2€j8 WHEAT. 



the berberry bush will occasion it, he has ascertained by 

 observations lh:it could not deceive him. 



The li.;ht soils of Saxethorpe, are very suhjc^l to the mil- 

 dew, and about Reepham, fine barley land the same, Mr. 

 Parmenter, of Aylcsham^ a considerable miller, lias, 

 however, had some of his finest wheats from Saxethorpe. 

 The Rev. Dr. Baker, at Causton, observes, that die 

 wheat in that parish is so sui)je6l to the mildew, that he 

 has found on various occasions, oats to be a more profit- 

 able crop; he has known from i6 to i8 coombs of oatS;, 

 ■where more than seven of wheat could not be expelled, 

 and that, probably, much damaged by this distemper. The 

 soil is very fine barley land. 



The mildew is so mischievous at Hillingdon, that some 

 farmers do not sow wheat at all; Captain Beacher, 

 Steward to Sir M. Folkes, has not sown any for three 

 years past : as it is not here the custom to cut early, upon 

 account of this distemper, no wonder it should make 

 such havock. 



*' This distemper has been accurately traced from a 

 point across a field to a berberry bush in a hedge. Seve- 

 ral similar instances ; and Mr. Marshall produced the 

 distemper by planting a small bush in the middle of a large 

 piece of wheat ; all clean, except a stripe where the ber- 

 berry mildewed the crop." 



The parish of Elsing is well known for the wheat that 

 grows in it being very liable to the mildew, arising (as 

 every person in it knows) from the number of berberry- 

 bushes which abounded in the hedges, till much attention 

 •was given to extirpate them; and stili, arising from the 

 same cause, on the lands of those who are careless in this 

 business. At Harpley-dam, a hedge of Mr. John Blom- 

 FIELd's had been cleared, and the wheat consequently- 

 safe item this cause; but this year (1802), observing a 



strc.ik 



