WHEAT. The specieS and varieties of wheat are numerous ; but there are three principal kinds, so different in appearance that they claim peculiar attention. These are the hard wheats, the soft wheats, and the Polish wheats. The hard wheats are the pro, duce of warm climates, such as Italy, Sicily, and Barbary. The soft wheats grow in the northern parts of Europe as in Belgium, Eng land, Denmark, and Sweden. The Polish wheats grow in the country from which they derive their name, and are also hard wheats. It is from their external form that they are distinguished from other wheats. The hard wheats have a compact seed nearly transpa-4 rent, which, when bitten through, breaks short, and shows a very white flour within. The soft wheats are those usually cultivated in Britain ; they have an opaque coat or skin; which, when first reaped, gives way readily to the pressure of the thumb and finger. These wheats require to be well dried and hardened before they can be conveniently ground into flour. The Polish wheat has a long chaff which is much longer than the seed, a large oblong seed, and an ear cylindrical in ap, pearance. It is a delicate spring wheat, and not very productive in the climate of England.
The hard wheats contain much more glu ten than the soft wheats. It is this quantity
of gluten which causes the Italian wheats to be used exclusively for the pastes which form so large a portion of the food of that nation. [VERMICELLI.) The soft wheats contain the greatest quantity of starch, which fits them for the vinous fermentation, by its conversion into sugar and alcohol : for brewing or distil ling, therefore, the soft wheats are the best.
The distinction between the winter and summer wheats is one which arises entirely from the season in which they have been usually sciwn ; for they can readily be converted into each other, by sowing earlier or later, and gradually accelerating Or retarding their growths. The difference in colour between red and white wheats is owing chiefly to the soil; white wheats gradually become darker and ultimately red in some stiff wet soils, and the rod wheats lose their colour and become first yellow and then white on rich, light, and mellow soils.
The quantity of wheat imported in 1849 was 3,872,134 quarters ; the quantity entered for home consumption was 4,509,626 quarters. The gross amount of duty received was 226,7851.