64 The Rothamsted Wheat Experiments. 



were those of 1832-3-4-5. So abundant were these four 

 wheat crops, that the average price, even under protection, 

 went down from 54s. 5d. per quarter over the first harvest 

 year, to 49s. 9d. over the second, 41s. 5d. over the third, and 

 42s. 8d. over the fourth. The lowest price reached was 36s. 

 per quarter in the last week of 1835, and the first of 1836. 

 And such was the distress suffered by the agricultural 

 interest, as the result of abundant wheat crops, and the low 

 prices following, that select committees of both Houses of 

 Parliament were appointed to inquire into the matter; in 

 1880 a Royal Commission inquired into the distress caused, 

 not by abundant, but by deficient crops and large importa- 

 tions, though by no means such low prices as during the 

 period of great abundance. The characters of some of the 

 remarkable seasons may now be noticed. 



The abundant wheat crop of 1832 was grown under the 

 influence of a mild and rather wet winter, a spring of 

 moderate characters, and a summer of only moderate 

 temperatures, and with heavy rains excepting in July. The 

 crop of 1833 was the result of a generally mild and 

 moderately wet winter and early spring, excepting January 

 and March, which were cold. The remainder of the spring 

 and the early summer were hot and mostly dry, and the rest 

 of the season upon the whole favourable. The result was a 

 high yielding, but not bulky, straw crop. The crop of wheat 

 of 1834 one of the heaviest on record was grown in a 

 season warmer than usual almost throughout, but especially 

 in the winter and in the spring, excepting April ; and, after 

 an excess of rain in the winter, there was a considerable 

 deficiency for four months to the end of May, again a 

 deficiency in June, but afterwards heavy rains, though with 

 high temperatures. The crop of 1835, which was of 

 extraordinary bulk and luxuriance, was grown in a season in 

 which the winter was as open and as much marked by an 

 absence of snow and frost as the three preceding winters ; 

 the spring was, upon the whole, favourable to the wheat 



