304 On JVhcat. 



from which the root is receiving some nourishment : if it is ex- 

 amined in May, it will be found that the whole of the seed has 

 l3cen absorbed^ and that the root has then the earth only for its 

 nourishment : thus being deprived of its parent support, it feels 

 this loss for a time, and shows, by the blade looking yellow, that 

 it is not in so vigorous a state as it had been. This is given only 

 as a supposition. 



One who is thought to be a good farmer says he sows his tail- 

 ing wheat, that is free from seeds of weeds, and that his produce 

 is as good as if he sowed his plumpest best grain r but it must 

 surely be safest to sow the best seed. Thin grains of corn come 

 from ears which by some means have not had their full nourish- 

 ment from the earth. Mildew, in most cases, in my opinion, is 

 caused by the plant being too luxuriant, the root absorbing from 

 the earth more nourishment than can get through the straw to 

 the ear; the straw, therefore, bursts, and the juice exudes, turns 

 the straw black, and renders it so callous that it is incapable of 

 conveying a proper supply of nourishment to the ear ; this makes 

 the grain thin and poor ; but such seed is not more likely than 

 fme grain to produce a mildewed crop. When the straw is much 

 affected, it should be cut, although unripe. For these few years 

 l^ast we have not been much troubled with it ; but our good 

 sandy loams, which produce luxuriant crops, suffer more fre- 

 r[uently from it than the strong clays, or weaker and poorer soils; 

 and I believe there is no preventive. I believe it to be a fact, 

 that a barberry-bush growing near wheat Avill cause mildew. 

 Where a dunghill has lain in a field, the wheat, growing very 

 luxuriantly on that part, is often mildewed. There is a red 

 wheat with a vvhite chaff grown in this county that will not, it is 

 saitl, mildew. It never did with me; but when I grew it, I do 

 not think we ever had a mildewing year. 



W^heat is expected to be ripe in six weeks from its blooming. 

 Should the weather at that time be cold and boisterous, reasonable 

 doubts may be entertained of there being good crops. The defi- 

 ciency of the crop of 1838, I feel satisfied, arose from there being 

 bad weather at the time of blooming; for, having had wheat 

 brined in January to sow five acres after Swedish turnips, but 

 which, from frost setting in, I was not enabled to sow till the 1st 

 <.'f March, this wheat blooming a fortnight later than my other 

 crops, and in finer weather, proved much the best crop I had that 

 year. In many parts of the country, on account of the extreme 

 wetness of the autumn of 1839, a great deal of the strong wheat 

 land could not be sown till February, 1 840 ; at which time my 

 opinion was asked by several farmers which would then answer 

 best to sow, the lammas or that which is called the spring-wheat. 

 My opinion was, the lammas, having years ago in two or three 



