1 96 Progress of A gric u Itu ra I Kn owl edge 



grinding. Still I believe that we have done good already by 

 directing attention to old as well as new sorts of prolific wheat. 

 It is impossible that so great a difference of yield should be 

 found as 4 bushels an acre in many trials, and that some 

 wheats should not give more than others, were it only half- 

 a-bushel, in a regular course of farming; and though half-a-bushel 

 be little, I need scarcely remind our members that in all calcu- 

 lations for general improvement of farming our multiplier for these 

 small numlaers is millions. I believe, however, that a greater in- 

 crease than this may be hoped for, especially upon good land, for 

 it is on good land, as far as I can ascertain, that the different 

 qualities of wheat show themselves most ; which might be ex- 

 pected, and is another instance of the principle, that soil will not 

 bear to be forced beyond given limits. A familiar instance of 

 this principle is the growth of white wheat, which, although more 

 valuable than the red, has been abandoned excepting upon su- 

 perior soils. It has been often tried in the parish where I am 

 writing, but the ear produced is of a dingy colour externally, the 

 grain poor, and, what is remarkable, of a red colour. Amongst the 

 good wheats which have come to my knowledge, I may men- 

 tion the Red Marigold shown by Mr. Fisher Hobbs at our 

 Oxford meeting, the Burwell, the Chidham, the Golden Drop, 

 the Silver Drop, the Golden Swan, the Bellevue Talavera (but 

 upon good land, for on a moderate soil I have seen this last wheat 

 fail in several cases), Hunter's White, the Hopetoun, an excellent 

 Scotch wheat, propagated by Mr. ShirrefT (to whom we are also 

 indebted for the Hopetoun oat), and a wheat not yet known, a 

 seedling raised by Mr. Jonas, of Ickleton, in the county of Cam- 

 bridge : but for more accurate information we must await the 

 result of future trials. 



No improvement has been made during the last four years in 

 barley ; but a new kind had been already v/idely adopted, and 

 is regularly quoted in market reports, which proceeds from a 

 single ear picked by the Rev. Mr. Chevalier, at Debenham, in 

 1819, and is now well known by his name. A new kind of oat, 

 however, is mentioned in our present Journal, which is remarkable 

 not for larger produce, but for early maturity. This property is 

 hardly important in ordinary English farming, but those who have 

 seen the oat-harvest tardily ended, as I did last year on the ele- 

 vated moors of West Somerset in mid- November, will be aware 

 of its value for such mountainous districts where the chill summers 

 seldom ripen the crop, and a doubt is entertained whether it be 

 worth while to raise corn at all. There are such tracts in Derby- 

 shire, and must be many such, I imagine, in Wales. Cumberland 

 and Westmoreland, with a considerable portion of Scotland, have 

 the same bleak and rainy atmosphere. The farmers of those 



