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WHEAT. 
rachis, about six to the inch, as to form with it 
an angle of about 45°; and its grains are small, 
elongated, and of a whitish colour, and amount 
to about 40 in each ear. 
The small square spring wheat is also a very 
marked variety of compact-eared wheat. Its 
straw is stiff and upright; its ear is more square 
or less compressed than that of the Chili square 
wheat, of a brownish-red colour, stiff, upright, 
about 14 inch long and # of an inch broad ; its 
spikelets are as closely set as those of the Chili 
square wheat, and considerably more spread, and 
generally three-grained ; and its grains are small, 
slightly elongated, and well filled, and form a 
beautiful sample. 
The square Sicilian spring wheat is reckoned 
by the French one of their earliest spring wheats. 
The awns on the point of its ear are elongated 
to rather more than the length of the spikelets, 
while those of the Chili square wheat and the 
small square spring wheat are almost a-wanting ; 
and its grain is more flinty and has a brighter 
red colour than the grain of the small square 
spring wheat; but in other respects, the square 
Sicilian spring wheat and the small square spring 
wheat are very similar to each other. 
Three other varieties of compact-eared wheat 
which have become known to British farmers, 
are the small square red wheat, the American 
square wheat, and the duck’s-bill wheat; and 
Colonel Le Couteur says respecting the last of 
these, “It is very pradeye: but sheds greatly, 
and is not very farinaceous.” 
The Turgid-Eared Cereal Wheats.—Turgid 
wheat, Triticum turgidum, is a species containing 
many well marked varieties, comprising a con- 
siderable range or diversity of character, and 
connecting some compact-eared-like wheats on 
the one hand with the Egyptian wheats on the 
other. Awns are present in all the turgid wheats, 
but sit only on the corolla and not on the calyx; 
| and, in most cases, they drop off or become easily 
detached by the winds when the plants ripen, and 
then leave them with a beardless appearance. 
The ears are compact, and become heavy and 
somewhat nodding as they fill with grain; those 
of some varieties are smooth, and those of others 
downy, woolly, or velvety with fine soft hairs; 
those of most varieties display four equal sides, 
and those of others have the attachment of the 
spikelets to the rachis on the two narrowest 
sides; and the awns and angles of most are ar- 
ranged in four straight parallel lines. The spike- 
lets are closely set, and generally much spread. 
The glumes have a greatly tumefied form, and 
very prominent dorsal nerves; and they termi- 
nate abruptly, and have acute points. The grain 
is large, crowded or compactly set in the ear, 
and irregularly angular-shaped or depressed ; and 
it is hard, coarse, and of inferior quality, and 
forms but an indifferent sample. The turgid 
wheats are best suited to strong clay soils, rich 
tenacious soils, or stubborn and refractory argil- 
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673 
laceous soils,—particularly such as occasion the 
common-eared wheats to become lodged, or as 
cannot well bear them to metas: for the 
turgid wheats have such strong straw that, not- 
withstanding the heaviness of their ears, they 
can usually accommodate themselves to the stiff- 
est soils, and vigorously resist the most pros- 
trating weather. They have also the advantage 
of being decidedly productive in both straw and 
grain ; and their straw, though too hard and firm 
and semi-solid to be relished by cattle, is admir- 
ably adapted, by these very qualities and by its 
length, for the purposes of thatching. The tur- 
gid: rhea however, generally belong to the 
latest class of winter wheats, and are suitable 
only to the earliest districts of Britain ; and. they 
will probably rather lose a good deal of the favour 
they have already attained, than acquire any 
more, among British farmers. 
The Mongoke smooth white turgid wheat was 
introduced to Britain from the Continent by Mr. 
Lawson in 1833. Its straw is very long and al- 
most solid; its ear is very large, white, and 
square, or has the lateral florets so pressed in as 
to render the aggregate form somewhat. cylin- 
drical; its awns are long, straight, and rigid; 
and its grains are long, irregularly shaped, large, 
white, and thick-skinned. 
The Tagan rock smooth white turgid wheat is 
one of the earliest and most esteemed turgid 
wheats. Its straw is shorter, softer, and more 
hollow than that of the preceding variety ; its 
ear is scarcely so long, and a shade darker in co- 
lour; its spikelets are not so close; and its grain 
has a yellowish-brown colour, pbidom transparent 
or flinty, and is smaller and more regularly 
formed than that of most other kinds of turgid 
wheat. 
The Lozere turgid wheat is much Peete 
about Lozere, and is there often used, boiled or 
cooked, in the same manner as rice. Its ear is 
shorter, less closely set, and less regularly shaped 
than that of the Tagan rock smooth white turgid 
wheat; and its grain is whitish-yellow, thin- 
skinned, and of excellent quality. 
The red smooth turgid wheat, the large red 
wheat, or the red upright wheat of Gatinais, is 
very maek cultivated in the central districts of 
France. Its ear is long, square, compact, and of 
a dull reddish colour; its glumes are very smooth 
and shining; and its grains are soft, reddish, an- 
gular or slightly compressed on the sides, and of 
medium quality. 
The Chinese turgid wheat, or Doragana wheat, 
was introduced from St. Petersburg in 1834. 
Its ear is white, large, square, very compact, and 
slightly pendulous; its glumes are shining and 
a little elongated ; and its grains are rather large 
and flinty. 
The cone wheat, white cone wheat, cone Rivet 
wheat, square wheat, pendulum wheat, antifly 
wheat, or German thickset wheat, is one of the 
best known and most pees turgid wheats in, 
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