52
[Class II.
equalling the Australian ; whilst the produce of England,of the south of France, of the United States and Canada ,hardly fall short of the same high standard. Largeallowances have, in many cases, to be made for faultyagriculture, carelessly collected or insufficient samples,and for inefficient methods of threshing, &c., the grain.Such circumstances affect the adjudication of awards, butnot perhaps the original value of the crop from whichthe samples were collected.
1. British Department.—1L Webb’s “Talavera”wheat (72, p. 205) has been awarded a Prize Medal; itis a splendid specimen of English wheat, equalling invalue any brought to the market.
H. Payne's “ Kevin” wheat (82, p. 205) has also aPrize Medal; it possesses great value, and should whollysupersede the cultivation of the Egyptian Kevitt, whichis far too abundant in the English market.
J. MacKillican, of Cawdor (Scotland ), a Prize Medalfor excellent white wheat (114, p. 206).
H.K.IL Prince Albert exhibits samples of his farmproduce (107, p. 206), consisting of “White Ciiidham ”wheat, “ Augusta beaus,” and “ Winter oats.” The col-lection deserves a special notice, each of the samples beingof excellent quality. A Prize Medal has been awarded toH.R.H. for the oats and beans, the wheat appearing to theJury to be a little deficient in colour and quality, when com-pared with other market samples of the same description.
Amongst the other British samples there is little abovemediocrity, except the following, of which HonourableMention is made:—
A. Sheppard, Ipswich, for good wheat, malt, and bar-ley (70, pp. 204, 205).
The Truro Local Committee, for samples of variouscerealia (71, p. 205) cultivated in Cornwall.
C. Gibson, Pitlochry, Scotland (102, p. 206), for barleygrown at an altitude of 600 feet.
J. Sutton and Sons, for naked barley (112 p. 206).
Moses, II. E. and M., exhibit Australian wheat in thisdepartment, also deserving of Honourable Mention.
But few malts are exhibited ; the samples shown byTaylor and Son (77, p. 205) receive Honourable Men-tion. A sample of porter malt prepared by a “ patentprocess” was exhibited by S. R. Poole (146, p. 193*), inwhich the “ torrefaction or roasting” was not carried sofar as in the ordinary brown malts, and which is said tocontain in consequence a larger proportion of unchangedsaccharine matter.
2. British East India . —-Wheat (870) has from timeimmemorial been a staple crop in the plains of northernIndia , and especially in the Punjaub; and since the esta-blishment of the studs at Buxar, Ghazepore, &c., oats havebeen extensively cultivated. Both are winter (coldweather) crops. The climate and soil are well fitted forthese cereals, but owing to defects and carelessness in theagriculture and harvesting, the crops, though excellent,fall short of what most corn-growing countries produce.Further, owing to foul boats and granaries, and to themoist heat of the months immediately succeeding harvest,the wheat reaches England in a state too dirty and wea-velled for market. There are two samples in the Exhi-bition, one of hard and one of soft wheat, of which theformer is most prized by natives of India , probably forno better cause than that the hardness of the grain moreclosely resembles their favourite food, rice. Barley ismost extensively cultivated in the Himalaya and Tibet ,replacing in many districts the wheat, and producing anadmirable flour; both are desiderata (as are the oats),which is much to be regretted.
3. Australasia. —From this quarter of the globe, in-cluding Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand , thereare splendid samples of wheat, some of barley, and a fewof oats.
Port Adelaide stands pre-eminent for wheat andbarley. Prize Medals have been awarded both to R.Hallett and Sons (South Australia , 5, p. 991), and toHeath and Burrow (9, p.999), for wheat, which may beconsidered perfect as regards growth, equality of grain,colour, weight, and quality.
Swan River Colony and Port Philip also send goodwheats, but Van Diemen’s Land seems to rank next to
Port Adelaide, though much that was apparently ex-cellent from the former was spoiled during the voyage.From Van Diemen’s Land fine white wheats are exhibitedby Messrs. Deane, Dray, and Deane, and also by Messrs.M‘Piierson and Francis (350, p. 1000), to whom PrizeMedals are awarded; the malt also of E. Tooth, Bagdad(47, p. 993), is considered worthy of Honourable Men-tion.
New Zealand is represented by wheat, barley, andmalt, all of good character. The barley exhibited byHugh Martin and by Thomas Fenwick, and the maltexhibited by Hooper and Co. (39, p. 1002), severallyreceive Honourable Mention.
4. Canada sends a fine supply of wheats, all of theordinary English kinds, but every sample of more thanaverage excellence. One barrel of D. Christie’s whitewheat (35, p. 962), sent by the Agricultural Association,has been awarded a Prize Medal, as has one of Polishoats (38, p. 962.), of admirable quality, exhibited by li.M. Watts. The barley is very good. All have the ad-vantage of bearing their prices in the Canada market,showing to what profit they may be exported.
Nova Scotia sends some good red wheat.
5. Cape of Good Hope . —The soft white wheat exhi-bited by J. A. Bam (46, p 951) is of great excellence,and has been awarded a Prize Medal.
6. Jersey contributes a collection of specimen ears, of104 varieties, &c., of wheats (2, p. 940), accompanied byremarks on the seasons, nature of the crops, &c. A PrizeMedal lias been awarded to Colonel Le Couteur, theexhibitor.
7. Malta.— Honourable Mention is made of the whitewheat (4, p. 944) of G. Pulis, Montebello.
8. Belgium . —Although a large display of wheats(there being fully 70 samples exhibited, p. 1150), thereare none of any striking superiority. The red u heatsare, in general, superior to the white; some “ fromentblanc d’hiver” is, however, good. Oats and rye are alsoof fair quality.
9. France. — There is no bulk of corn exhibited inthis department ; and the few samples there are seemchiefly intended as illustrations of manufacturing pro-cesses, where gluten is the constituent desired.
A Prize Medal is awarded to Bazin’s wheats in theear, &c. (1073, p. 1229); an important collection of agri-cultural produce, containing a new variety of wheat.
Honourable Mention is also made of Magnin’s hardwheat, of Auvergne , used in the manufacture of his patesand macaronis (1337, p. 1240); also of Mabire’s English and Russian wheats (1334, p. 1240).
10. Algeria sends wheat of great promise, amongstwhich, one, that of Lepelletier (33, 1261), has beenawarded a Prize Medal. It is a soft fine-coloured wheatof much value.
11. Spain.— The Spanish wheats, though generallydirty, are unusually fine in quality. Many bottles fullare exhibited, but the samples contained are insufficient,and almost universally mixed.
To one particularly fine sample from the Mayor ofMedina del Campo (66, p. 1333), a Prize Medal has beenawarded. In another bottle the Jury recognized theoriginal stock of the Talavera wheat, probably of a veryfine description, but not in a sufficiently satisfactorystate for a correct judgment to be pronounced upon it.
12. Portugal illustrates her agricultural resources by80 bottles of cerealia, all of fair, but none of particularmerit. Her colony of Madeira also sends a sample ofwheat.
13. The Zollverein States, Austria, and Tuscany ,send scarcely any agricultural produce worthy of notice.
14. Denmark'— Barley is now very extensively ex-ported by this country, and is of an excellent descrip-tion. A sack of good quality is exhibited by H. Pug-gaard and Co. (1, p. 1355),* and was found worthy ofHonourable Mention.
15. Russia. —The collection of Russian cerealia is thefinest in the Exhibition, forming a most attractive andprominent display. It consists of fine sheaves of thegrains in ear, as cut, and abundant samples of the seedsin bowls; all well arranged and catalogued. Count