VARIETIES OF WHEAT. 



349 



from the other plots. The produce of 1864 experiment was 

 used for seed. 



The weather, from the date of sowing till near the end of 

 December, continued unusually mild. The brairds appeared 

 about the 5th of December, and by the 22d had pretty well 

 covered the ground. Again there was no perceptible difference 

 between them. From January to March, inclusive of both, the 

 weather was seasonable ; and at the beginning of April all the 

 lots looked fresh and healthy. The Fenton and Hunters again 

 showed lighter in colour than the Hopetoun and Woolly ear. 

 April was dry aud moderately warm, and May was showery and 

 forcing, and by the end of the latter month the young wheats 

 looked almost too luxuriant. With June came drought and 

 heat, and before the month went out the wheats were all in ear, 

 the Woolly ear being about four days before the others. July 

 and the beginning -of August were extremely favourable for 

 flowering and ripening, and by the middle of the latter month 

 all- the lots were ripe. They came ripe so nearly together that 

 they might all have been shorn at the same time ; the Hunters 

 seemed fully the greenest when we were shearing them. The 

 Woolly ear was almost all standing, the Fenton and Hunters were 

 considerably laid, and the Hopetoun was almost wholly down. 

 They were all cut with the hook. A considerable quantity of 

 rain fell when they were in stook, and a number of ears of the 

 Woolly ear in the corner sheaf, in the sheltered side of the stook 

 (they were stooked in eights) were sprouted. When stacking 

 this plot, these sprouted sheaves were kept by themselves, and 

 the sample used for taking the weight per bushel, the value per 

 quarter, and the milling qualities, was taken from the unsprouted 

 lot. They were stacked as last year, two lots in each, and a 

 thick division of oat straw between them. 



