WHEAT. 



of the fituation, or other caufes, of being taken off fo 

 early as that the land may be made for the wheat-crop in the 

 proper time. This is often the cafe after peas, beans, tares, 

 turnips, and other fimilar crops. In thefe cafes, on the 

 lighter forts of foils, and where drill culture is employed, it 

 may often be an advifeablepraiftice to fow in the fpring, as by 

 fuch a delay the ground may be brought into a more per- 

 fea ftate of preparation than could be the cafe in fowing it 

 fo late in the winter. 



It is indeed remarked in the Corre£led Report on Agri- 

 culture for Middlefex, that thofe perfons who fow wheat in 

 autumn lofe the great advantage of a previous crop of 

 turnips, both as to deilroying the weeds and manuring the 

 land ; and that they create the labour of either hoeing, har- 

 rowing, or otherwife tampering with the weeds and young 

 wheat in the following fpring. That a wet feed-time fome- 

 times renders it impoffible for the farmer of a clayey foil to 

 fow his ufual quantity of wheat in autumn ; this {hould not 

 induce him to fow his grain when the land is too wet for the 

 occafion, but rather let him wait till the firft favourable op- 

 portunity in the months of February or March, by which 

 time froft will have rendered the land mellow, and then he 

 Ihould fow the refidue of his wheat ; as the probability is 

 great that wheat fown on a mellow foil, in a dry February, 

 will be more produftive than if it had been fown on the 

 fame land, in an adhefive flate, during a wet November. 



That autumnal-fown wheat precludes cultivation for one 

 entire year, which, apart from all other circumftances, gives 

 great encouragement to the growth of weeds ; but that in 

 order to appreciate the great mifchief done by fowing wheat 

 in that feafon, its conneftion with the ufual courfe of crops 

 mufl be taken into confideration. For inftance, firil, in the 

 ancient, and ftill very common courfe of fallow, wheat, oats, 

 there is feldom any ploughing from the fowing of the 

 wheat until the fowing of the oats, which is one year and a 

 half ; fecondly, in the courfe of wheat, clover, fpring corn, 

 or pulfe, there are two years together in which the plough 

 cannot poffibly be put into the ground ; thirdly, in the va- 

 luable courfe of turnips,barley, clover, and wheat, the plough 

 is fhut out of the ground for two years and a half. That 

 thefe three cafes include moft of the arable land in Britain, 

 and they demonftrate the prodigious encouragement which 

 fuch courfes give to the growth of weeds. On the contrary, 

 wheat fown in the fpring occupies the^ground only half a 

 year; and that when that is placed in a fuccefGon with win- 

 ter tares and turnips every two years, the weeds have not 

 time to grow in fuch a manner as to do any material injury. 

 There is no period in fuch a courfe of more than fiK months 

 in fummer, or eight in the winter, free from the operation 

 of the plough. This degree of tilth keeps the land free of 

 weeds, and, in that manner, preferves it from being exhaufted 

 by them ; and, by giving the green and root crops to Iheep 

 and other cattle, on the land, it becomes doubly manured 

 every other year, which cannot fail to force the growth of 

 the wheat as though it were growing in a hot-bed. 



It certainly is not in every poffible cafe advifeable to re- 

 frain from fowing wheat in the autumn, in order to fow it in 

 the fpring. A dry feed-time is of fo much importance to 

 the occupiers of adhefive and fenny foils, that they fhould 

 not let any fuch time pafs without fowing their grain. In 

 the cafe of a dry autumn, which is the fame thing as a fine 

 feed-time, the farmers (hould fow all fuch land as is then 

 ready, and thereby enfure the important points of a good 

 feed-bed for their grain, and againft the danger of a wet 

 fpring. On the other hand, the more rain that falls in au- 

 tumn, the better chance there is of having a dry fpring ; 

 2nd confequently in every wet autumn the wheat-fowing 



(hould be poftponed until the fpring. The proof of the- 

 fuccefs of one inftance of this kind may enable farmers to 

 judge what is capable of being effefted, even in an unfa- 

 vourable fituation, by patience in wet feafons, and exertion 

 in fuch as are dry. A large wheat -farmer, near Hadding- 

 ton, in Scotland, owing to a wet autumn, delayed fowing 

 his wheat until after the 19th day of February, between 

 that time and the middle of March, feeding one hundred and 

 forty-five acres with wheat, principally the Effex white and 

 Egyptian red. The harveft in this cafe was about ten days 

 later than ufual, and the crop yielded from twenty-four to 

 forty Wincheller bufhels on the acre, which weighed nearly [ 

 fixty-two pounds each. On examination, the wheat was i 

 found a firft-rate fample. 



Such a fuccefsful cafe of railing fine wheat from the feed 

 fown in the fpring may afford reafon for putting it in at that ; 

 feafon in many cafes. Such a praftice has never been known 

 to fail, by the writer, when performed early, and on land 1 

 in good heart. The advantages of the praftice are faid to 

 be many, and very conliderable. 



When the fowisg is to be done later than the above pe- 

 riods in the fpring, the true fummer wheat is always to be 

 ufed. 



The exaft periods at which this fort of grain may be put 

 into the ground in different cafes with the greateft chance of 

 fuccefs, under different circumftances of foil and chmate, 

 have not hitherto, however, fo far as we know, been fully 

 afcertained and (liewn by any correft trials ; but the above 

 periods of autumn fowing are in very common ufe by the 

 bell farmers. 



In the counties of Eftex, Suffex, Hertford, Oxford, and 

 many others, moft of the beft farmers are in favour of early 

 fowing ; but more to the eaft it is done fomewhat later. In 

 Berkfhire they fow their light lands early, and thofe that are 

 rich at a later period. 



The fpring fort of wheat may be fown from about the 

 middle of March to the end of the following month, in moft 

 parts towards the fouth ; but moft probably the fooner it is 

 put in after that period of the above month, as the ftate of 

 the feafon will permit, the better it will be in the crop or 

 produce. ■■ 



Seed. — In refpeft to the proportion of feed that is necef- ™ 

 fary in different cafes, it muft depend upon and be regu- 

 lated by a variety of different circumftances, but in general 

 from two to three bufhels, according to the ftate of the 

 foil, the nature of the chmate, and the period in which it 

 is put into the ground, may be the moft fuitable proportion 

 for foils of a medium ftate of fertihty, under the broad-caft 

 method of hufbandry ; but where the drill fyftem of cul- 

 ture is praftilied, a conliderable lefs quantity may be fuffi- 

 cient for the purpofe. In the drilling and dibbling methods 

 of fowing, however, which are unqueftionably the beft 

 where they are performed with correftnefs, fix pecks of feed 

 are fufficient ; in the latter mode two rows being put in on a 

 flag, care being taken to have the land rolled after having 

 been ploughed a fortnight or more, and the feed dibbled in 

 to a fufficient depth, without fcattering, covering it in by 

 bu(h harrowing. 



Where the lands have a known difpofition to mildew, a 

 larger proportion of feed (hould be given, whatever the time 

 or feafon in which it is put in may be. Much lefs feed is 

 alfo neceffary in early than late fowings. It is remarked 

 that on the rich foils of Gloucefterfhire, the quantity gene- 

 rally fown is about feven pecks, while in Yorkshire it is from 

 eight to twelve. Where the lands are in a fuitable ftate of 

 tillage for receiving crops of this grain, ten pecks have been 

 advifed by a praftical writer as the medium proportion ; 



but 



