WHEAT. 
by Mr. A. Gorrie, in 1834, in a field of common 
white wheat. 
The Talavera wheat was introduced to Britain 
about 35 years ago from Spain. Its straw is 
about average length; its earsare long, thin, and 
upright, and taper to the extremity; and its 
grains are very large, and of a whitish semitrans- 
parent colour. It ripens about a week earlier 
than any of the common winter wheats; but, in 
most of many trials throughout the Scottish 
Lowlands, and even in some favourably circum- 
stanced trials in England, it has been found so 
impatient of vernal frost or so deficient in vernal 
tillering, as not to seem at all suitable for au- 
tumnal sowing. It has also been much mixed 
and confounded with other varieties, and con- 
siderably graduated into subvarieties of its own; 
insomuch that, even about 14 years ago, a genuine 
unmixed sample of it could scarcely be procured ; 
and a kind of it called the Bellevue Talavera has, 
since about that time, been the best known and 
most esteemed in England. 
The Bellevue Talavera, soon after its intro- 
duction, was tested comparatively with three 
other prime varieties by Colonel Le Couteur, one 
of the best British authorities on the culture of 
wheat, and was spoken of by him in the following 
terms in 1840:—“This admirable variety is in- 
valuable where it is adapted to the soil and cli- 
mate. The seed being large, a greater quantity 
of it should be allowed than usual, This wheat 
has succeeded in the north of Scotland, and is 
sufficiently hardy to withstand the winter in its 
grassy state; but it is otherwise more valuable 
as a spring crop; without doubt it may be sown 
as late as the first week in February, in all the 
milder parts of England, with a prospect of reap- 
ing quite as good an average crop from it as from 
any other wheat, but with a certainty of ob- 
taining more flour than from most. There is no 
tendency to degenerate observable in this wheat, 
as far as the experience of five or six years goes; 
nor, from its early habits, is it at all likely to 
become intermixed by fecundation from other 
varieties, though sown about the same period, as 
it will, in such cases, flower a fortnight or three 
weeks before them. It is not more liable to 
disease than ordinary white wheats, and affords 
a very fine clear white straw ; it is indeed one of: 
the Italian bonnet-making varieties. There is, 
however, one disadvantage in it, which is, that 
the ear is so heavy that it is apt to break down, 
though not break off, when swept by a gale about 
the period of ripening ; but it has a countervailing 
good quality of ripening the grain equally well 
though bent down, as is the case with spring 
wheats, which ripen their seed well though quite 
laid, which with winter wheats is doubtful. Ano- 
ther peculiarity is the tenacity of the chaff to 
the ear, more remaining on it after passing 
through the thrashing-machine than any other 
variety I am acquainted with.” 
The white Dantzic wheat was introduced to 
-if over ripe. 
Britain from the countries on the south side of 
the Baltic; but, though a beautiful and prolific 
wheat as grown in these countries, it loses very 
much of both its beauty and its prolificity when 
grown in Britain, and at the same time is later 
than most of our ordinary winter wheats in 
coming to maturity. Its straw is of medium 
length ; its ear is long, tapering, small, and thinly 
set; and its grain is elongated, very small, and 
of a beautiful white colour. But in a recent 
comparative experiment on well-drained clay 
soil, in favourable circumstances in England, it 
produced abundant straw and a coarse and in- 
different sample of grain, and was greatly less 
prolific in grain than the other varieties with 
which it was tried, particularly the Bellevue 
Talavera, which yielded 36 bushels per acre, while 
the white Dantzic yielded only 26. 
The red Dantzic wheat, also, was introduced 
from the countries on the south side of the Bal- 
tic; and, in spite of its distinctive name, it is far 
more a white wheat than a red one; and, with 
the exception of a slightly darker shade of colour 
in the grain and of a light reddish-brown colour 
in the ear, it bears a marked resemblance to the 
white Dantzic, at once in botanical characters, in 
economical adaptations, in period of ripening, 
and in comparative habits in its native regions 
and in Britain. Two samples of mixed Dantzic 
wheat in the Museum of the Highland Society 
at Edinburgh weigh at the rate of respectively 
614 lb. and 62% lb. per bushel. 
The Jersey Dantzic is an excellent variety, but 
appears to be misnamed. “The seed of it,” says 
Colonel Le Couteur, “is described as having been 
raised from a single ear, originating from seed 
procured from Dantzic, selected from the finest 
high mixed. It is, however, suspected to be 
identical with some excellent sorts, called in 
Sussex, Kent, and some parts of Surrey, the Chit- 
tums; in other parts, Pegglesham; in Berkshire, 
Trump; in Essex, Hardcastle; in some counties, 
Old Suffolk; in Scotland, Hunter’s White; and 
assuming several other names. This wheat is 
not quite so hardy as the hoary white or velvet 
eared; it is, nevertheless, considered sufficiently 
so to succeed throughout the kingdom, excepting 
the northern parts of Scotland. In rich soils, it 
tillers amazingly, and produces a longer straw 
than the hoary ; nor is it so liable to sprout in a 
moist climate from being smooth-chaffed. In 
very severe, moist, and stormy weather, it will 
be laid sooner than the hoary. It ripens a week 
earlier at least than the hoary, and should be 
reaped while the grain can be marked by pressure 
from the thumb-nail, as it is rather liable to shed 
In a dry season this wheat will 
afford a beautiful, clean, white straw, fit for bon- 
net-making or any purpose of thatching; it is 
firm and tenacious. In wet seasons, it is rather 
subject to rust.” 
The white velvet, hoary white, woolly-eared, 
downy Kent, stuffed, or hedge wheat, has long 
