130 Report on Spring-sown Wlicats in 1873. 



The difficulties of the wheat seed-time in the autumn of 1872 were not felt 

 so much on this soil as in most localities. 



About 30 acres intended for wheat were left unsown in 1872, and this was 

 the extent sown with wheat in spring, 1873. 



I generally sow Browick and White Taunton mixed, as I have found them 

 answer best in the average of years. 



I sow about half after lea, and half after turnips, rape, or cabbages. I never 

 hoe unless to destroy annual weeds. Hoeing does not benefit the crop on this 

 thin calcareous soil. 



I began harvest the first week in August, and the wheat was saved with- • 

 out rain. The crop is of good quality, but it yields badly. 



Nursery is the wheat that is generally sown in the spring. I sometimes 

 sow Talavera. The last two years it mattered not what I sowed, it was all 

 sadly blighted ; and, although the crop was very promising till within a few 

 days of its being ripe, in about forty-eight hours the straw became speckled, 

 and some of it almost black ; the result was only " chickens' food," with a fine 

 crop of straw which was almost rotten. 



The winter varieties, if sown in the spring, are attended with the same 

 results if it be a blighty season, 



I have reaped some good crops of Scotch wheat sown as late as the first 

 week of April. This wheat scarcely ever blights, and is the safest to sow late 

 in the spring. j^^^ Eawlence. 



Epitomising these light-land reports in the same manner as 

 those from heavy and medium soils, we find Mr. Sherborn, of 

 Hounslow, looking back over 36 years' experience, distrusting 

 the lessons of a single season. He has alvv^ays sovrn " Nursery," 

 " Burmah," and " Talavera " wheats from October to March. 

 He has constantly seen contradictory results and now sows just 

 when he can, accepting the result. — Mr. Arnot, of Carshalton, 

 found " Nursery " wheat sown in February and March " a nice 

 thick crop, but yielding unsatisfactorily." " Bearded April," which 

 was soAvn the middle of March, was a great crop of straw, and 

 yielded Avell compared with the other sorts ; but these only reached 

 4 qrs. per acre — of splendid quality and weight however. — Mr. 

 Masfen, of Pendeford, Wolverhampton, reports a satisfactory 

 yield from sowings of all dates, the spring-sown sorts yielding 

 less than the autumn-sown by not more than 2 or 3 bushels per 

 acre. — Mr. Leather, sowing upAvards of 200 acres of wheat in 

 spring at Delamere Lodge, Northwich, gives a high character 

 to Hallett's " Pedigree " wheat. — Mr. Buckman, farming near 

 Sherborne, reports his autumn-sown " Nursery " wheat as yielding 

 9 sacks per acre and weighing 64 lbs. per bushel ; the " Golden 

 Drop," also sown in autumn, as yielding 8 sacks per acre, and 

 Rivett's wheat, sown in March, yielding 6 sacks per acre, 

 weighing only 59 lbs. per bushel. — Mr. W. S. Powell, farming 

 at Eglwysnunydd, Glamorganshire, describes seven varieties of 

 wheat, of which he has retained only two, Hallett's " Victoria " 

 white, and Biddle's " Lnperial " white. — Mr. Carroll, of the 

 Reformatory Farm, Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, enumerates 

 several sorts. " Chidham," " Talavera," "Nursery," and "April " 



