verse or so placed that the edges of the florets are towards the rachis— and two palæ surrounding the seed, the external or lower one armed or pointed, and the internal or upper one cleft at the point. The rachis (spine) or shaft is jointed; the spaces between the joints are called the internodii; the spikelets rising one above another on each side of the rachis, constitute the spike, or ear, or head; the glume or lowermost shield of each spikelet corresponds to the calyx of non-gramineous plants, and each of the florets to a corallo; some certain florets in each species, in general, are fertile, while others are barren; and the aggregate inflorescence of the several species differs very widely in the length and form of the rachis, the size and shape and packing of the spike, the comparative length of the glumes, and the number and fertility of the florets, and above all, in the various properties of the seeds. The distinctive characters of many of the species are sufficiently obvious and invariable to serve. the purposes of the most stringent classification; but those of some others, particularly of such as are very extensively cultivated and as run much into varieties, either shade off so greatly through these varieties, or are so liable to change under the influences of climate and soil and culture as to render the drawing of any precise line of demarkation between different species in some cases exceedingly difficult, and in one or two quite impossible.

Some wheats of an apparently peculiar nature have been introducedas the Egyptian, the Polish, the Liberian, the Zealand and the Talaveraand additions are being constantly made to the stock from various parts of the world; but although differing in the proportions, which they contain of nutritive matter, as well as in some particulars connected with their growth, yet they have all sprung from one origin--and, being composed of similar elements are consequently applied to the same purpose. Botanists indeed class some of them as a distinct species; thus for instance the Egyptian produces several ears from the same stem, which is not the case with any other sort; but when repeatedly sown upon poor land, its supernumerary ears gradually disappear and it at length loses all appearance of variety. In like manner, other kinds of wheat grown in soils and climates more favorable to vegetation than our own, have, when first introduced, succeeded very well and had apparently become acclimated, yet in a series of years have degenerated, while other sorts imported from a more northern climate, or taken from an inferior quality of soil, have on the contrary improved.

The same circumstance occurs to those species generally distinguished as winter and spring wheat; for although they seem from their time of

growth to be a different nature, yet one can be, at pleasure, transformed into the other by the common means of culture. Thus if winter wheat be sown in the month of February, or the beginning of March, a portion of it will ripen, though the lateral shoots will be weak and the crop will only be moderate. If, however, the seed thus produced be sown the next spring it will throw out stronger stems, will tiller with more luxuriance; and if the operation be repeated in the following year, it will then be found converted into the nature of summer wheat. If, on the contrary, spring wheat be sown in the month of October, and the next winter prove severe, the crop will perish, or can only be saved if it be completely covered by a heavy fall of snow. Should the weather continue mild, the seed will then, however, produce a tolerable crop, which will ripen earlier than autumn wheat; the seed obtained from it will in the following year take longer to ripen than that of the former season; it will also tiller bet ter and partake so much more of the nature of the winter species, that, if sown in the month of May, it will not produce a crop. Thus, also, however early the true winter wheat may be sown in autumn, it will not produce stems in the same year; but the real spring wheat will do so if sown at any time before midsummer. Similar remarks might be made, with more or less force, respecting other supposed specific characters-either such comparatively broad ones as those which distinguished the Egyptian wheats from the common cultivated wheats, or such comparatively narrow ones as those which distinguish the winter wheats from the spring wheats. Yet the instabilities and gradations in specific character, even though they were both greater and more numerous than they are, effect mainly the niceties of classification and address themselves principally to systematic botanists; and they neither prevent mutational characters from being as true indexes of intrinsic constitution and adaptations as fixed ones, nor ought to deter agriculturists from appreciating classifications which, whether serviceable or worthless to the purposes of exact botanical science, may in some way or other be decidedly useful to the purposes of farming economy.

In this volume will be found a translation from Metzger's European Cereals of the Classification of Wheats, as adopted by him; it is inserted in this report more for the purpose of acquainting the agriculturists of Ohio with the names, estimates and qualities of European wheats, in order to guard them from being misled by strange names which they may find attached to wheats, which may be distributed by persons enjoying positions of "honor and profit," than for any other practical benefit.

A brief account of Le Conteur's classification was deemed necessary. The extract from Prof. Emmon's Agricultural Survey is introduced rather on account of the tables of analyses of the various wheats grown on dif ferent as well as on the same soils, than for any practical knowledge of classification.

Finally, the varieties of wheat grown in Ohio were classified, or rather grouped in accordance with their most obvious distinctions, namely: color and form, i. e. the RED wheats form the first group, the WHITE ones the second, and the spring wheats the third. The group of red and white wheats are divided into BEARDED and SMOOTH varieties.

This system of grouping if not in accordance with systematic botany, is to say the least, the most obvious and comprehensive, and therefore the most practical.

Color, however is perhaps too unstable to serve as a basis of classification, because many wheats are even now changing from red to white, and in all probability the present "amber" colored wheats are those which in the course of the next quarter or half a century will become entirely white. There is little doubt however that the white wheats are legitimate descendants of the red ones; the red blue stem being the progenitor of the white blue stem; the bearded red Mediterranean being the parent of bearded white Mediterranean variety, and so of others. If color is disregarded in grouping there will then be that of form only remaining—all wheats then must be formed in one of two groups-bearded or beardless.

J. METZGER ON WHEAT.

Common True Wheat, (Frumenta).

Spike four cornered imbricated, awned or without awns, spikelets two or three fruitful, diffuse, valves ventricose and compressed under the apex. Seed oblong, ventricose truncate, farinaceous, rarely vitreous.

Common Bearded Wheat, (Triticum Sativum).

Spike soft, awned, white.

Club Wheat, (T. Compactum).

Spike soft, diffuse, without awns, white seeds, whitish.

Rough Bearded Wheat, (T. hordeiforme, Host).

Spike not soft, awned, white, seed whitish.

Hard and Red Club Wheat.

Spike hard, not awned, brownish, bald.

2. Turgid Cone, or English Wheat, (T. turgidum).

Spike regularly four cornered, always awned. Spikelets extended, 2 to 3 seedy, 2 awned. Glumes short and ventriculose. Awns standing regularly in 4 rows.

3. True Beard Wheat, (Triticum durum).

Spike oval and four-cornered, somewhat compressed, long, always awned. Awns very compact and standing in such a manner as to decline from each other. Glumes compressed, with elevated backs ending in a long and bent tooth. Seeds long, three-cornered, bright and glassy.

4. Polish Wheat (Triticum Polonicum). Plate I., No. 9.

Four-cornered and compressed spike. Spikelets 2-grained, and lying loosely on each other. Glumes compressed, very long, 2-toothed. Seeds elliptic, very long, somewhat triangular, bright, and glassy.

6. Russian Spelt (Triticum amyleum).

(Triticum dicoccum, Schrank, Schubler, Newb.)

Spike flat, of equal width. Spikelets standing closely above each other, 2-grained. Calix-chaffs hard, bent, ending in a long and bent tooth. Seeds long, mucronated, bright, and glassy. Seeds do not separate from the glumes at maturity.

7. St. Peter's Corn (Triticum monococcum).

Spike compressed, hard, awned. Spikelets bent, standing closely above each other, mostly 3-flowered, 1-grained. Seeds oblong, glassy. a. Spike brownish and smooth.

SECTION I.

True Wheats Frumenta).

Seeds not attached to the chaff. Rachis not brittle.

1. Common Wheat (T. vulgare).

Spike four-cornered, compressed, both awned and without awns. Spikelets four-flowered, the 2 and 3 lower ones fruitiferous, 3-grained, very extended, longer than broad. Paleæ ventricose, truncate at its extremity, with an acuminate tooth. External valve awned, or acuminate, with a long awn-like tooth. Internal valve thin-skinned, inacuminate. Seeds oblong, ventricose, truncate, mealy, rarely glassy.

a. Wheat-Spring-Wheat (Triticum vulgare).

Spike soft, awned, white.

Weisser, gemeiner Bartweizen, Weisser Grannenweizen, Winterweizen, in Germany; Froment commun, F. barbue, F. cultive, Ble grison, Ble

trois-mois, Touzello blanche barbue, ble de Chine, ble froment de Reval,

in France; Trigo caudeal, Hembrilla, &c., Spain.

证

Halm, from 3 to 4 feet high, erect. Blades, or leaves, 4 inches broad, from 6 to 7 inches long. Spike, from 3 to 4 inches long, soft, compressed, uniformly broad, pyramidal. Rachis, fine-haired on its border. Spikelets, from 16 to 20, 2 and 3 seeded, diffuse, 3-awned. Palece, with an awn-like tooth, smooth, white,* striped brownish. External valve smooth, mostly glossy, awned. Internal valve as long as the external one, thin-skinned, flat, half embracing the seeds. Awns squarrose, declining from each other, almost as long as the spike, the upper ones shorter. Seeds oblong, ventricose, of average size, grayish-white, more glassy than mealy.

This wheat belongs to the species of Cerealia having less value, on account of its smaller grains, than club-wheat, and its cultivation has been abandoned.

aa. Common White Bearded Wheat (Summer Wheat).

This Summer-Wheat cannot botanically be distinguished from the variety just described, and which has been changed to a summer wheat by repeated spring sowings. It is known by a variety of names. From Sicily, where it seems to be generally cultivated as a summer wheat, by the names of Richezza, Schiaza, Longhese, Pilostella, Paulla, Frumentimischi, Castigliara, Finezza, Vacsia, Questalia amuscata, and in France by the name of Ble du Cap.

This wheat is not suited for our better husbandries, and is not equal to club-wheat. But it is nevertheless indispensable in some sections of Italy, where it is cultivated on account of its straw, which is used for the finest straw braidings.†

* In wet weather before and after harvest, the awns will assume a darker color, and then the spike will appear similar to the variety c.

This variety has been cultivated in Germany to a very slight extent for the straw, to be employed in braidery or plaitings, and has given entire satisfaction to the growers. It may not be amiss to give a brief description of the culture of this variety, and treatment of the straw when intended for braidery only:

At the usual period of sowing spring wheat, sow this variety on a thin soil, but sow it so thick that one grain almost touches another, and then harrow it in, so that it is slightly covered. The crop is then allowed to take care of itself until reaping time, which should take place whilst the grains are yet in a milky state, and the stalks commencing to turn yellow. The straws should be dried in the sun, and then removed to a shed or shelter in sheaves, there to be cleaned and assorted into sizes. For the finest braids, that portion of the stalk between the head or spike and first joint only is to be used—this portion generally is from 3 to 5 inches in length, and is valued according to its fineness; the straws are assorted generally into ten sizes. After the assorting is