82 Repo7't on Sjmng-soion Wheats in 1873. 



eifectively as the figures and decimals of rain-gauge and ther- 

 mometer which might be extracted from the meteorological 

 reports in volume ix. The autumn was undoubtedly unusually 

 wet. During a journey on two successive days in November, by 

 Peterborough and Stamford, to Market-Harborough, Welling- 

 borough, and Bedford, and back again to London, crossing the 

 valleys of the Ouse, the Nene, and the Welland, at points 20 or 

 30 miles or more apart, I must have actually seen 20 or 30 square 

 miles of water beyond the river banks, fairly inferring at the 

 same time, from what could be seen out of the railway carriage, 

 the existence, in these valleys alone, of at least 100 square miles 

 of flooded lowland. Everywhere indeed in England, except 

 perhaps on the chalk and on upland gravel soils, whether by con- 

 stant wetness of the soil, or by actual flooding, the difficulties of the 

 seed-time for the wheat crop, owing to the excessive rainfall, were 

 extraordinarily great, and to a considerable extent insuperable. 



A larger extent of wheat was thus sown during spring in 1873, 

 than had ever before been sown out of the usual season in this 

 country ; and it seemed worth while to try to collect the year's 

 experience for publication here. There was a possibility that 

 useful information might be forthcoming on the power of the 

 cultivator to deal with difficulties of the kind which beset him 

 on that occasion. The advantage, possibly, of particular methods 

 of cultivation ; the fitness of particular sorts of wheat to the 

 unusual circumstances ; the behaviour of autumn wheats when 

 sown, in default of the proper spring varieties, during the spring 

 months ; and the relative serviceableness of the various so-called 

 spring wheats ; — all these were subjects on which information 

 might be obtained. A circular Avas accordingly addressed to 

 agricultural correspondents in many different counties, in which, 

 after inquiries about the character, extent, and general manage- 

 ment of the farm, and the extent of wheat commonly sown in 

 autumn and in spring respectively, questions were put as to the 

 difficulties of the wheat seed-time of 1872-3 ; the kinds of wheat 

 sown ; the date of sowing ; the treatment of the crop ; and the 

 character and date of harvest. Specimens of wheats in ear were 

 also asked for ; and some of those received have been engraved 

 on a scale of one-half the natural size. The reports received in 

 answer to these inquiries, which I now proceed to transcribe, 

 are thus made to convey to the reader, as nearly as possible, all 

 that the writers desired to communicate. 



It was especially of importance to learn the behaviour of ordi- 

 nary winter wheats when they had been sown in spring ; and, 

 besides the almost universal testimony to the generally disastrous 

 character of the wheat harvest of 1873, a good deal of useful 

 information on this point will be found communicated in the 



