Smyrna times., 1872-08-14
MiSceIIU ~ e D II S.
For the Smyrna Times.
Wheat Culture in Delaware.
An Address delirered before the Agricultural
Club Of Harrington, by T. B. Coursey.

GENTLEMEN When you requested me to
address you on the subject of wheat culture, l
respectfully suggested that it would seem better
to call on some one more extensively engaged
in its cultivation and better qualified to do JUS
tice to the subject. As you insist, however, |
upon my saying something upon the question, |
will endeavor to make it as interesting as my
time and opportunities will permit, not presum
ing to more than glance at the subject for to
do it justice would require book of many
pages.
will first notice the wheat plant, its origin,
and susceptibility to change; second, the ex-
tent and importance OF the crop; third, the
| fluctuations or increase and decrease in our
product at different periods in our history, and
especially the decline in our crop in the last
decade fourth, the cause of this decline, and
fifth, how we may again bring our crops up to
the standard of former years.
The Wheat PIant--Its Origin and suscepsibiIiiy to
1 Change.
Some believe, and | am of that number, that
it was created very similar in appearance and
| general characteristics to what we find it to-
day, or perhaps in greater perfection. 1t
would seem to be as old as our race. We have
no history that goes beyond that written by
Moses In that we learn that bread was the
first food of man after the fall. We lind
recorded in Genesis And God said unto Adam
,
Bread is also mentioned in several passages
"And he made them feast, and did brake
| unleavened bread" Cain, our elder brother,
was a tier of the soil. 1t is fair to presume
that wheat was one of the articles cultivated
by him, and that the bread spoken oi
was made from wheat. But in Numbers
l. which goes back nearly as far as Genesis, we
find wheat mentioned "All of the best of th'
oil all the best of the wine, and the Uhedt
The Psallnist says, He should have fed then
with the first of the wheat" Ruth cleaned il
ID the field Of Boaz, who commanded his younl
| rpen to let fall few handfulls on purpose, s.
" that she might gather them; as she kept fas
. by the maidens of Boaz to CLEAN with them
the end of the barley and ,ohedt harvest.
From these quotations it would seem tina
wheat was created perfect in the beginning
and is coeval with our race, and not, as som
suppose, an improved grass seed, brought t
its present standard OF excellence by cultlVa
ton. Though were we to give credence to tn
statement of French gardener, we wouI
have to admit the possibility of such chang
s It is stated that French gardener sowed II
seeds of a coarse grass, named by botanls
agiope, in the fall of 1899, and that IN h'
mr. wears successive seeding and cultivation u
plants then produced we're regarded by all wi
examined them to be genuine wheat plants.
lea. This experiment would indicate that whes
in It's present condition, may be the result
to cultivation. But it would take more than o.
Frenchman to convert me to that theory.
=. that be so, cheat may turn to wheat, wheat
cheat, and monkeys to men. 1T wheat IN
nd present condition be the result of cultivatlO
why is il that perfect wheat is found growl
wild in California and Oregon over lar
,o,. extent of territory, and under circumstanC
that preclude the suppOstion that 1t had be be
. to cultivated by the IndiansY" Here 1t exhlb
ed itself as a genuine and thrifty wheat pla
l. to 1t would be interesting to learn whether the
were more than one variety growing there
that condition. 1t is thought by scientific IN
a. 4" who have given the subject some study, that
the varieties we have, and all that have preceo
them, had a common origin, and that
ouality, appearance, and time OF ripenlng,
the result of climate and soil in the hrst pa
and further changed by hybridizatlon. L
=. change, though somewhat difficult to effec'
wheat, is easy to accomplish Win corn'
The Extent and Importance of the Crop
The wheat crop is, perhaps, the most
Heidi portant of all crops in the United states DC
second only to the corn crop IN point oil MAJ
tude. and second to none IN money value
imnortance as an article of commerce and to
IL being the chief sustenance OF thTty-f
i. millions of people in the United Sta
and many millions also in Europe, ana
the commercial world one of the great ru
sbin, products, regulating the exchanges OF Eur
and America" The value of meal and !
manufactured in the United States, IN II
has has been estimated at 1928, la, ,339, being
increase of ss7, ,246. 563 upon that of 1850
have no statistics at hand by which l can
the the product Of 1870, but ne doubt there
'v'"' a A great increase-greater, perhaps, than
nreyious decade. For though we may dec
IN our productions home, there =, are a a
thousand acres being developed 10 the ne.
n the Elements every year mucn msns Gamma, o1
'fO'I It's .s land and sea, but enough has already