u-itit Horse (or Stann) Tillage. 77 



February and JNIarcli broug^lit the longest dry time that liad l)con 

 known for manv years; and rolling- and pressing were diligently 

 followed up on all tlie wlieats of the farm, except my unlucky 

 experimental portion — this proved a great disadvantage. In 

 April, however, my wheat was very forward and luxuriant, 

 though chickenweed made much work for the hoe, and in the 

 latter part of May, I actually had to "top" one considerable 

 portion of the crop with the scythe, because there the stalks and 

 broad flags were too high, rank, and heavv. In June, the wheat 

 Avas elbow high, the flag an inch broad : and at harvest, the 

 straw was 5 to 5^ feet long, many 6-feet straws also being found. 

 The ears were small : it was a " bad yielding year " in the whole 

 of this district, whatever it may have been in other parts of 

 England ; yet my crop gave exactly 30 bushels per acre of 

 dressed corn (head and tail), with nearly a bushel of light tailing 

 besides. The head corn, "Browick red," weighing 60 lbs. per 

 bushel, was sold at 395. per quarter ; my receipts for grain being 

 11. 4^. 9c?. per acre. Not wishing to make out a profit by 

 attaching a factitious value to the straw (which, in this neigh- 

 bourhood we may not sell) I put down \0s. per acre for it ; 

 bringing up my total receipts to 11. 14.s'. Or/, per acre. The total 

 expenses of every sort came to 6/. Ws. \0d. ; leaving the balance 

 of profit, 1/. 2.S. llf/. per acre. 



Still there had been no manurial application whatever : and to 

 demonstrate yet further that my new management had something 

 in it, I again sowed as before the same 10-acre field in October, 

 1858. This was the fifth white-straw crop in yearly succession, 

 without manure ; yet in June, my memorandum was, " wheat 

 looks beautiful, never so well before; all standing, except here 

 and there near the ash-trees, where it is very heavy." At 

 harvest the straw was 5 to 6 feet long, but the ears not quite so 

 fine as in the year before. From the bulk of the stack, the yield 

 was estimated at 4 quarters per acre; but the thrashing-machine 

 told a different tale, the produce was a little over 30^^ quarters, 

 or 24i bushels per acre of head-corn and tail, with l-^- bushel 

 of light tail. My tillage had fully answered ; because the land 

 had produced a croj) heavier than any of its predecessors. 

 But the terribly adverse season of 1859 had refused to developo 

 and ripen the ears as was expected : in fact, so bad and defective 

 in quantity, weight and ([uality were all the wheats in my 

 district — both light and heavy-strawed crops — that 24 to 28 

 bushels an acre were usual if not average yields. The head-corn 

 (" Browick red)," weighing 60 lbs. per bushel, was sold at 386'. 

 a quarter; my receipts for grain being 5/. 18.?. 4^r/. The straw, 

 estimated at 2 tons per acre, 1 valued at \2s., making my total 



