MUMMY-WHEAT.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " EIPECTATOR."]
Sin,—If the interest in this subject still continues, I would • offer my own experience in corroboration of what your corre- spondent, Walter Sturge, wrote in the Spectator of October 20th. About the same date mentioned by him, a friend of mine, who took great interest in such matters, gave me a few grains of wheat taken, as he assured me, from an Egyptian mummy. I planted them first in my garden, where they germinated and ripened seeds ; these I again planted, and ultimately sowed with the produce nearly an acre of ground. The produce was considerable, several stalks from one grain ; .each head composed of several—generally seven—parallel ears, the middle ears longer than the laterals. It was not a -description of wheat likely to be adopted by farmers,—the grains were unequal, and not plump ; the skin coarse. I grew the crop on Tweedside, where it excited considerable attention and much trespass ; and on giving up my home- farm, the stack was sold, and no doubt the purchaser would tse rather astonished if he planted any of the produce.—I am,
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