Agriculture of the Scilly Jules. 
381 
boat, hailed a Spanish vessel, and while on board saw some fine- 
looking potatoes, of which the captain gave him a few. These 
he planted, and saved the produce, finding them to ripen 
remarkably early for successive seasons, and at last had a surplus 
stock to sell his neighbours. One after another took to planting 
the early sort, and now, as we have seen, the supply is 15,000 cwt. 
in the first half of the ^ ear."* 
The potatoes are at the present time taken by steamer to 
Penzance, instead of by pilot-boat to Southampton. 
Wheat. — " The ground of this isle " (St. Mary's), says Leland, 
"" berith exceeding good corn, insomuch that if a man do but 
•cast corn wher hogges have rotid it wyll cum up."t 
In 1750 we find that very little wheat was grown, but "enough 
barley to serve the Avhole island for making malt (and bread for 
the poorer families) with an overplus" for cattle and swine.:]: 
More wheat is now grown, especially on St. Mary's and Tresco. 
The land is too light for its successful culture on St. Agnes and 
St. Martin's. 
Both red and white wheat are sown, sometimes together, 
sometimes separately. In the latter case the red is planted on 
the poorer land. 
The seed time for wheat is in February. If sown in December 
the land gets foul and the birds are more troublesome. Broad- 
cast sowing is almost universal. When the wheat first appears it 
is rolled with a stone roller. Some cover the young plant with 
seaweed. 
The harvest is in August. Most farmers cut wheat with the 
hook, a few use the scythe. 
The sheaves are small. Forty bushels of red wheat per acre 
is considered a good crop. Some wheat is exported ; but flour, 
in greater than corresponding quantity, is bought for home con- 
sumption. 
Other Grain Crops. — Barley is grown inconsiderable quantity, 
especially on St. Agnes and St. Martin's. Oats are little grown. 
The latter are sown about the middle and the former towards the 
end of April. They are cut with the scythe on St. Mary's, with 
the hook on St. Martin's. 
Rye is chiefly cultivated on St. Martin's, being sown at the 
beginning of April. The grain is given to the pigs and the straw 
twisted into ropes for thatching. 
Asparagus. — This vegetable is grown for the London market, 
and is as profitable as early potatoes. The quantity pro- 
• Walter White's 'Walk to the Land's End' (1855), pp. 264 and 265. 
t Leland's ' Itinerary.' 
X Heath on the Scilly Isles (1750). 
2 D 2 
