fitter for occasional tillage, upon them the lime was ploughed in. These fields were also sown with oats and grass-seeds. The latter throve well and gave a fine pasture the first year; but afterwards the bent spread so fast, that, in three years, there was more of it than of the finer grasses."

4592. The conclusions which Dawson draws from his extensive practice in the use of lime and dung, deserve the attention of all cultivators of similar land.

1. That animal dung dropped upon coarse, benty pastures, produces little or no improvement upon them; and that, even when sheep or cattle are confined to a small space, as in the case of folding, their dung ceases to produce any beneficial effect, after a few years, whether the land is continued in pasture, or brought under the plough.

2. That even when land of this description is well fallowed and dunged, but not limed, though the dung augments the produce of the subsequent crop of grain, and of grass also for two or three years, that thereafter its effects are no longer discernible either upon the one or the other.

3. That when this land is limed, if the lime is kept upon the surface of the soil, or well mixed with it, and then laid down to pasture, the finer grasses continue in possession of the soil, even in elevated and exposed situations, for a great many years, to the exclusion of bent and moss. In the case of Grubbet hills, it was observed, that more than thirty years have now elapsed. Besides this, the dung of the animals pastured upon such land adds every year to the luxuriance, and improves the quality of the pasture; and augments the productive powers of the soil when afterwards ploughed for grain; thus producing, upon a benty outfield soil, effects similar to what are experienced when rich infield lands have been long in pasture, and which are thereby more and more enriched.

4. That when a large quantity of lime is laid on such land, and ploughed down deep, the same effects will not be produced, whether in respect to the permanent fineness of the pasture, its gradual amelioration by the dung of the animals pastured on it, or its fertility when afterwards in tillage. On the contrary, unless the surface is fully mixed with lime, the coarse grasses will in a few years regain possession of the soil, and the dung thereafter deposited by cattle will not enrich the land for subsequent tillage.

Lastly. It also appears from what has been stated, that the four shift husbandry is only proper for very rich land, or in situations where there is a full command of dung. That by far the greatest part of the land of this country requires to be continued in grass two, three, four, or more years, according to its natural poverty; that the objection made to this, viz. that the coarse grasses in a few years usurp possession of the soil, must be owing to the surface soil not being sufficiently mixed with lime, the lime having been covered too deep by the plough. (Farmer's Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 69.)

SECT. IV. Of Composts of Earth, Lime, and Dung.

4593. Mixing farm-yard dung, in a state of fermentation, with earth, in which there is much inert vegetable matter; as the banks of old ditches, or what is collected from the sides of lanes, &c., will bring this inert, dead matter, consisting of the roots of decayed grasses and other plants, into a state of putridity and solubility, and prepare it for nourishing the crops or plants it may be applied to, in the very manner it acts on peat. Dung, however, mixed with earth, taken from rich arable fields which have been long cultivated and manured, can have no effect as manure to other land that the same earth and dung would not produce applied separately; because there is generally no inert matter in this description of earth to be rendered soluble.

4594. Mixing dung, earth, and quick-lime together, can never be advisable; because quick-lime will render some of the most valuable parts of the dung insoluble. (See 2223.) It will depend on the nature of soil or earth, whether even quick-lime only should be mixed with it to form compost. If there be much inert vegetable matter in the earth, the quick-lime will prepare it for becoming food for the plants it may be applied to; but if rich earth be taken from arable fields, the bottoms of dung-pits, or, in fact, if any soil full of soluble matter be used, the quick-lime will decompose parts of this soluble matter, combine with other parts, and render the whole mass less nourishing as manure to plants or crops, than before the quick-lime was applied to it. Making composts, then, of rich soil of this description, with dung or lime, mixed or separate, is evidently, to say no more of it, a waste of time and labor. The mixtures of earths of this description with dung produces no alteration in the component parts of the earth, where there is no inert vegetable substances to be acted on; and the mixture of earth full of soluble matter with dung and quick-lime, in a mass together, has the worst effects, the quick-lime decomposing and uniting with the soluble matter of the earth, as well as that of the dung; thus rendering both, in every case, less efficient as manures, than if applied separately from the quick-lime, and even the quick-lime itself inferior as manure for certain soils, than if it had never been mixed with the dung and earth at all. (Farmer's Magazine, vol. xv. p. 351.)

4595. Mixing dung in a state of fermentation with peat, or forming what in Scotland are called meadow-bank middens (2177.) is a successful mode of increasing the quantity of putrescent manure. The peat being dug and partially dried may either be carted into the farm-yard and spread over the cattle court, there to remain till the whole is carted out and laid upon a dunghill to ferment; or it may be mixed up with the farmyard dung as carted out. If care be taken to watch the fermenting process, as the fire of a clay kiln is watched, a few loads of dung may be made to rot many loads of peat. Adding lime to such composts does not in the least promote fermentation, while it renders the most valuable parts of the mass insoluble. Adding sand, ashes, or earth, by tending to consolidate the mass, will considerably impede the progress of fermentation.

СНАР. ІІ.

Of the Culture of the Cereal Grasses.

4596. The corn crops cultivated in Britain are, wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Other culmiferous plants, as the maize, millet, and rice, have been tried with partial success in warm districts, but they have no chance whatever of ever becoming general in our climate.

4597. On the culture of culmiferous plants, a few general remarks may be of use to the young farmer. Culmiferous plants, like most others, have two sets of roots. The first originate with the germination of the grain, and are always under the soil, and are called the seminal roots; the second spring from the first joint which is formed above the surface of the soil, and from that joint strike down into the soil; these are called the coronal roots. The coronal roots appear chiefly intended for drawing nourishment from the soil; and, as Professor Martyn has observed, are judiciously placed for this purpose, the richest part of all soils being on or near the surface. These fibres are of larger diameter, more succulent, and never so long as the seminal or tap-root. From these facts as to the roots of culmiferous plants, some important hints may be derived as to their culture. The use of stirring the surface in spring to facilitate the entrance of the coronal roots, is obvious; the immediate effect of a top-dressing is also apparent, and also that manures may be ploughed in too deep to give the full amount of their beneficial effects to corn crops or grasses. Sagret, a scientific French agriculturist, proved experimentally, that where any of the grains or grasses are etiolated immediately after germination, by growing too rapidly, or being sown too thick, or in too warm a season, the first joint from which the coronal or nourishing roots spring, is raised above the ground, and in consequence either throws out no roots at all, or so few, as to nourish it imperfectly, in which case it either dies before it comes into flower, or before the seed is matured. (Mem. de la Soc. Ag. de Seine, tom. ii.)

4598. The nutritive products of the plants to be treated of in this section, are thus given by Sir H. Davy.

-Triticum, L. Triandria digynia, L. and Gramineo, J.
ment, Fr.; Weitzen, Ger. ; and Grano, Ital.

Fro

4599. Wheat is by far the most important of the cereal grasses, the flour made from its grains or seeds, from the quantity of gluten it contains, making the best bread in the world. A greater proportion of mankind are nourished by rice than by wheat, but there is no grain which comes near this species in its qualities for bread-making. Rice and maize are comparatively unfit for it, and oats, barley, and rye but imperfectly so. Rye, however, comes nearer to wheat in its bread-making qualities, than any other grain. 4600. Of what country wheat is a native, is totally unknown; it has been supposed of Asia and Africa, and unquestionably it is more likely to belong to these parts of the world than any other; but all that can be advanced on this subject is conjecture. Wheat, with the exception as it is said of some parts of the southern coast of Africa, is cultivated in every part of the temperate and torrid zones, and in some places as high as 2000 feet above the level of the sea. It has been cultivated from time immemorial in Britain, but in few places at a greater elevation than 600 feet. Of course the elevation to which any plant can be cultivated, always depends on the latitude of the situation. 4601. Species and varieties. fig. 553.) Botanists reckon seven species of triticum, which are or may be cultivated for their grains, besides many varieties and subvarieties of those in common culture. The species or subspecies are,

The first, second, fourth, and fifth sorts, are by many botanists considered as only varieties, and it is doubtful whether the third and sixth may not be the same; the seventh has all the marks of a distinct species, but it is very questionable whether, if much cultivated, it would always continue to produce one row of grains.

4602. The spring or summer wheat (a) is distinguished from that generally sown, by its narrower ears, longer beards, smaller grains, and shorter and more slender straw, and also, that it will not endure our winters. It is commonly sown in April, or even so late as May. It was known to Parkinson in 1666, but has never been much cultivated, excepting in Lincolnshire. It was tried and given up in Northumberland and Mid Lothian, and also in some counties near London. Many varieties of summer wheat were transmitted a few years ago to the president of the Board of Agriculture from the Agricultural Society of Paris, for the purpose of experiment, and were divided among several distinguished agriculturists, (Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii. p. 11.); but there has not yet been time for estab lishing their comparative merits, or their adaptation to the climate of Britain. Summer, or as it is often called, spring wheat, has however been long and extensively cultivated in some parts of England, particularly in Lincolnshire; and it is probable may be found a valuable crop in the southern counties; but the trials that have been made in the north, do not seem to entitle it to a preference over winter wheat sown in spring, or even oats or barley, in that climate.

4603. Of the winter or common wheat (b), there are a great number of varieties. Professor Martyn, in Miller's Dictionary, has described forty-nine sorts, and Professor Thaer speaks of a hundred, but affirms that those who describe them know nothing about them, and in all probability include one sort under different names. All the varieties may be reduced to two, the white, and the brown or red grained. As subvarieties, there are the bearded and beardless, the woolly-chaffed, and thin or hairy chaffed, both of the reds and whites. To these some add another variety, which is the spring-sowing common wheat. It is stated by those who maintain that this variety exists, that through long sowing, the progeny, after a number of generations, acquires a habit of coming earlier into blossom than seed from winter-sown grain. This we think very likely, but are not aware that the variety is distinctly known by any recognizable marks in the plants. The red or brown wheats are universally considered as more hardy than the white, but as yielding an inferior flour: the woolly-white is supposed to yield the best flour; but woolly-chaffed wheats are considered as more liable to the mildew than any other.

4604. The Egyptian, or many-spiked wheat (c), the turgid grey pollard or duck-bill wheat (d), and the Polish wheat (c), may, for all agricultural purposes, be considered as only varieties of the common winter wheat. They are cultivated in a few places in England, and seeds of them may be procured from the public botanic gardens; but they are in little estimation.

4605. Spelt wheat (d), the epautre of the French, is known by its stout straw, which is almost solid, and by its strong spikes, with chaff partially awned, the awns long and stiff. The chaff adheres so close to the grain as not to be separated without great difficulty. This grain, as we have seen, is a good deal sown in the south of Europe. In France it is sown in spring, on land too coarse for common wheat, and it ripens in July and August. It is the principal wheat sown in Suabia and the north of Switzerland; and is a good deal sown in Spain. The grain is light, and yields but little flour; but it is said to contain a larger portion of gluten than common wheat, and for that reason is recommended as superior to any other in pastry and confectionary. It is not cultivated in Britain.

4606. The one-grained wheat (g) is known by its small thin spike, and single row of grains; the leaves and straw are remarkably small, but very hard; and the plants tiller remarkably. It is chiefly cultivated in the mountainous parts of Switzerland, where its straw, like that of the former species, is much used for thatching. The grain makes a brown light bread; but its great excellence, according to Villars, is for gruel.

4607. To procure new varieties of wheats, the ordinary mode is to select from a field a spike or spikes from the same stalk, which has the qualities sought for; such as larger grains, thinner chaff, stiffer straw, a tendency to earliness or lateness, &c.; and picking out the best grains from this ear or ears, to sow them in suitable soil in an open airy part of a garden. When the produce is ripe, select the best ears, and from these the best grains, and sow these, and so on till a bushel or more is obtained, which may then be sown in a field apart from any other wheat. In this way, many of the varieties of our common winter wheat have been obtained; as the hedge-wheat which was reared from the produce of a stalk found growing in a hedge in Sussex, by one Wood, about 1790. Other varieties have assumed their distinctive marks from having been long cultivated on the same soil and climate, and take local names, as the Hertfordshire red, Essex white, &c.

4608. Marshal (Yorkshire) mentions a case in which a man of accurate observation, having, in a piece of wheat perceived a plant of uncommon strength and luxuriance, diffusing its branches on every side, and setting its closely-surrounding neighbors at defiance, marked it; and at harvest removed it separately. The produce was 15 ears, yielding 604 grains of a strong-bodied liver-colored wheat, differing, in general appearance, from every other variety he had seen. The chaff was smooth, without awns, and of the color of the grain; the straws stout and reedy. These 604 grains were planted singly, nine inches asunder, filling about 40 square yards of ground, on a clover stubble, the remainder of the ground being sown with wheat in the ordinary way; by which means extraordinary trouble and destruction by birds were avoided. The produce was two gallons and a half weighing 2041bs. of prime grain for seed, besides some pounds for seconds. One grain produced 35 ears, yielding 1235 grains; so that the second year's produce was sufficient to plant an acre of ground. What deters farmers from improvements of this nature is probably the mischievousness of birds; from which at harvest it is scarcely possible to preserve a small patch of corn especially in a garden or other ground situated near a habitation; but by carrying on the improvement in a field of corn of the same nature, that inconvenience is got rid of. In this situation, however, the botanist will be apprehensive of danger from the floral farina of the surrounding crop. But from what observations Marshal has made he is of opinion his fears will be groundless. No evil of this kind occurred, though the cultivation of the above variety was carried on among white wheat.

4609. But the most systematic mode of procuring new varieties, is by crossing two sorts, as in breeding: that is, by impregnating the female organs of the blossoms of one ear with the fecundating matter or pollen of the male organs of the blossom of another variety of a different quality. Thus, supposing a farmer wished to render a very good variety which he was in the habit of cultivating somewhat earlier. Let him procure in the blossoming season, from a very early soil, some spikes of an early sort just coming into blossom, and let him put the ends of these in water and set them in the shade so as to retard their fully blossoming till the plants he has destined to become the females come into flower. Then let him cut out all the male organs of the latter before they have advanced so far as to impregnate the stigma; and having done this, let him dust the stigma with the blossoming ears of the early or male parent. The impregnated stalks must then be kept apart from other wheats so as the progeny may be true. When the grains ripen, sow the best, and from the produce when ripe, select the earliest and finest spikes for seed. Sow them and repeat the choice till a bushel or two of seed is procured. This operation has been successfully performed by T. A. Knight (1600.), and though it may be reckoned too delicate for farmers in general, it will be looked on by the philosophical agriculturist as not improbably leading to as important results as has attended the practice in the case of garden fruits and flowers.

4610. The propagation of wheat by transplanting may be employed to expedite the progress of cultivating a new variety of ascertained excellence. To shew what may be gained in time by this mode, we shall quote from The Philosophical Transactions an account of an experiment made by C. Miller, son of the celebrated gardener of that name, in 1766. On the 2nd of June, Miller sowed some grains of the common red wheat; and on the 8th of August, a single plant was taken up and separated into 18 parts, and each part planted separately. These plants having pushed out several side shoots, by about the middle of September, some of them were then taken up and divided, and the rest of them between that time and the middle of October. This second division produced 67 plants. These plants remained through the winter, and another division of them, made about the middle of March and the 12th of April, produced 500 plants. They were then divided no further, but permitted to remain. The plants were, in general, stronger than any of the wheat in the fields. Some of them produced upwards of 100 ears from a single root, Many of the ears measured seven inches in length and contained between 60 and 70 grains. The whole number of ears which, by the process above-mentioned, were produced from one grain of wheat, was 21,109, which yielded three pecks and three quarters of clean corn, the weight of which was 47 lbs. 7 ounces; and from a calculation made by counting the number of grains in an ounce, the whole number of grains was about 386,840. By this account we find, that there was only one general division of the plants made in the spring. Had a second been made, Miller thinks the number of plants would have amounted to 2000 instead of 500, and the produce thereby been much enlarged.

4611. In making a choice from all the species and varieties which we have named, the thin-skinned white wheats are preferred by all the best British farmers whose soil and climate are suitable for this grain, and for sowing in autumn. In late situations, and less favorable soils and climates, the red varieties are generally made choice of; and these are also generally preferred for sowing in spring. Red wheats, however, are con sidered as at least fifteen per cent. less valuable than the white varieties. No sub-variety ever continues very long in vogue; nor is it fitting that it should, as degeneracy soon takes place, and another and better is sought for as a successor. Hence the only recommendation we can give as to the choice of subvarieties, is to select the best from among those in use by the best farmers in the given situation, or nearest well-cultivated district.

4612. The soils best adapted for the culture of wheat, are rich clays and heavy loams; but these are not by any means the only description of soils on which it is cultivated. Before the introduction of turnips and clover, all soils but little cohesive were thought quite unfit for wheat; but even on sandy soils, it is now grown extensively, and with much advantage after either of these crops. The greater part of the wheat crop throughout Britain, however, is probably still sown upon fallowed land. When it succeeds turnips consumed on the ground, or clover cut for hay or soiling, it is commonly sown after one ploughing; but upon heavier soils, or after grass of two or more years, the land is ploughed twice or three times, or receives what is called a rag fallow. (Supp. Encyc. Brit. art. Agr.)

4613. On rich clays, wheat may be cultivated almost every second year, provided due care

is taken to keep the land clean, and in good condition. A summer fallow once in four, six, or eight years, according to seasons and circumstances, is, however, necessary; and manure should either be applied on that fallow for the first crop of wheat, or, what some people think preferable, should be laid on the wheat-stubble for a crop of drilled beans, which ensures the succeeding crop of wheat. If the first crop of beans has been completely cleaned, there is no difficulty of repeating, and even of extending the course; and the crops will be little inferior to those gained at the beginning of the rotation, provided manure has been bestowed to each crop of beans. In this way, when the ground is fallowed every fourth year, two crops of wheat and one of beans are gained from manuring once; when fallowed every sixth year, three crops of wheat and two of beans are gained from manuring twice; and, when fallowed every eighth year, four crops of wheat and three of beans from manuring thrice. In the first-mentioned shift, less manure is bestowed than in any of the other two; and if the soil is of good quality, it will support itself; whereas, in the shifts of six and eight, unless foreign manure is procured, it rarely happens that they can go on successfully for any length of time, without abstracting dung from other parts of the farm on which they are practised, (Brown's Tr, on Rural Affairs.)

4614. In cultivating wheat on thin clays, the rotations just mentioned are inapplicable, A six-course shift of a different kind has, however, been successfully followed by many people; but it requires every branch of the work to be well executed. 1st, a summer fallow, dunged at the rate of twelve or fourteen double loads per acre; 2d, wheat; 3d, grass; 4th, oats; 5th, pease and beans drilled; 6th, wheat. If manure can be given in the middle of the shift, every one of the crops may be expected good; but if that is withheld, there will necessarily be a proportionable falling off in the two last crops. Husbandmen must, however, regulate their practice according to their means; though it deserves to be remarked, that, if greater attention were paid to the collecting of materials which ultimately are converted into manure, many deficiencies in the article would be fully supplied. (Brown.)

4615. Excellent wheat may be grown on light soils, with the exception of soft sands, Such soils, however, are not constitutionally disposed to the growth of that grain; nor will they, under any management, bear such a frequent repetition of it as those already mentioned. Summer fallow on them may safely be dispensed with; because a crop of turnips, which admits every branch of the cleaning process to be more perfectly executed than even a naked or bare fallow does, may be profitably substituted. Wheat here comes in with propriety after turnips, though, in general cases, it must be sown in the spring months, unless the turnips are stored; in which case, it may be sown in November, or it may be sown after clover, for the fourth crop after the rotation; or in the sixth year, as a way-going crop, after drilled pease and beans, if the rotation is extended to that length. But, take it any way, it is scarcely possible to raise wheat so extensively upon light soils, even where they are of the richest quality, as is practicable upon clays; nor will a crop of equal bulk upon the one, return so much produce in grain as may be got from the other. To enlarge upon this point would only serve to prove what few husbandmen will dispute, though, it may be added, that, on thin sands, wheat ought not to be ventured, unless they are either completely clayed or marled, as it is only with the help of these auxiliaries that such a soil can gain stamina capable of producing wheat with any degree of success. (Brown.)

4616. The culture of the soil intended for wheat varies according to its nature, and the preceding and following crops. "On soils really calculated for wheat, though in different degrees, summer fallow is the first and leading step to gain a good crop or crops of that grain. The first furrow should be given before winter, or so early as other operations upon the farm will admit; and every attention should be used to go as deep as possible; for it rarely happens that any of the succeeding furrows exceed the first one in that respect. The number of after-ploughings must be regulated by the condition of the ground and the state of the weather; but, in general, it may be observed, that ploughing in length and across, alternately, is the way by which the ground will be most com. pletely cut, and the intention of fallowing accomplished. It has been argued, that harrowing clay soils, when summer fallowed, is prejudicial to the wheat crop; but, without discussing this point (such a discussion being unnecessary), it may merely be stated, that, in a dry season, it is almost impracticable to reduce real clays, or to work them too small; and that, even in a wet one, supposing they are made surface-smooth, they will, when ploughed up again, consolidate into clods or big lumps after forty-eight hours' drought, and become nearly as obdurate as ever. It is only on thin soils, which have a mixture of peat earth, and are incumbent on a bottom impervious to water, that damage is at any time sustained by over harrowing. Such are generally of a weak texture, and may be broken down with facility by the roller and harrow. If caught by much rain before the pores are in some measure closed, the moisture is greedily absorbed; and being prevented from going downwards by the hardness of the subsoil, the