358 Transactions of the American Institute. 



barley harvests ; but in wheat I was surprised. The English farmer 

 may justly pride himself on his knowledge of this kingly cereal. 



Their wheat straw is stiffer than ours and stands up better. The 

 head is large and the color bright and clear. The uniformity of their 

 fields is remarkable ; no bare or thin places ; no wet places ; no winter- 

 kills. Some fields that I saw would average thirty, some thirty-six, 

 others forty bushels per acre ; sixty and even sixty-four are often 

 reported. One large field that I saw gave an average of forty-four, 

 and I heard of an average of sixty-eight bushels per acre. That 

 wheat I did not see. But I am well satisfied that the yield is from 

 fifty to 100 per cent beyond our American average. Now, how is 

 this done ? 1. The English farmer does not expect good wheat except 

 on excellent land well manured. 2. He pulverizes thoroughly and 

 makes the best possible seed-bed for wheat. He plows, cross-plows, 

 then rolls then harrows with a fine-toothed pulverizer ; then he 

 sows broadcast or drills in the seed, and covers from an inch to two 

 inches deep, and if the soil is sandy he rolls lightly again. Often, on 

 poorer spots, he sows a few hundred weight of nitrate of soda, and this 

 special fertilizer brings up the thin places and makes the crop even 

 from side to side of the field. 3. He considers the folding of sheep 

 on a field fits it in the best manner for wheat. They all keep great 

 flocks of sheep and feed them on turnips. Of this root an average 

 crop is twenty tons per acre, and the sheep often eat them as they are 

 found in the earth, biting them down below the surface, and with 

 their sharp, hard feet treading the earth till it looks like a road-bed. 

 In this way weeds have no chance, and the droppings are kept in the 

 upper two inches of soil. In order to secure this compactness from 

 the treading of the sheep's hoof they confine the flock to a small area, 

 as a half acre, feeding them there till the roots are all gnawed away ; 

 then by moving the hurdle, a light fence, the flock is penned on 

 another strip, and so on all the fall and winter. The manuring, plow- 

 ing, cross-plowing, rolling and pulverizing are done at intervals from 

 March till seeding time. Turnips are preferred as the crop to go 

 before wheat ; if not turnips, a clover lay. 



Their General Policy in Farming. 

 The difference between renovating crops and exhausting crops is 

 well understood in England, and the proportion that should always 

 exist between them. Turnips, beets, clover and grass they rank as 

 renovating, or flesh and dung making ; wheat, oats, barley, hops and 

 rape they call exhausters. The rental papers generally provide that 



