40 



Values of Wheat. 



When the board was placed on the ground, and the dibble put 

 through each hole in succession, a series of holes was thus made, 2 

 inches deep, and three inches apart from centre to centre. 



After this had been done through the first board, the second, 

 which was touching it, and parallel to it, was served in the same 

 way ; and then the first was taken up, and placed on the other side 

 of the second. By proceeding thus, the whole ground was finished, 

 and then one grain of wheat was dropped into each hole. The 

 rows were thus exactly 6 inches apart, and the grains in 

 the rows were 3 inches from one another. The regularity 

 with which the planting was performed was thus mathematic- 

 ally accurate. The ground planted lies on the lower edge of 

 the great oolite formation, and the soil is a stone brash, about 10 

 inches in thickness. Crops of potatoes had been taken off it for 

 a succession of eight years ; and it had been manured '^very alter- 

 nate year, with a compost of equal bulks of stable-dung and earth, 

 at the rate of about 20 cubic yards per acre. It was 67 feet in 

 length ; and 3 rows of each variety of wheat were planted, except 

 the first and last numbers, of which there were 4 rows. The outer 

 roAv of each of these, hoAvever, was not taken into account, because 

 their roots had a much greater extent of ground for their growth 

 than the others, whose roots touched one another all round. The 

 end plants of each row were also rejected for the same reason. 

 66 feet in length of ground were thus taken up, and 3 rows of each 

 variety occupied in width 1 J foot : the ground occupied by each 

 variety was thus 99 square feet, the 440th part of an acre, 



(In the opposite page is a tabular account of this experiment.) 



Although the tabular form in which this experiment is detailed 

 explains itself by the headings of each column, yet it is considered 

 necessary to give a somewhat fuller account of it. The seed from 

 which the first 10 varieties were raised was carefully selected from 

 specimens of each obtained in the ear. The others were from 

 samples, and here, also, the greatest care was taken that the seed 

 from which each was raised should be the best and plumpest that 

 could be obtained. 



The first five columns need no explanation beyond what is given 

 at the head of each : the sixth shows the number of grains lost from 

 casualties. If the frost had been the only agent in the destruction 

 of so many of the seeds, this column might have been considered 

 as a very accurate index of the relative hardiness of each variety. 

 This, however, is not the case, for the havoc which the birds made 

 must also be taken into account. It was thought at the time that 

 more injury was sustained, from the latter cause, by those varieties 

 planted on the 21st, than by any of the others ; but this does not 

 appear to have been the case, for, if the great loss .sustained by 

 these had been wholly owing to the havoc committed by the birds. 



