118 



Report on Sprinrj-sown Wheats in 1873. 



Fig. 9. 



Bed Buff 



Wheat. 



Fig. 10. 



White Essex 



Wheat. 



U 



sown in the autumn ; but, owing to the incessant rains of the autumn months? 

 of 1872, Mr. Lavers postponed sowing until early spring, and he then sowed 

 45 acres. The varieties sown were the Red Buff (Fig. 9) and a compact form 



of White Essex (Fig. 10). The former came 

 from Devonshire, and the latter from Scot- 

 land. The Eed Buff yielded fully 20 stones 

 to the acre more than the White Essex, and 

 Mr. Lavers intends to sow it alone this spring. 

 Although its skin is pale red, the millers 

 class it with the white wheats. The grain is' 

 short and plump ; the straw is short and stiff, 

 and the plant tillers remarkably well. The 

 head is short and thick, but well-filled, and 

 the chaff is velvety (Fig. 10), and in appear- 

 ance like the variety known here as Stettin. 



Both varieties were sown after turnips, 

 manured with farmyard-dung and Norrington 

 and Co.'s superphosphate. The land was princi- 

 pally broadcasted, though a portion was drilled. 

 The wireworm was never so troublesome in 

 the district, and at one time it threatened 

 to destroy the entire crop ; and Mr. Lavers 

 thinks that, were it not for turning a large 

 flock of sheep on it, it would have been com- 

 pletely ruined ; as it was, the plants were 

 decimated. The spring-sown wheat ripened 

 in three or four days after the autumn- 

 sown in this neighbourhood, and the barvest- 

 time was quite as propitious. The Eed Buff 

 yielded close on 160 stone per acre, while the 

 Essex gave but 140 stone per acre. On the 

 whole, Mr. Lavers, while he is in favour of 

 sowing wheat in the autumn, if the weather 

 is favourable, would advise postponing until 

 spring much of the wheat which, through the 

 inclemency of the weather, is often puddled 

 in in autumn or early winter ; and he considers that for this purpose, in such 

 a district as the one he lives in, the Red Buff is the best variety to sow. 



James Bybne, 



21. Woodford, Aemagh. 



(A small Farm.) 



I usually sow a few acres, and, up to 1869, always in autumn. In 1869 

 I sowed a portion in February, and found the yield, both as to quality and 

 quantity, so much superior, that for the past three seasons I have sown all in 

 spring. In the present season of 1873 I sowed my usual quantity on the 

 26th, 27th, and 28th February, of the Browick Eed ; it came away with a 

 good vigorous plant, and I have sold the produce, fully 19 2 cwts. to the -acre. 

 The soil is a good loam, with a stifhsh blue clay bottom. A near neighbour 

 sowed about 8 days later, say 3rd or 4th March ; his did better than mine, 

 as he had above 22.j cwts. to the statute acre. I know a great many here 

 who have sown the Bearded April wheat, but, without exception, the crop 

 has been short of straw and very deficient in yield, in many cases not 



