He observed on his
farm at Saleves near the lake of Geneva that after a lapse of time the
"Galland wheat" deteriorated and assumed, as was generally believed, the
characters of the local sorts. In order to ascertain the real cause of
this apparent change, he sowed in alternate rows in a field, the
"Galland" and one of the local varieties. The "Galland" is a race with
obvious characters and was easily distinguished from the other at the
time when the heads were ripe. They are bearded when flowering, but
afterwards throw off the awns. The kernels are very large and yield an
extraordinarily good, white flour.
During the first summer all the heads of the "Galland" rows had the
deciduous awns but the following year these were only seen on half of
the plants, the remainder having smooth heads, and the third year the
"Galland" had nearly disappeared, being supplanted by the competing
local race. The cause of this rapid change was found to be twofold.
First the "Galland," as an improved variety, suffers from the winter in
a far higher degree than the native Swiss sorts, and secondly it ripens
its kernels one or two weeks later. At the time of harvest it may not
have become fully ripe, while the varieties mixed with it had reached
maturity. The wild oat, _Avena fatua_, is very common in [101] Europe
from whence it has been introduced in the United States.
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