The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume] (Nininger City, Minn. Terr. [i.e. Minn.]) 1856-1858, 1858-02-10

the plant advances tOWaIO ptI1cSIOuJ ~"
the surface become the chief source OF n"urlshment'
aud in "a rich compost soil, whe;e there Is room, numer'
Gus stems arise, forming a tuft, from each o! wn'cn
Sprin Is a stalk, sustaining an car well tiled with seeds
hence the power of this plant for the tremendous IN,
or, aSe above all other useful grains. The phenomena OF
the extension Of roots are Ut the most curious Interest,
tor in search Of nutriment they seem to display some
| thing more than mechanical growth.
That all vegetables absorb their food in y fuld state
seems beyond contradiction, but how this Is accomplished
is not clearly understood how the phosphate Of lime
and other iusoluble substances are absorbed by tue gel
icate roots is profound mystery. f'ants ~ nealu'
however. pussess the power of intelligent selection. aud
the roots Of each will feed only upon such substances
as are best calculated to promote their growth, a"o II
they can find nothing genial, they will either starve, or
driven by hunger, they will partake ofthe poison around
them and die.
bend the beautiful laws Of nature, dissolved together IN
water various salts, aud then placed in these solutions
growing plants, some perfect, aud others with their roots
cut of. The mutilated plants absorbed indlscrlmlnate'y
all tie salts dissolved in the water, while the perfect
ones separated fro,l the water only those required for
their healthy existence, aud rejected the remainder,
absolutely acting a. delicate chemists, and performing
funcri"ns with their siupie vessels, such as cannot ec
initiated by the most complicated laboratory Ut science.
Botapi.ts claim to know two or three hundred kinds
Of wheat; there are, however, only three principal
kinds, so different i'll their app, arance that they need
to be particularly OlccU Iutsc ~ NC n0i~ ""S"'@
the soft whe.t,, aud the polish wheats. The hard va
riety are products of warm climates, such as belong to
i ttaly, Sicily, and Barblry. The soft varieties are the
products OF the United States and Of the northern coun-
tries Of Europe, as Belgium, Britain, Denmark, and
Sweden. The Polish wheats arc from the country
when they der ve'their name, and are similar to those
of temperate regions; it is only in their external form
that they are distinguished trom other wheats. The
hard wheats have Il compact seed, near.y transparent,
which, when shattered, break short aud displAya very
white -four within. The soft wheats peculiar to our
own fields, have an Opaque coat, and when first reapcd
give way readily to the pressure Ut the finger and thumb
they must be we'll dried before they eau be manufactured
into -four. The Polish wheats have u long chat, and
are cylindrical in appearance they are delicate spring
wheats, but not very productive in this country, aud are
mainly cultivated for experiment.
The hard wheats produce tue greatest amount of yl~-
ten, a tough substance containing much nutrimen', and
readily promoting that fermentation which makes light
bread; hence it Is that in Italy we meet with so many
rich pastes which, form 50 large a part Of the food OF the
people of that country. The soft wheat contain, on the
| other hand, the greatest amount Of starch, which fits
them for vinous fermentation, encouraging brewing aud
distilling, and the consequent evil OF the abuse OF lntox-
icating liquors.
Charles Miller, of the Botanic Gardens, at Cambridge,
England, in June, l776, selected a grain Of wheat that
seemed ready 20 branch out, pulled it up, and on the
9Th of August divided it into eighteen parts, each Of
which he replantcd separately. livery one of these new
plant, put forth several lateral shoots, when they were
again uprootsd in September, divided and replanted.-
The sevcnty.six shoots thus obtained underwent a similar
operation in the course OF the ensuing March and April,
finally developing in all five hundred plants, from which
came II 100 ears, producing forty seven pounds aud a
half Of grain, or four million seven hundred and sixty
eight thousand and forty seeds.
Hardy as wheat is, it is subject to many diseases, and
al o suffers from insects. The weevil is quite familiar
its young is supposed to be deposited in the ear Of wheat,
which they leave about August, and go into the ground,
where it is probable they remain during the wiuter in
the pupa state, and become HleS the next season, when
the wheat is in bloom. IL
In rainy seasons, wheat is subject to a disease known
a. the blight. o. ex mining u grain thus affected, with
a powerful microscope, it is found to consist Of u hard
shell filled with white powder, the dust containing no
trace of starch it consists entirely of microscopic
threads which arc dry, stiff W. rms. When placed III
water, these worms exhibit microscopic motion tor a few
M ,ments. When the wheat Is new, they soon make
other manifold movements which are unmlstakable Signs
Of life. When the grain Is old, 1t requires Several hours,
or sometimes even days, before they resume motion aud
life. In u single grain Of affected wheat, they are geu
erally several thousands Of these worms They have no
sexual distinctions; they are the offspring Of other
forms. Before a blight comes on, there arc found from
ten to twelve larger worms in each kernel, which is about
20 be affected, an the females of tn te larger worms
have been observed to lay eggs. 1t bighted wheat Is
sown With sound, the worms, after u few weeks, and
when the sound wheat has germinated, are awakened
into lif. by the moisture of the earth, br. ak through the
thin she'll which has confined them, and follow tue dc
tates of individual enterprise; the great mass OF th' IN
die, but few reach the terminated wheat, and effect a
Judgment in the stalk uLder the forming leaves. They
are carried up in dry weather BY the growth of the plant,
and in wet by their own exertions. AS they are dried
up most Of the time, they suffer no considerable change
until they enter into the forming kernels aud lay their
eggs. By the time the wheat Is ripe the parent insect
is dead. Those remaining are dried into almost nothing,
the egg shells are absorbed, and the grain is apparently
filled with nothing but white powder.
The highest price that four has reached turng a
period of sixty years, was in 1896, when it sold at SIX
teen dollars u barrel. In 1917, it was quoted at four
teen dollars. In 1917, the period OF the Irish famine,
four never exceeded! ten dollars. The prices Ut bre'u-
stuff, were higher in 1895, than for sixty years, 1t we
except the seasons OF 1890 and 1917. From the MN
utes kept at the office of the Van Rensselaer, Mansion
at Albany for s,x,y-one years, where large amounts OF
rents are payable IN wheat or a cash equivalent, on the
lst Of January of each year, We learn thas wheat has
only Eve tunes been two dollars or upward u bushei'
while ii was seventeen times at one dollar, anu twice at
seventy. five cents the average price tor the "noe
period was one dollar and thirty eight cents. and Tor the
last thirty years one dollar and twenty, five cents.
Fluctuations iu the price Of -four are ascrlbeo 10 'Pec
ulations by capitalists. That moneyed men may tnee
\ locality tor . tow days is possible, but no combination