i68 EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT, Parti?. 



which continued almoft the whole month of October. The frofl in 

 November ftopt the further progrefs of the plants. Their produce 

 was much fliort of what was fowed firft; which lliews plainiy how 

 'efleritially neceilary it is to fow early. •'■'•■' 



" This wheat muft: of courfe grow very unequally. Some beds were 

 extremely beautiful, others middling, and the rell verv poor-: yet, 

 throughout the whole, the ears were very large and well filled with 

 _grain : and the crop would ftill have been a good one, had it not 

 ■luffered by the hail on the third of June, and the other accidents 

 mentioned in the fecond experiment. 



" The wheat, being perfectly ripe, was reaped on the i ^th and 17th 

 ■of July. It was threfliedtwo months after, and the whole produce of 

 this half of the field was 3 370 pounds of very fine and perfeftly clean 

 large-grain'd wheat, which yielded a great deal of flour. 



" The other -half of this field was fowed in equal diftant rows with 



the drill-iplougb, by v/hich means a great deal was faved in the feed: 



. for only 479 pounds of wheat were employed to fow this ground, 



v/hich, in the common way, would have required about 2016 



pounds. 



"It was fowed on the 23d, 24th, 26th, 27th, and 29th of Auguil. 

 We could work only a few hours a day on account of the frequent 

 fliowers of rain. 



*' This wheat rofe extremely well, and grew verv ftrong before v/in- 

 ter, and of a deep green colour, v/hich it retained tiU it began to ripen. 

 The number of ftalks increafed in the fpring. They grew very long, 

 and bore large ears : in fhoi t, they promifed a fine harveft. But 

 the hail of the 3d of June foon changed the hcp of the field. It cut 

 off a great number of the ears, broke down many ftalks, and dama- 

 ged all thofe ears whofe (talks were ftrong enough to remain upright. 

 This misfortune was common to all my wheat. 



*' This wheat, being ripe,was reaped on the 9th, loth, and eleventh 

 of July, in very hot, dry weather. It was threfhed a month after 

 harveft, andvielded 5386 pounds of excellent grain. 



" Here is an experiment made upon a large extent of ground, cul- 

 tivated two different ways, and divided into two almoft: equal por- 

 tions, both of which fuffered the fame accidents as equally as could 

 be, according to the beft of my judgment. This experiment offers 

 us a veiy intereft:ing inffruiilion. 



" The defign of our experiments is, to know which of the different 



methods of hufbandry is moll ufeful ; which will bell promote ihe 



T public 



