On Wlieat 



301 



Essex, whose v/hite and brown wheats were selected for trial at 

 Oxford in 183S, having each been kind enough to give me a 

 bushel of their wheat, I had them dibbled in, with five other 

 bushels of different kinds, namely, the brown lammas, grown at 

 Burwell, Cambridgeshire ; the clover, a brown wheat ; the golden- 

 drop ; the Whittington, and my snow-drop white wheat ; on 

 seven measured half-acres, after mangold-wurzel. The produce 

 was as follows : — 



From the seed of the golden-drop being defective, there was 

 not above half a crop; therefore no account was taken of it. It is 

 in general productive, but of less value than most other kinds. 

 The Whittington produced the most straw, but neither this, the 

 golden-drop, nor snow-drop is likely to answer cultivating. 



Although I do not approve of dibbling for general practice, 

 yet, in order to show exactly the small quantity of 2 bushels per 

 acre, I had the seed dibbled into holes 8 inches asunder. The 

 winter was favourable for late-sown wheat on dry land^ still if my 

 experiment had been made on a clover-ley, and the sowing six 

 weeks earlier, each kind would probably have produced more, 

 and although the quantity of each was good, it possibly might 

 have been better. 



The result of this experiment strengthens the opinion I have 

 long entertained, that the brown lammas wheats, such as the Bur- 

 well and the clover, are best suited to loamy soils, and for general 

 growth in this county; besides which, in every market in the 

 county it will always fetch a higher price than the white. 



In Mark Lane it is the reverse of this, therefore the white may 

 answer best to those growers whose grain is sold there, and more 

 likely so if their soil is a strong clay or chalk. It is thought that 

 if any description of white wheat were sown year after year on 

 our sandy loams, it would, in the course of time, become brown. 



A greater quantity of wheat is now produced per acre than 

 formerly, by greater attention being paid in selecting seed from 

 the best and most prolific kinds ; and by close examination into 



