Wilmington daily commercial. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1866-1877, 1872-08-21
By THOMAS Il. ooURsEY.


tfnAt
o,,o more extensively engaged in its cultivation,
and better qualified to do Justice to the subject,
4 yon insist, however, upon my saying some
u.ia,, upon the question, l will endeayor to make
i, .s interesting as my time and opportunities
..,,i norn,it not presuming TO more than glance
WI ,l,c subject. For to do it justice, would re-
mira a book of MANY pages.
will first notice. The Wheat Pldit its origin,
,,'I S,sr,piibiiity 10 Change. Second, The Er-
"'t and Importance Of he Crop. Third The
''t,,ijo,,. or increase and decrease, IN orr pro-
.,j,oD al different periods IN Our history, and
,y,,c,,,iit he DeciiHe in the Crop IN The last de-
',rL Fourth The Cause IF his Decline. Fifth,
U,r ,re man again Bring orr Crops 10 he stan.
art n former years
r,,t.. Wheat PLAINTIFFS ORIGIN AND SUSCEPTIBLE
Try TO CHANGE.
Same helieye land am one Of that NUMBER
that II was created very similar in quality, ap.
,nntanre and general characteristics, to what
~ ind ID to-day or perhaps IN greater perfec-
tilu Il would seem to be az old AZ our race.
Ne have no history that goeH beyond that writ
t,i, by Moses In that we learn that bread was
ia, tr.t food Of man after the fall We find
r,'.,,lpd IN Genesis, And God sad unto Adam,
m tllr sweat OF thy face shalt thou eat bread"
E,r.d ia also referred to in several other pas
.su,, And ho made them feast, and did
lille nmlrayened bread.' Cain, our elder broth
~ wa- tiller Of the soil it il fair to presume
tii, Wheat was one of the articles cultivated by
Inn. aud tina; the bread spoken of was made
from Wheat But in Numbers, which goes
nearly a. far back AZ Genesis, we find Wheat
mentioned IAN of tho best of tho oil, all the
hest Of the vino aud rtedt." The Psalmst
-a,-. lie should have fed them with the first
Al fine ,rhfai' Ruth CLEANED IN the field of
B,al. who commanded his young men to let
tall a few handEful on purpose 80 that she might
gather them, 10 she kept fast by the maidens of
I4,al Ia CLEAN with them to the end of the bar
p, and rhcdt harvest From these quotations
ii would seem that Wheat was created perfect
in the beginning, and il coeval with our race ;
and not. as some suppose, an improved grass
seed, brought to its present standard of excel
lence by cultivation though wore we to give
Hrlonce to the statement of French gardener
We would have to admit tho possibility of such
q change.
In stated that French gardener sowed the
seed. Of a coarse grass, named by botauihts
A. Hope, in the fall of 1889 and in five years
successive seeding and cultivation the plants
iIcu produced were regarded by all who exam
inrtl Them to be genuine Wheat plants. This
experiment. would Indicate that Wheat in its
ue-rnt condition may be the result OF tultiya-
tom but 1t would take more than one French
man To convert me to that theory. IL that be-
su cheat may turn to wheat, and wheat to cheat
anil monkeys to mon. II Wheat in its present
condition be the result of cultivation, why is it
tlat perfect wheat ia found growing wild in Cal
lilruia aud Oregon, over large extent OF terri
tu.y and under circumstances that preclude the
sgipusitiun that it had been cultivated by the
ldHns Here il exhibited itself as genuine
and thrifty Wheat plant. Ii would be interest
ms 10 learn whether there were more than one
variety growing there in this condition. 1t is
thought by scientific men who have given the
matter some study, that all tho varieties We
have at present, and all that have preceded
tIHui. had a pOmmnu OT1rtD and tlat the Ut Her
cnor IN quality appearance and time of lipening,
ana Tie result OF climate and soil in the first
place, and further change by hybridZaton,
Ills change though somewhat difficult to effect
10 Wheat, IL easy to accomplish with corn.
me EXTENT AND nIroRrANCE OF THE onor.
ho Wheat crop il perhaps the most impor-
tnl of all crops grown in the United Stat er
hrUg second only to the corn crop in point Of
magnitude, and second tc none in money value
aud Importance az an article Of commerce and
food 1t being the chief suslenance of thirty four
millions of people in the United States, and
many millions also in Europe. "And in the
commercial world one of the great ruling pro-
ducts regulating the Exchanges of Europe and
America The value Of meal and flour manu-
hctured III the L. s. in 1860 has been estimated
at G223, II 3G9 being an Increase of 4S7, 2lG, 5Gj
upon that Of 1850. l have no statistics at hand
from which to give the product OF 1870, but no
doubt great increase- greater, perhaps than
cline IN our production here, there are many
thousands of acres being developed in the now
settlements every year. Much might be said of
Its Importance to the carrying companies by
land and sea, but enough has already been said
to show its magnitude and importance.
ruE nrcTuAuoN, on INCREASE AND DECREASE,
IN OUR WHEAT CRor.
Ia the carly history of our country, it was only
necessary Ia clear on piece of land and pro-
fIaa al
illur to have an ASSURANCE of fair crop OF
Wheat. There WAS then no fly TO prevent early
seeding did early actiiHJ secured it against
the Winter, rust, blight, and all other crop des-
upyers, except drought and hail. But AS the
land became older or longer under cultivation
the crop toll of III quantity and quality and il
became subject to fly, rust, scab, and smut anC
became 80 uuremunerative that the breadth OF
land seeded in this and most OF the old State,
was greatly reduced.
Alier the crop had thus run down, and gen
crNl failure caused heavy importations iron
abroad, farmers turned their attention to new
varieties of seed and a better system Of farm
ng About this time the variety known az Med
rrranean was introduced, OF which will speal
hereafter. This, l think, was about 1888, o
perhaps year or two later. Spring Wheat wa
afro introduced into the State about this time o.
year or ~ earlier, and at first promised a rev
oHuun in Wheat-growing here, but soon failed
lnl farmers having made forwrd move availet
themselves OF every help ollered aud as a con
srluence of better farming and higher manur
ins, Delaware and Maryland Increased tlei
Product about 5O per cent. between 1850 an,
lSGO.
The Introduction of new varieties had some
lhhg to do with this increase, but more perhap
is due to Peruvian GuanO (Which was brough
INTO general use during this decade) than al
others. But our crops are not 80 good now a
they were then. Why this falling OFF ? On
baVa moran oil and tpa
That our Wheat crops would increase also, a
"lr land is advancing in improvement year b
year But such is not the case our whea
crops have fallen of considerably within tn
larl decade, and 1t may be well here 10 inquir
Tor
IE CAUSE OF THE DECLINE IN OUR PRODUCT.
In searching for the cause Of the decline il
oar production, can find nothing that seems 4
apparent as the deterioration of our seed wheat
That it has deteriorated is easily proved, by re
iciling to the many popular varieties that W
hHyo heretofore had, winch have run out an
lccn abandoned and their places substituted b
olher varieties which have in turn been abaI
duned also until We are left alone with but on
VARIETY in general use in this State. We hay
lad, within my recollection, dozen ditfereu
varieties. My first work in the harvest tielC
some 81 years ago, il associated with a vsriet
known AS red-beaTd, which was very popual
dld maintained its excellence for many yeal
and stood our climate better than any variet
We had at that time, or perhaps, since, Tn
VAS followed by many varieties, among whie
Was rcd chatf, which was a beautiful white whea
hut not as prolific as some other Varieties yet q
account Of its excellent qualities for flour wa
cultivated for number OF years. Many OF 20
lcmember the introduction of the blue stem
"lhto variety, which, when first introduced, wa
good for from 70 to 30 bushels per acre, bI
after few years seemed to deteriOrate and b.
came subject to fly rust and smut, until fai
uio was more certain than even a modera
tIOu. and ia nnw nufira1v oil.