300 On Wheat 



as to have in it a great deal of couch, it should be twice ploughed, 

 as much of the couch got out as possible, carried off, and thrown 

 into a heap, with a good portion of lime : thus good manure will 

 be obtained for some future crop. A more than usual quantity 

 of seed- wheat should be deeply drilled in. If put in with much 

 couch, the crop must be weak, from the couch absor'oing the 

 chief part of the nourishment which the land possesses. If sandy 

 loams are clean, they need not be very rich to produce good fair 

 crops of wheat. AH occupiers know the time best suited for sow- 

 ing their land. I like to begin as early as possible in October, 

 that I may have none sown too late ; but it sometimes happens 

 that the later sown turns out the best. It should, however, be 

 borne in mind that after late sowing there is late reaping, and 

 less dependence on the weather to harvest the crop in good con- 

 dition ; besides which, late-sown wheat is more likely to be in- 

 jured by grubs. 



Occupiers best know the quantity of seed-corn to be sown per 

 acre on their land. It is advisable to sow as much as the land 

 will bear, without producing too great a bulk of straw; on my 

 good loamy soil I never sow more than 3 bushels per acre. 



For security against a severe winter seed should be deeply 

 drilled in. Frost cannot kill the blades of wheat, if the roots are 

 secured under a good covering of mould. There were great 

 complaints in the spring of 1838, that a great portion of the 

 wheat-crops were at that time very thin of plant, and that many 

 fields had been ploughed up. Mine were never finer, and I 

 feel satisfied that had other persons' seed been drilled in 4 inches 

 deep, like mine, there would not have been such complaints of loss 

 of plant. I^ then, could show proof for my assertion. In one of the 

 bouts of the drill, in consequence of seed enough not being put 

 into the machine, for 40 yards no seed had been deposited. On 

 this being discovered, drills were made with a hand-hoe, and corn 

 put in. This, which was put in about 2 inches deep, came up 

 much sooner than the other put in 4 inches deep, and looked best 

 till Christmas ; but, from the frost getting to the roots of it during 

 the severe weather we then had, every root went off in the spring. 

 The Egyptian is the most productive of all wheat, but the 

 coarsest. The best prospect of a good yield in a wheat crop is to 

 see the straw bright and reedy, not flaggy, with an ear of fair 

 length well filled out, which it seldom is if very long. Well cul- 

 tivated good clay soils produce wheat of the finest quality ; loams 

 a greater quantity, but not of equal quality. There are soils, 

 composed of a mixture of loam and clay, with small pebbles, 

 which will bear excellent turnips, and cannot, like some other 

 soils, be too highly manured, to bear v^-heat of a good quality. 

 Mr. Sewell, of Bookham, Surrey, and JNIr. Fisher Hobbs, 



