APPENDICES. 



ON the point alluded to in par. 5, p. 94, namely, the effect 

 of frost upon wheat ; a very interesting and practical dis- 

 cussion was recently gone through in the pages of a lead- 

 ing Agricultural Journal. The discussion was opened up 

 by a writer who drew the attention of those engaged in 

 farming to the very great and as he put it the most 

 alarming injury which was being done to the wheat plants 

 by the severe frost then prevailing, and which, in his es- 

 timation, was likely to result in the destruction of a large 

 proportion of the crop. This called forth sundry opinions 

 of other writers, amongst others the writer upon agricul- 

 tural subjects well known under the nom de plume of the 

 " Old Norfolk Farmer ; " who thus very decidedly expressed 

 his opinion that wheat was not destroyed by frost. 



" / do not believe there ever was a plant of ivheat de- 

 stroyed by frost in the United Kingdom. I have known 

 whole fields destroyed by the root-fall after a long and se- 

 vere frost; but this was owing to the neglect of the far- 

 mers in not rolling the wheat, or driving a flock of sheep 

 over the field, as soon as the frost gave way, in order to 

 close the soil round the roots. The rationale of this 

 operation is as follows : The rains of autumn and winter 

 swell the soil, and the late-sown wheats, not having ac- 

 quired much hold on the ground, are raised with it; then 

 comes the frost, and evaporates the moisture from the soil, 

 which, when the thaw commences, falls from the roots, 

 leaving them exposed to the sharp and strong winds of 



