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VI. — An Account of an Experiment on the relative Values of se- 

 veral Varieties of Wheat. By John Morton, Esq., of Chester 

 Hill, near Stroud. Read Feb. 20tli, 1839. 



The profits of farming, whether the land be pasture or arable, 

 and the tenant be a feeder of stock or a tiller of the ground, may 

 be increased in two ways. 



The stock-farmer knows very well that the return he obtains 

 from his cattle depends, not only on the kind of food given to them, 

 and the manner in which it is supplied, but also on the feeding 

 qualities of the breed to which they belong ; and he increases his 

 chance of profit as much when, on purchasing from the breeder, 

 he selects with judgment, as when he adopts an improved mode of 

 feeding. 



The intelhgent farmer of arable land, again, expects a greater 

 crop, the more he has been able to improve the texture of the soil, 

 and the better the nature and state of the manure which it contains. 

 He expects it, because he knows that it depends on the nature of 

 the food given to the plants, and the manner in which they are 

 provided with a constant supply of it. The crop does not, however, 

 depend only on this : for as two beasts fed in exactly the same man- 

 ner may not be equally profitable, owing to a difference between 

 them regarding the quantity and quality of the meat they afford, so 

 two different kinds of wheat, though sown on land precisely similar, 

 and in equally good condition, may give unequal returns, omng to 

 a difference between them regarding the quantity and quality of the 

 flour they afford. 



Hence the importance, too often overlooked by farmers, not only 

 of preparing the land for the crop in a good and sufficient manner, 

 but also of selecting that kind of seed which experience has pointed 

 out as being most valuable and productive. 



It was with a \iew, not only of ascertaining the relative value, 

 hardiness, and other properties of several of the most commonly- 

 planted wheats, but also of effecting an improvement in the best of 

 them, that the following experiment was commenced on the 1st of 

 November, 1837. To insure accuracy in the results, it w^as ne- 

 cessary that the seeds of each variety should be planted so as to 

 have them all at equal distances. To effect this, two boards were 

 used, each 6 inches wide, 9 feet long, and half an inch thick. 

 Along the centre of each board was a row of holes, 3 inches apart 

 and 1 inch in diameter. A dibble was made to fit into the holes, 

 having a shoulder at the distance of 2 J inches from the point. The 

 board and dibble are represented in the annexed figure. 



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