WHEAT. 
merated are Leghorn or Tuscany wheat, white 
beardless Tuscany wheat, common white beard- 
less spring wheat, white spring wheat of Fellem- 
berg, and hard spring wheat.—The fourth are 
red beardless wheats, which are more particular- 
ly adapted for spring sowing, but generally not 
included under the specific name of spring wheats 
in consequence of their having almost no awns. 
Those enumerated are red beardless Tuscany 
wheat, and common red beardless wheat of 
France.—The fifth are white bearded wheats, ge- 
nerally termed summer wheats, but really as 
hardy and requiring as long to arrive at maturity 
as the generality of the beardless winter wheats. 
Those enumerated are the common winter beard- 
ed wheat, white bearded Shanry wheat, light 
yellow-bearded winter wheat, woolly-eared white 
bearded wheat, white bearded Tuscany wheat, 
Chinese bearded spring wheat, Victoria wheat, 
common bearded spring wheat of the French, 
Tuscany wheat, Cape wheat, and small Sicilian 
bearded spring wheat ; and the seven last of these, 
from the white bearded Tuscany wheat and on- 
wards, are particularly adapted for spring sow- 
ing.—The seventh are red, awned, or bearded 
wheats, generally denominated summer wheats, 
but really as hardy and requiring as long to ar- 
rive at maturity as the generality of the beard- 
less winter wheats. Those enumerated are velvet 
or woolly-eared red bearded wheat, fern wheat, 
red-bearded Mendoza wheat, and red Chinese 
wheat; and the three last of these are particu- 
larly adapted for spring sowing.—All these va- 
rieties, and also a number of others, will after- 
wards be described. 
The Wheat-G'rasses.—None of the foreign weedy 
or uninteresting non-cereal wheats require to be 
described ; the principal British one—the most 
mischievous by far of all grassy weeds—is de- 
scribed in the article Covucu-Grass; and the other 
indigenous species are the only non-cereal wheats 
which possess any pretension in this-country to 
a cultivable character or economical adaptation, 
and will form the proper subject of the present 
short section. 
The rushy or sea-rushy wheat-grass, Agropy- 
rum junceum, called by Linneus Z’riticum jun- 
ceum, is a somewhat abundant inhabitant of the 
sandy sea-shores of England. Its root is peren- 
nial, and comprises numerous woody fibres, and 
is widely and profusely creeping; its herbage is 
glaucous and rigid, and looks as if in thorough 
keeping with its sandy habitat; its stem is sim- 
ple, inclining, smooth, polished, of a bright vio- 
let tinge below, striated above, and from 12 
to 24 inches high; its leaves are involute and 
sharp-pointed; and its flowers bloom in June 
and July. This plant serves in the same way 
as the Arundo arenaria and the Elymus are- 
narvus, for binding the loose sands of the sea- 
coast, and preventing them from drifting inland 
and desolating the country. 
The dry or bearded or fibrous-rooted wheat- 
665 
grass, Agropyrum caninum, called by the old bo- 
tanists Triticum caninum, inhabits woods, lanes, 
and the shade of hedges, on calcareous soils, in 
both England and Scotland. Its root is peren- 
nial, and differs from that of couch-grass in 
the essential character of being fibrous and with- 
out a rhizome; its stems are very smooth and 
about two feet high, yet do not give the herbage 
an average height of more than six or eight 
inches; its leaves are nearly upright, lanceolate, 
taper-pointed, flat, thin, rough on both surfaces, 
and of a bright green colour ; and its spikes are 
awned, bloom in July and August, and generally 
bear a considerable quantity of seeds. This plant 
is readily and rapidly raised from seeds on every 
kind of dry or porous soil, and produces a large 
quantity of early spring herbage, and might 
therefore be advantageously cultivated on poor 
lands in some situations as a substitute for spring- 
feeding rye-grass; but it yields a very inconsi- 
derable aftermath, and is seriously objectionable 
on account of its awns, and does not by any 
means possess a sufficient aggregate of good qua- 
lities to warrant the sowing of it upon any kind 
of prime or even middle-rate land. 
The crested wheat-grass. Agropyrum cristatum, 
called by the old botanists 7riticum cristatum, 
inhabits dry upland hedges and similar situa- 
tions, in various parts of Britain, particularly in 
Scotland. Its roots comprise several long, strong, 
woolly fibres, and possess special adaptation to a 
sandy soil; its stems are ascending, simple, rigid, 
slender, leafy throughout, hairy at the top, and 
from 10 to 20 inches high; and its ears bloom in 
July, and mature their seeds in August. This 
plant yields better early spring herbage than 
most of the alpine grasses, and produces an abun- 
dant and very nutritious aftermath ; and it well 
deserves cultivation, as a pasture-grass on light 
heath soils. 
The loliaceous wheat-grass, or dwarf sea 
wheat-grass, Brachypodium loliaceum, called by 
the old botanists Zriticum loliaceum, inhabits 
the sandy sea-coasts of both England and Scot- 
land. Its root is annual, and comprises many 
long fibres; its stem is rigid, wiry, leafy, very 
smooth, polished, either erect or decumbent, very 
various in luxuriance, and from 2 to 15 inches 
high; its leaves are linear, acute, and almost 
smooth, and become involute when dry; and its 
ears develope and bloom in June and July. This 
grass is of some use in its native sandy habitats, 
but does not recommend itself for cultivation. 
The Common-Eared Cereal Wheats—We com- 
prise, under the name of common-eared cereal 
wheats, all the varieties of what are usually call- 
ed winter wheats and spring wheats, or common 
beardless and common bearded wheats, constitut- 
ing the Triticum hybernum and Triticum cestivum 
of botanists; and in grouping and describing the 
chief, we shall follow the arrangement of Mr. 
Lawson, noticed in a former section, and shall 
also avail ourselves in some degree of his descrip- 
