WHEAT- 



a velvet ear ; is found about Burnham to be an excellent 

 fort ; for there they are fubjeft to ftrong eafterly winds, and 

 it does not fhell eafily. But fome, however, do not like it 

 on heavy land, as it has not ftraw enough ; and think that 

 it (hould ftand till ripe, or it will not thrafh well. 



And about Hallingburg Rife, and indeed through all the 

 diftrict of the Roodings, they find the rivet fort a very ufe- 

 ful wheat, which is very general, and is found to yield on 

 that heavy foil much better crops than any common fort ; 

 but on lighter foils the Kentifh red. 



In Norfolk about Reddlefworth they have an opinion 

 that red ivheat will not anfwer on black fand, white fucceed- 

 ing to much better advantage. But at Winborough red is 

 only fown by Mr. Salter, the white forts not anfwering fo 

 well on the heavy foils : it is termed the old red. Some pre- 

 fer the red chaff, or red wheat to the white, as being lefs 

 liable to grow at harveft ; white however is a better fample, 

 and produces a better price. 



In Hertford fhire the rivet or bearded fort is the common 

 fort on the clays and ifrong loams about Sawbridgworth, 

 on which it yields more abundantly than the red and white 

 wheats, four or five quarters ^ifr acre not being uncommon 

 in favourable years. And a fort termed polled rivets is alfo 

 very productive, one hundred grains having been feen in an 

 ear. 



About St. Alban's, Z)^jr'j /?ok/, which has the ears grow- 

 ing with four fets of kernels, is much fown : alfo about 

 Hitchen, where it was difcovered by a poor labourer who 

 gathered a few ears. It is faid to yield well. It is fup- 

 pofed to be the pirls of Ellis. The red Inmmas and Lujiuell, 

 brought from Cambridgefhire, are likewife much fown. On 

 the Albury clays the rivets are grown, yielding largely, but 

 fubjeft to mildew, and feUing badly with indifferent ftraw. 

 They have a hlue and tvhite fort ; the latter is preferred. 



In moft other counties, the fame forts of wheat are like- 

 wife cultivated and grown with fome other varieties. 



In addition to thefe, there is, however, another fpecies or 

 fort of this grain, which is now much cultivated in fome 

 cafes, as that which is known by the name of fpring-wheat. 

 This is a fort of wheat that is capable of being put into the 

 ground at the fame time with other grain crops, in the early 

 fpring months. The cultivation of it has been long prac- 

 tifed, in fome degree, in both the northern and fouthern 

 parts of the ifland ; but of late a much greater attention has 

 been beftowed upon it, and at prefent it is raifed and grown 

 to confiderable extent in different diftrifls and places, as in 

 the fens of Lmcolnfhire and Cambridgefhire, in many parts 

 of Oxfordfhire, in fome inftances in Berkfhire, in Hertford- 

 (hire, where it is found to anfwer well, and in moft of the 

 other fouthern counties, as well as in many parts of the 

 north of England, and even in the lower parts of Scot- 

 land. 



The common autumn or winter fort of this grain is in 

 general moft fuited to the heavier defcriptions of mellow 

 foils, which do not retain too much moifture. They ftiould 

 however be of a fertile quality, and capable of afford- 

 ing a fine furface mould, for the reception of the grain. 

 But good crops may be raifed on the lighter forts ; though 

 the introduction of it on fuch kinds of land, has been fug- 

 gefted as difadvantageous from their being fo much more 

 adapted to the raifing of other kinds of crops. 



The cone, bearded, or rivet forts of fuch wheat are the 

 moft proper for the heavier, more moift, and lefs broken 

 down and reduced kinds of land that have been more lately 

 put in cultivation, on which very weighty crops are not un- 

 frcquently produced. 



All thefe forts of wheat are grown to the moft advantage 



and with the greateft fuccefs, where the bottom in the land 

 is fomewhat inchned to be firm and clofe. 



In regard to the fpring fort of this grain, it would feem 

 to be capable of being cultivated on the ftrong and heavy, 

 as well as on the lighter forts of land ; but that it is the 

 moft calculated for the latter, where the vegetation and 

 growth are rapid, particularly fuch fenny lands as have a firm 

 turf-earthy bottom. In thefe it rifes in a very quick manner, 

 and they are not by any means well fuited for the winter forts 

 of wheat from their lightnefs, rendering them liable to be 

 thrown out in that feafon. 



Preparation of the Land. — Wheat is a crop that is ufually 

 grown after the land has been prepared by repeated plough- 

 ing and harrowing or fummer fallowing ; but which is often 

 capable of being raifed after difft rent kinds of green crops, 

 as well as thofe of the root and other forts with equal or 

 more advantage. In fome cafes, flax and hemp alfo afford a 

 good preparation for this grain ; but fome coiifider beans as 

 the moft favourable preparation : and experiment has fhewn 

 tares, and clover, to be nearly equal to them in this inten- 

 tion. In the county of Norfolk, wheat almoft conftantly 

 fucceeds clover, except where pea or bean crops are inter- 

 pofed, the land being fcarcely ever fallowed with this view, 

 except in the inftances of what are termed lajiard fummer 

 tills. It has indeed been well obferved, that if there is one 

 practice in hufbandry proved by modern iitiproveirent to be 

 worfe than another, it is that of fowing wheat on fallows ; 

 it is therefore only ftated on this point, that in fon.e counties 

 the fallows are ploughed jnft before harveft on to two-bout 

 ridges ready to plough and fow under the furrow in the 

 fpraining method, a feedfman to every plough which reverfes 

 the ridges. In others they lay their lands into ten or twelve 

 furrow-ftitches or ridges, and fow fome under the furrow, 

 fome under the harrow. That the ridges vary exceedingly, 

 according to their wetrefs ; and that in Kent they have by 

 means of the turn-wreft plough, no lands at all, but a whole 

 field, one even furface. It would be ufelefs to expatiate on 

 the circumftances of fallow-wheat which ought no where 

 to be found. If fallows be or are thought neceffary, let 

 them be fown for barley or oats, or with any thing but 

 wheat. However, in whatever manner or after whatever 

 kind of crop this fort of grain may be cultivated, the foil , 

 fhould conftantly undergo that fort of preparation that may 

 be fufficient, according to the particular circumftances of 

 the land, to bring it into a ftate of confiderable finenefs of 

 mould, efpecially in the more fuperficial parts, and thereby 

 prevent as much as poffible the rifing of weeds ; for it has 

 been well noticed by a late writer, that whoever has attended 

 to the progrefs of this fort of crop, in fuch lands as have 

 been well broken down and reduced, and in fuch as have 

 been left in a lumpy crude ftate at the time of fowing, will 

 have found the difference to be very confiderable. But it 

 may be noticed, that when this kind of crop is taken after 

 clover, the land feldom undergoes more than one ploughing, 

 which is moftly given immediately before the feed is fown. 

 However, as the graffy matter, in many cafes where this mode 

 is adopted, is extremely apt to rife and injure the crops in 

 the more early ft ages of their growth, it R.ay be better to 

 follow the praflice adopted in fome diflridts of ufing a fkim- 

 coultered plough, as by this contrivance the remaii-s of the 

 clover weeds, and grafly niateiial on the furface, may be cut 

 or fliimmed off, and turned into the bottom of the furrows, 

 where they are immediately coveted with the Icofe mould 

 from below to fuch a depth, that little or no irconvenience 

 can be fuftained by them, while the land is thus rendered 

 more clean, and capable of being harrowed in a more per- 

 fcA manner than where the common plough only is em- 

 ployed. 



