Report on the Competition for Seed-Wheat, 1880. 79 
The whole of the samples were in the hands of the growers 
in the course of the month of October, 1879, and were sown 
within the next few weeks. The particulars of the weight sent, 
the quantity sown, the extent of the ground on which each 
variety was grown, and the date of the sowing, are given in the 
preceding Table (p. 78). 
It is very important, not perhaps in relation to the compe- 
tition for the prize, but in the interests of agriculturists, to 
observe that Mr. liandell sowed only about five-eighths of the 
seed he received on half an acre,* while the others sowed the 
whole of the seed they received, Messrs. Rawlence and Maiden 
confining it to half an acre, and Mr. Edwards extending it to a 
little over half an acre. Mr. Randell saved a considerable 
quantity, and Mr. Edwards a lesser quantity, of seed-corn per 
acre as compared with the amount sown in the two other localities. 
The exact quantity saved per acre amounted in the case of 
Mr. Randell to 40 lbs. in No. 1 of the white wheats ; 38 lbs. in 
No. 2 ; 46 lbs. in No. 3 ; and 34 lbs. in No. 4 ; and to 40 lbs. 
in No. 1 of the red wheats ; and 48 lbs. in No. 2. In the case 
of Mr. Edwards, the saving amounted to 11 lbs. per acre in 
three of the samples, and to 12 lbs. in the other three. The 
saving effected by Mr. Randell is thus about 2 bushels in 
every 5 of seed-corn, a quantity so large as to form a very im- 
portant consideration in economical farming. But such a 
saving cannot be effected in all cases, for while the sowing 
with sufficient space for the plants to tiller f suits the clay 
* The remainder of the seed was drilled upon equal quantities of land on the 
25th of November with the intention of carrying out a second trial, but all the 
plots suffered more or less from frost, and the trial was abandoned, the plots being 
harvested with the rest of the field. 
t One of the most remarkable experiments carried out with the view of sliowing 
the extent to which a single wheat plant may produce secondary axes, that is, 
may tiller, was instituted by Charles Miller, the first Curator of Cambridge 
Botanic Gardens, and son of the distinguished Philip Miller, of Chelsea Gardens. 
He published an account of them in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' vol. Iviii. 
(1769), pp. 203-6. Oil the 2nd of June, 1766, he planted some grains of red wheat. 
On the 8th of August one of the plants had tillered so much that he was able to 
diviile it into eighteen plants. During the two following months the^e plants so 
established tliemselves and threw out secondary axes that lie divided them, and 
planted out no less than sixty-seven plants, to stand through the winter. Wiien 
the plants started into active life in spring they began again to tiller, and Miller 
in llarch and April so divided them that he produced in all five hundred inde- 
pendent jilants. He believed that he could have made another division without 
interfering with the crop, and have increased the number to at least two thou- 
sand. But he allowed the five hundred plants, without further interference, to 
proceed to flower and fruit, and at harvest he had 21,109 ears, or an average of 
a little over forty-two ears to each phmt. Some plants had more than one hun- 
di'ed ears. Tlie ears were very fine, many of them measuring seven inches in 
length, and containing from sixty to seventy grains. The whole produce 
measured three pecks and tliree-quarters, and weighed forty-seven pounds seven 
