Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/380

Rh 354 AGRICULTURE CHAPTER XL CULTIVATED CROPS GRAIN CROPS. Pursuing the plan announced at tlie outset, we have now to speak of field crops, and shall begin with the cereal grasses, or white-corn crops, as they are usually called by farmers. Section 1. Wlieat. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the value of this grain to the farmer and to the community. It constitutes emphati cally our bread-corn our staff of life. While its increased consumption is, on the one hand, an indication of an improved style of living among the general population, its extended culture points, on the other, to an improving agriculture, as it is only on soils naturally fertile, or that have been made so by good farming, that it can be grown with success. Wheat is sown both in autumn and spring, from which circumstance attempts have been made to classify its varieties by ranging them under these two general heads. This distinction can only serve to mislead ; for while it is true that there are varieties best adapted for autumn and for spring sowing respectively, it is also true that a majority of the kinds most esteemed in Britain admit of being sown at either season, and in practice are actually so treated. It is not our intention to present a list of the varieties of wheat cultivated in this country. These are very numerous already, and are constantly being augmented by the accidental discovery of new varieties, or by cross- imprcgnotion artificially brought about for this purpose. The kinds at present in greatest repute in Scotland are the hardier white wheats, among which Hunter s white still retains the first place. There are many kinds which, in favourable seasons, produce a finer sample ; but its hardi ness, productiveness, and excellent milling qualities, render it a general favourite both with farmers and millers. Its most marked characteristic is, that in rubbing out a single ear, part of the grains are found to be opaque and white, and others flinty and reddish coloured, as if two kinds of wheat had been mixed together. Selections from Hunter s wheat have been made from time to time, and have obtained a measure of celebrity under various local names. The most esteemed of these is the Hopeton wheat. On very rich soils both these varieties have the fault of producing too much straw, and of being thereby liable to lodge. Hence, several new kinds with stiffer straw, and consequent lessened liability to this disaster, are now in request in situations where this evil is apprehended. Fenton wheat, possessing this quality in an eminent degree, and being at the same time very productive, and of fair quality, is at present extensively cultivated. It has the peculiarity of producing stems of unequal height from the same root, which gives a crop of it an unpromising appearance, but has perhaps to do with its productiveness. The red-straw white and Piper s thick-set have properties similar to the Fenton. Piper s had the repute of being the shortest and stiffest strawed wheat in cultivation, but after a brief popularity is now never heard of. The red-chaff white is productive, and yields grain of beautiful quality, but it requires good seasons, as it sheds its seeds easily and sprouts quickly in damp weather. The Chiddam,, Trump, tvhite Kent, and Talavera, have each their admirers, and are all good sorts in favourable seasons ; but, in Scotland at least, their culture is attended with greater risk than the kinds previously named; they require frequent change of seed from a sunnier climate, and are only adapted for dry and fertile soils with a good exposure. A new sort, called square-head, has quite recently been introduced, and is reported to be so exceedingly prolific as to yield from six to eight bushels more per acre than any wheat previously in cultivation. As red wheats usually sell at from 2s. to 4s. [GRAIN CROPS, less per quarter than white wheats of similar quality, they are less grown than heretofore. But being more hardy and less liable to mildew and sprouting than the finer white wheats, a recurrence of unfavourable seasons always leads to an increased cultivation of them. Some of these red wheats are, however, so productive that they are preferred in the best cultivated districts of England. Spalding s prolific holds a first place among these, being truly prolific, and producing grain of good quality. In Scotland it shows a tendency to produce a rough quality of grain. The Northumberland red and the golden creeping are there in estimation; the former being well adapted fur spring sowing, and the latter for poor soils and exposed situations. Several new varieties of wheat have recently been intro duced by Mr Patrick Sheriff of Haddington, formerly of Mungoswells. One is a large-grained red wheat, another somewhat resembles Hunter s in colour, and the third has grain of a pearly whiteness. They have all the peculiarity of being bearded. They are all true autumn wheats ; but they seem also well adapted for spring sowing, as they ripen early. A red bearded variety, usually called April ivhcat, from its prospering most when sown in that month, and which indeed is a true summer wheat, is sometimes grown with advantage after turnips, when the season is too advanced for o ther sorts. But except upon poorish clay soils, it seems only doubtfully entitled to a preference over barley in such circumstances. The list now given could easily be extended ; but it comprises the best varieties at present in use, and such as are suited to the most diversified soils, seasons, and situations in which wheat can be grown in this country. In regard to all of them it is reckoned advantageous to have recourse to frequent change of seed, and in doing this to give the preference to that which comes from a soil and climate better and earlier than those of the locality in which it is to be sown. Every farmer will find it worth his while to be at pains to find out from whence he can obtain a change of seed that takes well with his own farm, and having done so, to hold to that, and even to induce his correspondent to grow such sorts as he prefers, although he should have to pay him an extra price for doing so. An experienced farmer once remarked to the writer, that by changing his seed he got it for nothing; that is, his crop was more abundant by at least the quantity sown, from the single circumstance of a suitable change of seed. It is proper, however, to state, that this practice of changing the seed is founded more upon mere opinion than upon well-ascertained facts, and that in those instances where it has been followed by beneficial results nothing is known of the causes to which such success is due. It is much to be desired that our agricultural societies should address themselves to the thorough investigation of a question of such vital importance. In fixing upon the kind of wheat which he is to sow, the farmer will do well to look rather to productiveness than to fine quality. For however it may gratify his ambition to show the heaviest and prettiest sample in the market, and to obtain the highest price of the day, no excellence of quality can compensate for a deficiency of even a few bushels per acre in the yield. It is of importance, too, to have seed-corn free from the seeds of weeds and from other grains, and to see that it be true of its kind. Farmers who are systematically careful in these respects frequently obtain an extra price for their produce, by selling it for seed-corn to others ; and even millers give a preference to such clean samples. But there are seeds which no amount of care or accuracy in dressing can remove from seed-corn viz., those of certain parasitical fungi, which must be got rid of by a different process. The havoc caused to wheat crops by bunt, blackball, or pepper-brand (Uredo caries or Tilletia caries], before the discovery of the mode of preventing it