CONICAL WHEAT-Triticum turgidum,-has been attempted in England, but without any profitable result, having no qualities that recommend it to the notice of the agriculturist.

Some other varieties exist, which, although they do not appear to be well adapted to the climate of England, are yet cultivated extensively elsewhere; they are therefore deserving of description.

EGYPTIAN, or MANY-SPIKED WHEAT-Triticum compositum,-called also the Corn of Abundance. This species is principally cultivated in the country whose name it bears, and in Italy. It is probably a native of the north of Africa, and resembles spring wheat, in its habits, more than any other description.

Ear and Plant of Egyptian, or many-spiked Wheat. The ear is bearded, and the grains are thinner than those of winter wheat. It is the distinctive peculiarity of this plant that its rachis is branched, so that the ear is made up of several spikelets. Egyptian wheat will bear great degrees of heat and drought without injury, so that it is found to yield abundantly in situations where other kinds would be greatly injured, if not destroyed-a circumstance which points it out as admirably adapted to the arid lands whereon it is chiefly cultivated.

POLISH WHEAT-Triticum polonicum.—This variety was partially cultivated in England in the latter part of the seventeenth century, but is now to be found here only in botanic gardens.

Ear and Plant of Polish Wheat.

SPELT WHEAT-Triticum spelta-is imagined to have been the Triticum of the Romans, and the Zea of the Greeks, although this latter name has now been given to Maize, a grain unknown to the ancients. This variety is still very abundantly cultivated in many parts of the Continent, and particularly in the south of Europe. It may be raised upon much coarser soil than is required for the better kinds of wheat in England, and calls for much less culture. In many parts of Germany, in Switzerland, in the south of France, in the north of Africa, and at the Cape of Good Hope, spelt is grown abundantly. This is likewise the case in Spain, where, on occasions when barley is scarce, this grain is given to

horses. It is said that spelt wheat is better adapted than any of the more delicate kinds for culture in Australia, and probably it would be found the preferable sort in all the more southern wheat-growing countries.

There are two distinct varieties of spelt, distinguished as the awned and the awnless; the latter is perhaps the most naked of all the cerealia. The grains of this are large, but the ear contains only a small number of them, as a portion of the flowers prove barren. It is generally, if not always, a springsown crop; grows strongly, and its stalks are nearly solid. Bread made of its flour is said to be of a dry quality.

Ear and Plant of One-seeded Wheat.

ONE-SEEDED WHEAT, or St. Peter's corn, -Triticum monococcum. This is another variety; the stem and leaves of which are among the most diminutive of the species, and the spike contains only a single row of grains. This kind is chiefly used in the mountainous parts of Switzerland, and containing less of gluten than common sorts, it answers better for being boiled into gruel, than for being baked into bread. The four-sided form of the ripe ear is so extremely regular, that it has the appearance of being carved in ivory. The straw, which is both hard and firm, is excellent for thatching.

The well-known method of propagating wheat is by sowing the grain in land previously prepared for

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