The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-21 00:00:00

THE ORIGIN 0.11 WHEAT.

(Front the Utica Evataister.)
Wheat may be deemed the food of western civilisation
as rice is of the seini-civilised nations of the east ;—no
doubt the annual consumption of rice over the whole
whole globe is much greater than that of wheat ; yet,
considering the superiority of the people it nourishes,
its higher nutritive properties, and its present and future
commercial value, wheat stands fi ecile priuceps among
the cereals. It can be successfully• cultivated under a
greater variety of soil and climate iihan any other grain.
It flourishes under the cold of Norehern Russia, under
the fogs of England, and even the burning heat of the
tropics. It is an article of regular exportation from
Archangel ; and African travellers inform us that it is
extensively raised fee. the subsistence of the nobility in
the kingdom of Bornon, near the western shores of Lake
Tehad, some 8 deg. to 10 deg. north of the Equator.
Of its origin, nothing is certainly known. It has been
cultivated since the earliest records of authentic history •
in all probability at a far earlier period it was developed
by cultivation out of some wild cereal grass. Recent in-
vestigations and experiments show almost conclusively
that it may be thus originated any-where. The experi-
ments in question were made upon. the .ifoilops °rata, a
grass which grows wild in Sicily ; a brief account of
them we extract from Chambers' Journal. This grass
produces a small seed, and when ripe it is frequently
gathered in bundles by the peasantry, and the heads
scorched in flame, which consumes the husk and beard,
and leaves the seeds slightly roasted. In this state they
are eaten with relish by those who can get nothing
better. There are three or four species of it grassing all
around the Mediterranean. In the year 1838, M.
Fabre, an enlightened agriculturist of A gde, in the
South of France, considering these grasses to belong
to the cerelia, began a series of careful experi-
ments on the Egilops °rata, with a view to ascertain
what effect would be produced upon it by cultivation.
A plot of ground, sheltered by high walls, and sufi-
ciently distant from fields of other greunine, was prepared,
and in this be sowed a few seeds in 1838. The plants
grew from 20 to 24 inches high, and ripened by the mid-
dle of July, in the following year, and though with but
few fertile spikelets, the yield was ift the proportion of
five to one. Here was already a marked difference—in
its wild state, the e•Egilops seldcem grows higher than
from six to nine inches, with curved stalks, bearing a
small, flat, rudimentary ear, containing sue or two
grains. The stalks are extremely brittle, and whea
fully ripe the ears turn black and fall off, like the
leaves from a tree. In these batter respects, M.
Fabre's crop of 1839 retained its: original habit, for
the ears were deciduous, and the stalk broke off easily,
but there was a marked difference in height and in
amount of produce. The seeds were again sown, and in
1840 the spikelets were more numerous ; scarcely an ear
without two seeds, and these more floury than before,
approaching the character of wheat.
In 1841, the resemblance to wheat was still more ob•
servable ; the ears, which were less fiat, had from two
to three grains, and the beard had almost disappeared.
The next year the plants stood stall, being slightly at-
tacked by rust ; the number of grains, however, was
not diminished. But, in 1843, the delay was made up ;
the stalks grew three feet high, and stronger, than in
any previous season ; the ears could not be easily broken
off ; the grains were plumper ; one of the plants yielded
386 to one, and another 450 to one. In 1844, every ear
was full, and the grains not so densely coated as before.
In 1845, the transformation into wheat was complete ;
all the plants were true representatives of cultivated
wheat. Since 1845, M. Fabre has sown the seed ob-
tained with so much care, in an open field, among vine-
yards, and by the roadside, with a return from six to
eightfold. The stems are straight and strong, the ears
are round and beardless, the
rains very floury, and in
no single instance has there been any return to the form
g
of the original iEgilerps orata.
Here, then, in seven years—if these statements are to
be relied on—we have a change effected by artificial
means, which may be regarded as one of the
niss have
r mostextra-
ordinary phenomena of cultivation. But:
peatedlyßsaahiydlnia
that our
andou Persia,rcnitivate d dawn here we have the
Wheat once grew wild
inSicily,
explanation. The brief account we have given of the
history
ty
of these experiments show by what a gradual
progress
vetted ry a wild and comparative.. useless grass was con-
ted into our most valuable cereal. The first
thesci entifi
agriculturists have come to the conolusion that
cul-
tivated wheats are only races of the eEgilops, and assum-
ing the facts in the above instance to be correctly given,
itiwonld seem that the question of the origin of wheat
may now be considered settled. Its production in this
manner gives us reason to suppose that it never was in-
digenous to any particular country—a supposition which
its existence in so many different varieties, and the con-
tradictory accounts of its origin, only serve to confirm.

ARTISTS' BENEVOLENT FUND.—Yesterday, the annual
general meeting of this corporation was held at the Free-
masons' Tavern—Mr. Henry Twining in the chair. A
report was presented, showing that the balance in hand
on the Ist of January, 1855, was 1381. Bs. 9d., received
during the year (including a seventeenth donation of
100 guineas from her Majesty), 1,1361. 11s. ; total 1,2741.
19s. 9d. The sum paid to fifty-two widows had been
813/. 18s. ; to twenty-six orphans, 123/. 15s. ;
9371. 13s. ; expenses of management, 1871. 176- Bd. ;
balance in hand, December 31, 149/. 9s. ld. The report
having been adopted and the officers re-elected, the
meeting adjourned.