VARIETIES OF WHEAT. 351 



making experiments again we should take care to put each plot 

 in a stack by itself. 



The grain of the Hopetoun wheat is round and plump, and 

 white . in colour. The ear is long, the spikelets being pretty 

 widely set. The chaff is nearly white. The straw is faintly 

 yellow, and is excellent in quality, being more than usually 

 tough ; it is longer than any of the other three varieties, and 

 being of equal length, and the ear apparently large, the crop has 

 a very imposing appearance when growing. This variety seems 

 too liable to lodge for this district. 



The grain of the Woolly ear is large, white, and long in shape, 

 and it is said to mill well. The ear is square, with the spikelets 

 very closely set. The chaff is white and covered with down. 

 The straw is short, stiff, and brittle* and is white in colour ; it is 

 uniformly long, and from the time this wheat comes in ear, 

 until it is ready for the sickle, the crop looks beautifully level. 

 This variety is fully earlier than the others, and, with the 

 exception of its downy chaff, is very suitable for this district. 



The grain of the Fenton has a reddish tinge, and is mode- 

 rately long. The ears are unequal in size, and the spikelets are 

 set at about the average width. The straw is unequally long, 

 and gives the crop a straggling appearance when growing ; it is 

 on the average longer than the woolly ear, but not nearly so long- 

 as the Hopetoun ; it is thicker in the stem: than either, and it is 

 faint yellow in colour. This variety has given the greatest 

 money return in both years for grain and straw taken together, 

 but it will be observed, if the flour be taken into account instead 

 of the grain, the Woolly ear surpasses it. It is, however, well 

 deserving of further trial 



The grain of the Hunters, in general appearance, closely 

 resembles the Fenton, but the prickles are clearer, and not so 

 uniform in either size or colour. The ear is long and tapering, 

 and the spikelets are widely set. The chaff is faintly yellow in 

 colour. The straw is considerably longer than the Fenton, but 

 not so long as the Hopetoun ; it has a reddish yellow tinge, and 

 is moderately tough. This variety has not given a large return 

 ill either year, and does not seem peculiarly suited to this 

 district. 



It appears to us that some of the new bearded varieties which 

 we had the pleasure of seeing growing in 1864, when just about 

 ripe, in Mr. P. Shirriff's collection, near Haddington, are worthy 

 of a trial in this county. The beard, by keeping the sheaf open, 

 permits the entrance of every breath of wind to dry up any 

 moisture and harden the grain. We procured small samples 

 of several of the best of them at the time, but they were un- 

 fortunately destroyed by wire- worm in the spring of 1865. 



We have hitherto grown Woolly ear wheat almost exclusively, 



