On different Varieties of Wheat. 
283 
The quantity of seed used was at the rate of 5 pecks per acre ; 
and the average yield, as will be seen, was about 45 bushels 
2 pecks per acre. The remainder of the same field (15 acres) 
was drilled in the usual way, with 8 pecks to the acre of mari- 
gold wheat, and it yielded rather over 57 bushels per acre, 
weighing 63 lbs. per bushel ; there was no difference either in 
land or management, except that the twelve varieties had a little 
more care and labour bestowed upon them in weeding and hoeing 
than the remainder of the field. This result is at variance with the 
opinion of the advocates of thin sowing* as to quantity of seed ; and 
indeed I do not believe that any specified quantity of seed can 
be laid down as the proper quantity for all descriptions of sod 
and climate ; practice and experience alone must be the guide ; 
for although I am willing to admit that wheat tillers well on this 
soil, I find from repeated trials that it is not safe to sow much 
less than 8 pecks per acre on an average. I now generally 
begin seed-time with 7 pecks as the minimum, gradually in- 
creasing, as the season advances, to 9 pecks per acre. 
My next experiment was with five varieties, grown last summer 
in the same field as before, about 3^ acres of each sort, drilled 
on bean-stubble, with a slight dressing of lime and soil, 7 h, pecks 
of seed per acre ; result as follows : — 
Bush. Pks. lbs. 
1. Marigold . . . 57 0 per acre 63 per bushel. 
2. Spaldin-Ts . . .510 , , 62 , , 
3. Bristol Red . . . 43 1 ,, 61} 
4. Piper's Thick-set . , 39 1 ,, 61 
5. Colne White-Chaff . 40 1 , , 57 
I have furnished Professor Way with specimens of the above 
five varieties for the use of the Royal Agricultural Society. I 
have mentioned here such particulars as strike me of importance ; 
and if it is in my power to add any further information, 1 shall be 
most happy to do so. I have, &c., W. Loft. 
Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, January 17ih, 1848. 
* I feel convinced that very many circumstances, to be determined 
alone by the tenants of the respective farms, must decide the quantity of 
seed to be sown on the respective localities. — W. Miles. 
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