id 



Mr. Kimber, of Abingdon, found that his wheat after clover 

 was the worst affected. He gives the following account : " The 

 land is farmed on the four-course system, and grew clover in 

 1891, or else beans, or vetches fed off by sheep, and barley in 

 1890. The barley followed roots fed on the land by sheep. 

 The beans in 1890 were manured with farmyard manure. Part 

 of the clover had dung, and part had none. The wheat following 

 the clover was most affected with mildew ; that after vetches 

 next ; and the wheat after beans least affected." 



Mr. Joseph Smith, of Hasketon, Suffolk, whose crop was consi- 

 derably injured, sowed his wheat on a clover ley, well manured 

 with farmyard manure, once mown, then fed with sheep having a 

 liberal supply of cake. " If land is farmed high," Mr. Smith 

 remarks, " with much decaying vegetable matter in the ground, 

 then we may look for mildew, more or less severe, almost 

 certain to develop itself if the plant is thin and backward." 



Mr. Martin, of Littleport, Ely, states that " all land is affected 

 more or. less, whether sown with artificial manure, superphos- 

 phate, or farmyard manure. From observation, I am inclined to 

 think that, as a rule, the mildew is most serious where wheat was 

 sown after oats." 



Mr. Hosegood, Somerset, found that wheat after mangels was 

 the least rusted. After turnips fed off and got in after Christmas 

 it was more rusted. But the worst generally was wheat after 

 clover. 



Mr. Pell says " all the crops on the fen lands are affected, 

 quite irrespective of the cropping." 



Nitrate of Soda. 



But few records are given as to the influence of nitrate of 

 soda, which is generally considered to be very conducive to the 

 spread and injury of rust. Mr. Ellis, of West Barsham, holds 

 that top-dressing a thin plant of wheat with nitrogenous manures 

 nearly always intensifies, if it does not cause, mildew. Mr. 

 Read, of Southam, Warwickshire, detected rust only in one acre 

 out of fifty he had under wheat. This acre was in wheat after 

 clover ; and, as the plant rooted weak in spring, nitrate of soda 

 had been applied of i cwt. per acre, and forced a heavy crop of 

 straw. Taken as a whole, the evidence of the reporters tends 

 to show that previous cropping and manuring have not an 

 important influence upon mildew, though, on the other hand, 

 it is believed that many farmers in Scotland hold that manuring, 

 and especially with nitrate of soda, materially affects the attack 

 of mildew.- 



Date of Sowing. 



Owing to the unusually wet autumn, the dates of wheat- 

 sowing vary considerably in the reports, ranging between the 

 first week in October to the end of February. It is said, 

 however, that there was no difference noted between wheats 



