Spelt.

Southland Times, Issue 16075, 28 June 1902, Page 1 (Supplement)

Spelt.

Spelt is a cereal of which but little is heard in these countries. It is described as intermediate between wheat and barley, though it ia usually classified as a variety of wheat. It is native to countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and is at present principally grown on poor lands in Switzerland and Southern Germany. Its special advantage seems to be that it is so hardy as to be capable of growing where common wheat will not succeed. When it is threshed the heads break in pieces at the different joints leaving the grain and chaft as closely clasped as before threshing. In order to secure clean seed special machinery must be employed to separate the chaff from the grain. Experiments made with this crop at the Ontario Agricultural College during the past few years do not go to represent it as calculated to " catch " on in these countries. Five varieties imported from Switzerland, Russia, and Germany were tested in these Canadian experiments, and the lest of them gave a yield of only 15 bushels of grain, the grain weighing about 40 lbs per bushel. Two of the other varieties gave an average of only six bushels and the other two were blank failures ! The average yield of straw per acre from the five varieties worked out to only three-quarters of a ton (15cwt v ) Several of the varieties have 1-een tested for two and three years, and have now been discarded because of the poor results obtained from them.