WHEAT. 



WHEAT. 



23-25 



: 1 : : 580 : =the number of grains 



df No. 2 in the measure m. 



570n 22-75ro 



And w- 



the space occupied 



22-75 570n 



by one grain of No. 3 (ripe) ; and 



5SO 2325m ,, 



m : 23 25 == ~5W~ == s P ace occupied by one 

 grain of No. 2 (raw). 



Now, as there are the same number of grains 

 upon each acre, and as the acre of ripe yields 

 30 bushels, we have 



^L l : ?g^ : : 30 bushels : 30-1307313 bush- 



D/UM, OOUT? 



.els, the "produce of one acre cut a fortnight be- 

 fore the ripe. 



Again, by reference to the second table, we 

 have 1 and l r f ff as the relative weights of the 

 straw No. 3 and No. 2 ; whence, as No. 3 is 

 supposed to produce one ton, 



1 : 1 T \ : : 160 stones : 168 stones, the weight 

 upon the acre reaped when raw. And for the 

 whole produce of the acre, we have 



L. i. d. 



30-1307 bushels of wheat, at 63s. 6d. per 



quarter ....... 11 19 1} 



168 stones of straw, at 2d. per stone - - 1 8 If 



13 7 3i 



Adopting the same course for the produce of 

 the acre cut first, i. e. a month before the ripe, 

 and which corresponds with sample No. 1, we 

 get 



C/*Q 



r=the number of grains of the green in 



space oc- 



the measure m; whence 

 cupied by one grain of green. 



But (vide above), . t space by one grain 



of the ripe ; whence?^ 1 : ~ : : 30 bushels : 



o i On ooon 



26-1356 bushels, the produce of the acre cut a 

 month before the ripe. And (vide "Table of 

 relative weights," &c. 



I : \l : : 160 stones : 195 stones of straw, the 

 produce of the same ; whence we have 



L. i. d. 



26-1356 bushels of wheat, at 61s. per quarter 9 19 3 

 195 5-9 stones of straw, at 3d. per stone - 1 12 7 



11 11 1(U 



The total products of the three acres stand 

 thus : 



No. 3. Reaped when ripe ... 12 17 3* 

 No. 2. Reaped a fortnight earlier - 13 7 3f 

 No. 1. Reaped a month before the ripe 11 11 10 



Showing a loss of II. 5s. 5d., or about 10 per 

 cent, by cutting very green ; and a gain of 

 10s. per acre, or nearly 4 per cent., by reaping 

 in a raw state, or a fortnight before it was ripe. 

 "From the above details, it would appear 

 that it is the farmer's interest to cut his 

 wheat before it becomes thoroughly ripe. 

 Many, no doubt, will be disposed to doubt de- 

 ductions of such importance, drawn from such 

 limited experiments. This objection the writer 

 anticipates, because it is a natural one, which 

 he felt himself, when he considered the most 

 important conclusions which resulted; when, 

 however, he retraced, step by step, his investiga- 

 tions, rvithout any variation in that result, he could 

 1126 



no longer refuse to believe it true till he proved 

 it untrue. He is aware that there are other 

 points of consideration in this subject that 

 there are peculiarities in the nature of land, of 

 seed, or of season, and that there is, as in all 

 man's investigations, a possibility of error; any 

 of which circumstances might materially affect 

 the result of experiments upon so limited a 

 scale as the present one ; and for this reason 

 he will, if all be well, give the subject a trial in 

 the ensuing harvest, on a much more com- 

 prehensive scale. That the results of these 

 experiments will be corroborative in the main 

 points, he has no doubt, and for this cause he 

 feels no hesitation in laying the preceding 

 'details' before the agricultural world; more- 

 over, as he has in no case given a deduction 

 without the grounds upon which it rested, the 

 degree of 'acceptation' which the reader may 

 give it rests with himself. The most skeptical, 

 he, however, flatters himself, will think it 

 ' worthy of being tested, if of nothing more. 



" In testing, however, the conclusion which 

 the foregoing experiments warrant, there are 

 some other advantages which strengthen that 

 conclusion, which must not be forgotten. That 

 they have not been considered in the preceding 

 pages, is not because they are of no import, 

 but, on the contrary, because they are of such 

 consequence, that the writer could not assign 

 them an adequate momentary value. And had he 

 attempted to do so, he would have at once 

 made the details of his experiments valueless 

 by mixing the real results of practice with the 

 imaginary ones of opinion. Before the sub- 

 ject, however, can be thoroughly sifted, they 

 must be considered. The circumstances are 

 these : independently of the 4 per cent, gain 

 (according to the foregoing experiments) by 

 reaping our wheat a fortnight before it is ripe, 

 we have, 



" 1st, Straw of a better quality. 



"2d, A better chance of securing the crop; 

 and, 



"3d, A saving in securing it. 



"1st, 'Straw of a better quality.' This is 

 easily demonstrated, both for the purpose of 

 food and manure. 



"As an article of food, the value of any 

 vegetable depends upon the gross quantity, or 

 upon the combination of certain substances 

 termed soluble, from their entering into union 

 with water. This rule applies particularly to 

 the grasses which are used for the purpose of 

 feeding stock. The substances generally found 

 in these grasses are saccharine matter or 

 sugar, mucilage or starch, and gluten or albu- 

 men, and bitter extract and saline matters. Of 

 these the sugar is, no doubt, the most, and the 

 extractive matter the least, nutritive; the 

 latter having been found, by experiment, to 

 come away in the dung of the animal con- 

 suming it, while the other matters were ab- 

 sorbed by the body. 



" Now, wheat is a species of grass, and the 

 value of the straw, as an article of food, depends 

 upon the quantity of nutritive matter contained 

 in it. 'This nutritive matter must be very 

 small in straw, as now generally used,' the 

 practical farmer will say, 'for straw per se is 

 but poor food, and scarcely able to sustain life.* 



