Vol, XI.— No. 10. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



seeds of barley." In the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions* it is re<'or(le(l, that Mr C. Miller of Cam- 

 bridge, the son of the eminent horticulturist, sowed 

 on the 2d of June, a few grains of common red 

 wheat, one of the plants from which had tillered 

 so much, that on the 8th of August he was ena- 

 bled to divide it into eighteen plants, all of which 

 were placed separately in the ground. In the 

 course of September and October so many of these 

 plants had again multiplied their stalks, that the 

 number of plants which were separately set out to 

 stand the winter was sixtyseven. With the first 

 growth of the spring the tillering again went for- 

 ward, so that at the end of March and beginning 

 of April a fitrther division was made, and the uuni 

 her of plants now amounted to five Inuidred. Mr 

 Miller expressed his opinion, that before the sea- 

 son had too for advanced one other division might 

 have been effected, when the number might have 

 been at least quadrupled. The five hundred plants 

 proved extremely vigorous, much more so than 

 wheat under ordinary culture, so that the nuinber 

 of ears submitted to the sickle was 21,109, or more 

 than forty to each of the divided plants: in some 

 instances therfl were one hundred ears upon one 

 plant. The ears were remarkably fine, some be- 

 ing six or seven inches long, and containing from 

 sixty to seventy grains. The wheat, when separ- 

 ated from the straw, weighed fortyseven pounds 

 and seven ounces, and measured three pecks and 

 three quarters, the estimated number of grains 

 being 57G,840. 



Such an enormous increase is not of course at- 

 tainable on any great scale, or by the common 

 modes of culture ; but the experiment is of use as 

 showing the vast power of increase with which 

 the most valuable of vegetables is endowed, and 

 which, by judiciously varying the mode of tillage, 

 may possibly in time be brought into beneficial 

 action. 



The ordinary produce of wheat varies exceed- 

 ingly, depending much upon the quality of the 

 soil, the nature of the season, and the mode of cul- 

 ture. The average produce of the soil of a coun- 

 try depends, as does every other species of pro- 

 duction, upon the advance of its inhabitants in 

 knowledge and in the possession of capital. It 

 has been conjectured, that in the 13th century, an 

 acre of good land in England would jiroduce 

 twelve bushels of wheat.f In two centuries this 

 rate of produce ajipears to have greatly increased. 

 Harrison, writing in 1574,says, "The yield of our 

 corne-ground is much after this rate following: 

 Throughout the land (if you please to make an 

 estimate thereof by the acre,) in nieane and indif- 

 ferent years, wherein each acre of rie or wheat, 

 well tilled and dressed, will yield commonlie six- 

 teene or twentie bushels ; an acre of barley, six- 

 and-thirtie bushels; of otes, and such like, four or 

 five quarters; which proportion is notwithstand- 

 ing oft abated toward the north, as it is oftentimes 

 surmounted in the south."t The mean produce 

 in Great Britain, according to the estimate of Mr 

 Arthur Young, did not, at the time when he wrote 

 (about .50 years ago,) exceed twentytwo and a half 

 bushels per acre. Other and later writers have 

 calculated the average at from Iwenlyfonr to 

 twentyeight bushels ; while the author of the Re- 

 porls on Agriculture for M iddlesex has asserted, 



* Vol. Iviii. 



I Sir J. Cullum's " History of Hawksted," quoted in 

 Eden s " History of the Poor," vol. i. p. 18. 



} " DescripUon of Britain," prefixed to Holllngshed. 



that the medium quantity in that county is forty 

 bushels, the highest produce he has known being 

 sixtyeight, and the lowest twelve bushels per acre. 

 The land in the county which was the subject of 

 these Reports, owing to its proximity to the me- 

 tropolis, may be considered as in a state of high 

 condition, and nuich beyond the ordinary rate of 

 fertility. At all times, and in every country, some 

 situations will be found more prolific than others, 

 and some individuals will be more successful in 

 their agricultural labors. Pliny has related a case 

 which occurreil among the Romans, where this 

 success was seen in so marked a degree, that the 

 able agriculturist who, by excelling his country- 

 men, had rendered himself the object of envy, 

 was cited before the Curide Edile and an assem- 

 bly of the people, to answer to a charge of sorcery, 

 founded on his reaping much larger crops from 

 his very small spot of ground than his neighbors 

 did from their extensive fields. In answer to 

 this charge Cresinus produced his efficient imple- 

 ments of husbandry, his well-fed oxen, and a hale 

 young woman, his daughter, and ])ointing to them, 

 exclaimed, — "These, Romans, are my instruments 

 of witchcraft, but I cannot here show you my la- 

 bors, sweats, and anxious cares."* 



It will be easily conceived that the quantity of 

 straw must vary considerably from year to year, 

 according to the seasons, and that this produce 

 will likewise be generally influenced by the nature 

 of the soil. It is therefore impossible to give any 

 certain information upon this point, but it will per- 

 haps amotmt to a near approximation to the truth 

 if we consider that for every twelve bushels of 

 wheat, one load, containing thirtysix trusses of 

 straw, will be olitained, the weight of which is 11 

 cwt. 2 qrs. 8 lbs. The straw of summer wheat is 

 more agreeable to cattle than that produced from 

 winter sowing. 



This most important vegetable is not wholly free 

 from casualties apart from climate. The princi- 

 pal of these are, blight, iriildew, and smut. The 

 examination and treatment of these diseases have 

 proved fruitful topics with writers on agricultural 

 subjects. It does not, however, ajjpear that the 

 public has hitherto benefited much by their spec- 

 ulations, and an author of considerable eminence 

 is so far of a contrary opinion as to have asserted 

 that "in proportion as words have been multi- 

 plied u|)on the subject, the difiiculties attending its 

 elucidation have increased." f 



Blight is a disorder to which the cereal grains 

 are known to have been liable from the earliest 

 times. Among the ancient Greeks it was regard- 

 ed as a sign of wrath on the part of their oftendcd 

 deities ; and whenever it occurred they conse- 

 (juently gave themselves up to the infliction, with- 

 out any thought of providing a remedy. The 

 same superstitious notion was entertained by the 

 Romans, who believed that the evil, which they 

 called rubigo, was under the control of a particu- 

 lar deity named Rubigus, to propitiate whom in 

 favor of their crops sacrifices were continually of- 

 fered. 



Blight and mildew have been very much con- 

 founded together by difierent writers on agricul- 

 tural subjects, so as to render it doubtful to which 

 class of appearances each name should in strict- 

 ness be applied, or whether indeed both are not 

 applicable to one and the same disorder occurring 

 at different periods of the growth of the plant. 

 * Nat. Hist, book xviii. chap. 6. 

 i Loudon's Encyclopxdia of Gardeoiog, p. 236. 



Wishing to avoid entering upon debatable ground 

 in noticing a subject which remains intricate and 

 obscure, notwithstanding all the laborious trea- 

 tises to which it has given rise, the forms which 

 the disorders assume, and the bad effects by which 

 they are followed will be plainly but briefly des- 

 cribed, leaving the question of their classification 

 to more professional hands. 



Three distinct and dissimilar causes are assign- 

 ed for the production of these disorders— cold and 

 frosty winds — sultry and pestilential vapors — and 

 the propagation of a i)arnstical fungn.s. The first 

 of these causes acts by stopping the current of the 

 juices ; the leaves, being then deprived of a ne- 

 cessary portion of nutriment, speedily wither and 

 die, when the juices, which are impeded in their 

 passage, swell and burst the vessels, becoming 

 then the food of myriads of little insects. These 

 iriake their appearance so suddenly as to have 

 been considered the cause rather than one of the 

 effects of the disease. The second cause of blight 

 occurs after the grain has attained its full growth. 

 It has been observed to hal)peu mostly after heavy 

 showers of rain, which, occurring about noontide, 

 have been succeeded by clear sunshine. The 

 plants are most commonly attacked thus about the 

 middle or end of July. Mr Loudon informs us 

 that "in the sunmier of 1809, a field of wheat on 

 rather a light and sandy soil came up with every 

 appearance of health, and also into ear, with a fair 

 prospect of ripening well. About the beginning 

 of July it was considered as exceeding anything 

 exjiected from such a soil. A week afterwards, a 

 portion of the croji on the east side of the field, to 

 the extent of several acres, was totally destroyed, 

 being shrunk and sjirivclled up to less than "one 

 half the size of what it had formerly been, and so 

 withered and blasted as not to appear to belong to 

 the same field. The rest of the field produced a 

 fair crop."* Tliis disorder attacks either the 

 leaves or stem of the plant, which appear to be 

 covered by broken lines, of a black or deep brown 

 color. This disease has been ascertained to result 

 from the presence of a very njinute species of fun- 

 gus, the roots of which are inserted into the stem, 

 and absorb the nourishment intended for the 

 grain, which when the plant is thus attacked 

 proves little else than husk. The minute seeds of 

 the parasitical plant which occasion this mischief 

 are so exceedingly light that they are borne along 

 by the air to considerable distances. They are 

 likewise of extraordinary quick growth, occupy- 

 ing in warm weather, according to the opinion of 

 Sir Joseph Banks, not longer than one week from 

 the time of their insertion in the plant to the pro- 

 duction of their seed. Every pore in the straw 

 whereon they fix will present from twenty to forty 

 plants, so that the extent to which this mischief 

 spreads is difficult to be imagined. Fungus thrives 

 best in damp and shady situations, a circumstance 

 which seems to point out naturally the propriety 

 of providing means for the free ventilation of the 

 fields, keeping low the hedges and fences by which 

 they are surrounded. For the same reason it is 

 found that thin crops, and such as are sown by 

 drilling or dibbling are the most likely to escape. 

 It has been often asserted, and was for a Ion" 

 time believed, that the neighborhood of barberry 

 bushes was hurtful by attracting the noxious fun- 

 gus, but this idea is now classed among unfound- 

 ed prejudices. 



The grain of mildewed plants is found to be 

 ' Encyciop. of Gard. p. 237. 



