East Riding of Yorkshire. 
113 
here succeed well ; the quantity per acre is invariably found to be 
deficient ; and althoujjh circumstances may demand at times a 
deviation from the established course, and oblige the farmer to 
take a turnip-crop preparatory to his wheat, yet it is only com- 
pensated by the so-called freshness introduced into his routine. 
According to the Norfolk type, oats or barley follows turnips. 
Oats. — This crop is now, as has been shown, the chief spring- 
corn product of the district. Reasons might be assigned, such as 
climate, soil, &c., why the cultivators have ceased to think with 
Mr. Strickland, that " few districts are better calculated for the 
growth of barley, and few grow it in greater quantity or perfection, 
than the Yorkshire Wolds." Another cause must be adduced, 
however, to explain why the one crop has in great measure sup- 
planted the other. It has been found, and experience has caused 
the fact to be received as a law, that the continued growth of 
barley is, on these soils, detrimental to the succeeding wheat- 
crops ; that where barley has been continued uninterruptedly 
through three or four courses, the wheat is subject to night-ripen, 
as it is provincially termed. 
The symptoms of this disease are not apparent until the wheat 
begins to ripen; then it is that, in small circles or patches 
throughout the field, the straw, instead of becoming bright and 
glassy, assumes a dull, dead appearance ; the ears are found to be 
quite deaf, and the stems to have lost all root-hold, so that they 
may with the greatest ease be pulled up. The cause of this 
decay may probably be found in the fact, that the long succession 
of barley-crops has drawn too largely upon the resources of the 
soil, and has removed those very constituents which the wheat- 
crops require for their maturity, and that no equivalent has been 
provided in the customary culture. This, however, is hardly the 
occasion to discuss chemical causes, or even to suggest chemical 
remedies. It is sufficient to say, that Wold farmers have thought 
it more desirable on thin soils to grow oats rather than barley, 
or at least to take two courses of oats to one of barley ; and they 
are unanimous in the opinion that in this way they find the best 
security against night-ripening. 
The time of sowing oats seldom commences before the middle 
of March ; from various causes, it is sometimes impossible to 
complete sowing oats before the middle of May; but good crops 
are seldom obtained by sowing so late as this. 
Tartarian oats, of the black variety, are much in vogue now ; 
white Tartarians are also grown and approved ; and some of the 
early Scotch varieties, such as Angusshire, Hopetoun, &c., which 
are of the kind usually termed potato-oats. 
Quantity of seed per acre. — On the deep Wolds the best farmers 
VOL. IX. I 
