supplement. AGRICULTURE AS PRACTISED IX BRITAIN. 1349 



places little elevated above the sea. Hence it may grow in the West Indies. The varieties cultivated 

 in warm climates accommodate themselves to them. (Gard. Chron. 1841, p. 451 .) 



8353 — 5003. Cone wheat, a variety of Triticum turgidum, has been found by Mr. Gorrie to be hut 

 little injured by the wheat-fly, as this insect appears in the fly state much sooner than the wheat blossom 

 bursts from the spathe. The grain of this variety is coarse; but every spike generally yields from 

 seventy to ninety grains, which is double the number of the common wheat, 7'riticum bybernum. It 

 ripens about a week after the red wheat, and, when standing, is from a foot to eighteen inches taller than 

 the common wheat. (Quart. Jour. Agr., vol. iii. p. 641.) 



8354. Dantzig creeping wheal is a variety cultivated on the borders of Scotland, which possesses the 

 property of tillering, or throwing tap-shoots from the root in the autumn, in a remarkable degree. It 

 originally came from Dantzig. (Quart. Jour. Agr.. vol.iv. p. 536.). 



83-55. — 5013. Varieties of wheat. The following six kinds produced per acre, as follows : 



£ s. d. 

 Wbittington white, 38 bush, value 13 16 9 | Brown called clover, 40 bush, value 



Surrey white - 36 — — 14 14 Essex brown - 40 



Snowdrop white - 39 — — 15 9 Burwell brown - 45 — 



(Hillyard in Journ. E. A.) 



8356. — 5024. On the climate requisite to bring wheat to perfection. Nothing is here said of altitude, 

 latitude, or temperature. The highest altitude on which wheat will succeed on the banks of the Tay, is 

 450 feet above the level of the sea, where the mean temperature for the year is 46°. Wherever the 

 annual mean temperature is below this, wheat cannot be raised with advantage. (A. G.) 



8357 — 5031. Throwing out the young plants of wheat. This is known to take place in manv soils in 

 spring after frost, owing to the expansion produced in the subsoil by the freezing of the water winch had 

 lodged there. The obvious remedy is furrow draining, subsoil ploughing, and thoroughly stirring the 

 soil bv a cultivator. (Jour. R. A. S. E., vol. iii. p. 125.) 



835?. Wheat. List of fifty-four sorts by M. Vilmorin in G. M. 1837. p. 45. 



8359. New kinds of wheat. Experiments with fifty-five varieties are detailed in G. M. 1>=40, p. 38. 



8360 5041. Harvesting wheat. The loss sustained by allow ing wheat to become dead ripe before it is 



cut, has been frequently pointed out, and recently Mr. Hannam has shown that the practice is attended 

 by a loss of at least 26s. per acre, as the following results of a great many experiments will prove. 



£ s. d. 

 The value of an acre of wheat cut with the straw quite green, is 

 Green - 



With the grain raw - 



With the grain not quite so raw 

 With the grain ripe ... 



Mr. Hannam shows that by wheat being cut raw we have a gain of 15± per cent., compared with wheat 

 cut ripe, of flour, upon equal measures of land ; and again in the weight of straw, of 14 per cent. ; ad- 

 vantages which afford a clear gain of 52^ lbs. of flour upon every quarter of wheat. " A gain of 7s. 4|rf. 

 in the value of every quarter of wheat. A gain of 7s. 6|rf. in the value of every quarter of wheat, and the 

 straw producing it. A gain of 1/. 6s. 4rf. upon every acre producing 28 bushels, and of 1/. is. 2\d. upon 

 every acre producing 30 bushels." ( Q. J. A., vol. xiii. p. 178.) 



8361 5075. Hye straw is preferred to that of any other plant for littering horses ; and rye is somewhat 



extensively cultivated about Newmarket for the sake of obtaining the straw for the livery stables. (J. D.) 



8302.— 5081. Naked barley (Hordeum distichum var. nudum Metz). strongly recommended in pre- 

 ference to every other variety. Weight 60 lbs. per bushel ; flour whiter and sweeter than common 

 barley flour ; absorbs more water, and makes better bread ; malts in seven days less time than common 

 barley ; three bushels will seed the land as well as four of other barley, with other excellent qualities. 

 See Kenbury, in G. M. 1840. p. 313. 



S363 5121. The Hopctoun oat is an accidental variety brought into notice by Mr. Sheriff in 1824. It is 



chiefly remarkable for its long reedy straw, which, in a crop of twenty acres in East Lothian, has averaged 

 six feet in length, while the grain is thin in the husk, and nearly as short and plump as *he grains of the 

 potato oat. (Trans, of Highland Soc, vol. viii. p. 362.) 



8364 5290. The value of crops of Swedish turnips, potatoes, and mangold wurzel as food fur cattle 



is not materially different, provided the crops are alike good of their kind. This is the opinion formed 

 by an East Lothian farmer of great skill and experience, after having made a number of experiments to 

 determine the value of these roots. (Highland Soc. Trans., vol. ix. p. 273.) 



8365 .531 id. The Rohan potato, a French variety, which has been cultivated extensively both in Europe 



and North America for its large produce, chiefly applied for feeding cattle. Mr. Buel ot Albany had nine 

 bushels as the produce of twelve lbs. (Gard. Mag. 1841 ', p. 98. ) 



8366. The pine- apple potato keeps quite sound and well flavoured till June. 



8367. The Knepp Castle kidney potato is large, very mealy, and superior in flavour to any other kidney. 

 The farina is of a pure white, the eyes of the tubers are remarkably full, and hence there is very little 

 waste in paring or peeling them. " They have been grown for twenty years in the garden at Knepp 

 Castle, near Horsham, Sussex, without degenerating in the slightest degree. (G. M. 1840, p. 102.) 



8368. The best early and late potatoes. The Manly, a round white potato of moderate and equal size, 

 is one of the best early sorts ; and the bread-fruit, a'rather large round white potato, a good bearer and 

 a good keeper, is one of the best late soi ts. (G. t'. 1842. p. 97.) 



8369. Comparative merit of different varieties of potato. Experiments with a view to determine the 

 comparative merit of different varieties led to the conclusion that the lumpers and the cups are excellent 

 varieties to grow for cattle, because they cover the ground well, do not curl, and produce great weights. 

 In autumn the white and blue Dons are excellent for family use. and in spring the old rough black and 

 Irish apple. Through summer the ash-leaf is the first that comes into use. and next Dudgeon's black 

 early, and the Flamingo or red early. ( Trans. H. S., vol. xi. p. B5. | 



S370 5307. Soil for the potato. In the peninsula of Kintyre, the soil is calcareous clay, in which there 



is found gypsum, an earth said to be congenial to the potato ; and there, Mr. Stewart states, that the 

 potato crops far surpass any he had elsewhere seen, either in Scotland or Ireland. (Rrit. Farm. Mag , 

 vol. vii. p. 479.) 



8371 5312. Comparative produce of different modes of preparing the sets, and planting potatoes. The 



following interesting experiments were made by the Messrs. Drummond of Stirling, with the lri ? h blue 

 potato, on the same piece of ground, and under similar circumstances. The space which each experi- 

 ment occupied was forty square yards, which were drilled and dunged at the rate of thirty tons the impe- 

 rial acre. They were all planted on 28th May, and raised 12th Oct iber, 1*3?: — 



8372. The first plot was planted on the plan recommended by Mr. Knight, I'res Hort. Soc. The tuber, 

 were whole, weighing half a pound each, and were planted at the distance of -ix inches in the row , and 

 the rows four feet apart, and lying north and south; forty square yards required nine pounds of sets, and 

 produced 364 pounds of potatoes ; being, per acre, 136 bushels of sets, and 550 bushels of produce: net 

 increase. 414 bushels. 



8373. The second plot was also planted with similar tubers to the last, at nine inches apart. The seed 

 required weighed sixty pounds, the produce 326 pounds ; being, per acre, ninety-one bushels of seed, and 

 493 bushels of crop : net increase, 402 bushels. 



4 K 3 



