Culture of Spring Wheat. 183 



worm have abated somewhat ; if then the seed of spring wheat is at that time 

 dibbled, or only raked with a garden rake into the naked spots left by the worm, 

 though it will not attain the growth at which the worm begins to prey upon it till he 

 has changed his state for that of a winged beetle, will certainly be ripe as soon 

 as the winter wheat, and may be thrashed out and sold with it ; or if it is preferred, 

 may be reaped separately, as the appearance of the ears, which in the Lincolnshire 

 sort have longer beards or awms that the rivetl or cone wheat, will point it out to 

 the reapers in such a manner, that no great error can happen in separating it from 

 the lammas. 



In years of scarcity, this wheat offers a resource which may occasionally be of the 

 utmost importance to the community ; of this the Board were very sensible last 

 spring, when they offered premiums for the increase of its culture, which have had 

 the effect of rendering it much more generally known than otherwise would have 

 been the case. The price of wheat seldom advances much, even in very scarce 

 years, till a considerable portion of the crop has been thrashed out, and the yield 

 of it by this means actually ascertained; but this does not take place till the seed 

 time of winter wheat is wholly over; no speculation, therefore, of sowing an in< 

 creased quantity of that grain, can be entered into during the first year of a scarcity; 

 but before the end of April, the question of the average yield of the preceding crop 

 will be generally known, and when it is much below the usual proportion, there 

 can be no doubt that a large quantity of spring wheat will be sown, if the seed can 

 be easily procured. 



It is rather melancholy to reflect, that the progress of agricultural improvements 

 has in some instances advanced in the inverse ratio of the utility of the novelty re- 

 commended to the public. Tobacco and potatoes reached Europe at much the 

 same period, the time when Virginia was settled by Sir Walter Raleigh; but an in- 

 effectual firmaum was issued by the Great Mogul, against the use of tobacco, long 

 before potatoes were commonly cultivated in the gardens of England, and that 

 nauseous weed reached the furthest extremiiies of the Chinese empire, in spite of 

 the obstacles placed by the government of that country, against the introduction 

 of novelties of any kind, long before potatoes had occupied any extensive portion 

 in the field cultivation of this island. 



Lest the revival of the culture of spring wheat, even under the Hberal protection 

 it has received from the Board, may be retarded by this principle, which seems to be 

 inherent in the nature of mankind, it may be advisable to state here, that in the 



