that all the wheat grown in Volhynia, and Sandomir, is plump and perfect? That no varieties are grown there, which may appear coarse, lean, or shrivelled? Not having been there, I am unable to speak from personal experience; but evidence, as far as examination goes, and hearsay, lead one to believe that there, as well as elsewhere, seasons affect wheat, and deteriorate it, both in its appearance and intrinsic value.

Hence, it is confidently assumed, that it only remains to be ascertained which are the best British wheats, in order to secure them of British growth from the climates of England, Ireland and Scotland, as pure, plump, and thin-skinned, as the choicest "high mixed."

I have shewn the great productiveness of some sorts. I have often found, among some of the Dantzic white wheat, a coarse red thick-skinned sort, which in the ear was precisely similar in appearance to the proper one to be cultivated; even so similar, as to be undistinguishable from it, when viewed by Professor La Gasca and myself, through a magnifying glass; it was only on examining the grain, that the inferiority of one of the two was perceivable: therefore, where seed is not originally procured pure, it should be selected, and all the grains of a different shade from the approved sort, removed; or the mixture and deterioration of a crop might be such, as to

lead a farmer to wonder, how it could thus have de generated, as it is termed, in the short space of a season or two, in defiance of the expense he may have incurred, or of his care and diligence.

Two years ago, a farmer requested me to view a very pure crop, there was no mixture in it! In merely walking round the crop, which, in fact, was both pure and fine, in common parlance; I selected from it ten varieties; had I had I gone into it, ten more would probably have been found. A crop of this variety, the Duck's Bill, then originally procured from Kiel, in the Baltic, which I saw this year as a second year's produce, is so intermixed, as almost to make it difficult to pronounce what variety it is intended for.

The Duck's Bill to which I allude, is very subject to shake out from the ear, if at all over ripe; and has proved to be only fit for making pastry, as it is too tenacious for the purpose of making household bread: hence the necessity of not only having wheat crops pure, but of knowing their particular qualities and properties.

CHAPTER VII.

ON MEAL AND BREAD.

THE main object of farmers has been, merely to grow the largest possible crop of wheat, whereas the true aim of corn growers should be, to produce the largest quantity of meal or flour. It is to the real nutriment we should look-to those transparent, thin-skinned wheats, which are enveloped in so fine a husk or coat, or in so little bran, and contain so much meal, that when compared with the coarse red wheats, one is almost surprised the plants should bear the same name; some of these last having a large portion of thick, coarse bran, with dark, coarse-looking flour, affording much less bread than the former varieties, and that of an inferior quality.

Some of these coarser descriptions of flour, are prepared for sale by being mixed with potato flour, or other compounds, to make up that adulterated bread which is often met with in cities. I have known bread, made from a judicious admixture of winter and spring wheats, to preserve a wholesome moisture, and to continue of good flavour for eight or ten days, whereas most London bread thus kept, would have

become so dry as to be scarcely eatable, perhaps even mouldy.

The difference of the nature and property of meal produced from various wheats, is such, that it should be clearly made known, and established, in order to enable millers to name the portion of dry light flour, or the portion of flour of a moist nature, required; or that the combination of two, or more sorts, would exactly suit their purpose.

The growers should supply the millers with wheat of known qualities, and the millers form the mixtures as the bakers might desire.

It will be recollected, that in order to ascertain the relative specific gravity of each variety of corn, the number of grains were noted that exactly weighed a scruple; page 19. Such was their difference, that it only required fourteen grains of one sort, of my own growth, to weigh a scruple, whereas it took forty-two of a sample from the Baltic, which, probably, must have been kiln-dried, as not one grain sprouted. It is assumed that this may be a good mode of ascertaining which contains most meal, as it appears to be consonant to reason, that the heaviest grains should generally contain the greatest portion of farina, though I am yet unprepared to say positively that the latter must be the finest, or whitest. This attempt to ascertain the comparative weight of many varieties, by merely weighing them, led me

to prosecute my researches from the straw, and grain, on to the meal itself, in order to be fully satisfied which of the fourteen sorts under experiment, contained the greatest portion of meal or flour.

Hence, I hoped to ascertain, if the most productive sort in grain, should also prove the most farinaceous; a great, and important desideratum. I am truly happy to say that such was almost the result. I shall indicate how much further it requires to be prosecuted, to establish it.

The mode I adopted, was to strike a measure full of each sort of wheat, which was then ground by myself, in a small mill. The scale of weights used, was sixty-four grains apothecaries weight, equal to one gross, and eight gross, equal to one ounce, of sixteen to the pound.

It will be seen, by referring to the table, that a measure of No. 1, or Jersey Dantzic wheat, weighed one ounce, five gross, and twenty-eight grains; this produced one ounce and forty-two grains of flour, with only four gross and twenty-four grains of bran ; whereas, the most inferior variety, or that, which produced most bran and least meal, from the same measure, produced only six gross, three grains of flour, and six gross, thirty-seven grains of bran-in fact, more bran than flour. This, however, is not a conclusive experiment to determine the growth of wheat on an extensive scale, as no one, it is hoped, has yet