fowing the autumnal 
wheat. 
Dr. Dickfon, in his Account of the 
Agriculeure of the Ancients, takes it for 
grantcd, that this wheat had never been 
cultivated in Engiand, and exprefles a with 
that the experiment might be made. He 
confiders it as well adapted to the wet 
climate of Scotland, where, owing to heavy 
rains, the farmers are frequently reftrict-d 
in regard to the quantity of wheat that can 
be fown. Common wheat, he fays, has 
been fown in {pring in Scotland, but has 
frequently failed: wide Dickfon’s Agri- 
culture of the Ancients, vol. ii. p. 159. 
Linnzus enumerates fix different {pecies 
of wheat. 
1. Triticum eftivum, fammer or {pring 
wheat. 
2. Triticum hybernum, winter or common 
wheat. 
3. Triticum turgidum, fhort, thick, coned 
wheat. 
4. Triticum Polonicum, Poland wheat. 
s5- Triticum fpelia, German or {pelt 
wheat. 
6. 
corn. 
This wheat has four flowers in a calyx, 
three of which mofily bear grain: the ca- 
lyxes ftand pretty diftant from each other 
on both fides a flat fmooth receptacle. 
The leaves of the calyx are keel-thaped, 
fmooth, and they terminate with a fhort 
arifta. The glumes of the flowers aré 
{mooth and bellying, and the outer leaf 
of the glumes in every calyx is terminated 
by a long arifta, but the three inner ones 
Triticum monococcum, St. Peter's 
