•662 
Report  on  Wheat-Mildew. 
fered  no  serious  loss.  Of  course,  early  sowing  does  not 
necessarily  lead  to  an  early  harvest,  the  date  of  that  being 
determined  by  the  character  of  the  season  ; but  as  a rule  the 
last  sown  wheats  ripen  latest,  and  as  a rule  they  mildew  most ; 
but  here,  again,  there  are  exceptions,  and  it  sometimes  happens 
that  late  wheats  escape  when  others  suffer.  In  1881  a good 
deal  of  spring  wheat  (the  bearded  variety),  sown  in  April, 
entirely  escaped  mildew. 
Probably  most  farmers,  if  asked  whether  mildew  years  were 
generally  late  harvest  years,  would  answer  yes.  And  such  is  the 
case,  but  it  is  not  always  so.  I have  been  favoured  by  Mr.  Exley, 
of  Wisbech,  with  a record  which  he  and  his  father  have  kept  of 
the  date  of  the  first  appearance  of  wheat-ears  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Wisbech,  and  the  date  of  the  general  commencement  of  harvest, 
and  it  is  contained  in  Appendix  VI.  From  this  it  will  appear 
that  the  average  date  for  the  commencement  of  harvest  is  August 
10—11,  and  the  average  number  of  days  intervening  between  the 
first  peeping  of  ears  and  the  beginning  of  harvest  is  sixty.  Now, 
if  we  characterise  those  harvests  which  began  7 days  before  the 
average  period  early , and  those  which  began  14  days  before  the 
average  period  very  early , and  distinguish  late  and  very  late 
harvests  in  a similar  way,  we  shall  find  that  out  of  20  years 
when  mildew  prevailed  more  or  less  in  the  district  within  which 
this  record  was  made,  four  (1848,  1859,  1865,  1872)  will  fall  in 
the  “ early"  class  and  four  (1855,  1860,  1879,  1880)  in  the 
“ late”  class,  while  the  remaining  years  are  in  no  way  exceptional. 
Or,  to  apply  a simpler  test,  it  will  be  seen  that  in  10  years  of 
mildew,  harvest  began  before  the  average  date,  4 at  about  that 
time,  and  6 only  after  that  time.  If,  again,  we  examine  the 
period  which  elapsed  between  “ earing  and  shearing,”  we  shall 
not  find  any  such  decided  difference  as  we  should  perhaps 
expect  between  mildew  and  other  years.  Of  the  20  mildew 
years  8 matured  in  less  than  the  average  time  (60  days),  11 
required  more  than  that  time. 
Quantity  of  Seed  Soivn  and  Character  of  Crop  Produced: 
Flowering  Period. — Thin-sown  crops,  and  those  which  from  any 
cause  have  become  thin,  are  said  to  be  more  liable  to  mildew 
than  those  which  are  fairly  and  regularly  planted.  It  is  well 
known  that  on  good  land,  or  even  ordinary  land  in  good  condi- 
tion, a thin  plant,  and  one  which  gathers  or  stools  out  is  charac- 
terised by  gross  and  luxuriant  growth,  and  these  are  the  crops 
which  by  general  consent  are  most  mildewed.* 
Upon  the  other  branches  of  the  subject,  such  as  the  date  of 
* See  replies,  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  C,  7,  8,  9,  10,  15,  16,  17,  18,  20,  31,  33,  35,  42,  43, 
44,  55,  58,  59,  60,  64,  65,  67,  68,  69,  71,  73,  77,  79,  80,  81,  82,  83,  84,  in 
Appendix  II.,  pp.  665-684. 
