135 



apart each way, or nine inches apart each way (if we plant 



them sufficiently early), or whether we sow one bushel, two 



bushels, or three bushels per acre, the number of ears produced per 



acre is practically the same. In June, 1874, I was on a visit to a 



friend farming some 4,000 acres in the Vale of Eversham, who had 



two plots of my wheat — the one planted with single grains twelve 



inches apart every way (but not early enough), the other with 



grains nine inches apart every way. The ears were magnificent, 



but everyone talked of it as the " thin " wheat. He was much 



astonished upon my telling him that there were as many ears per 



acre on the plot planted nine inches apart (the other plot was not 



planted soon enough foi' the greater distance) as he had on any of 



his magnificent fields of wheat drilled with one bushel, or with two 



bushels, or with three bushels, per acre, if he could show me any 



such. He, his son, and I forthwith proceeded to test the matter, 



with the following result, which astonished him even more than 



the apparent boldness of my original assertion : — 



Ears per 

 In. In. square yard. 



Single grains planted (too late) ... 12x 12 gave ... 229 



9x9 ,, ... 276 



Drilled October 11 ... 1 bush, per aci-e ,, ... 263 



...2 ,, „ „ „ ... 283 

 " Coles' Field" drOled 



end of October 2 „ ,, „ „ ... 265 

 "Dears" drilled 



Nov. 3 ... 3 „ ,, „ „ ... 269 



4 I 1080 



Average 270 



or six less per yard than the number produced by single grains 

 nine inches apart each way. And this does not fully represent 

 the whole truth, for many of the stems of the thick sown wheat, 

 credited each with an ear, would fail to produce one at harvest, 

 while every one of the stems counted upon the single-grain plots 

 would produce a fully developed one. 



The Agricultural Ke turns now furnish us with pretty correct 

 information as to the acreage of wheat grown in the United 



