360 Home Produce, Iinpoi-ts, and Consurtiplion of Ifheat. 
ripe, they sometimes require considerable correction afterwards, 
eitlier in consequence of changes in the weatiier before the produce 
is secured, or when the results of the thrashing-machine are known. 
Then, again, the terms "average," "over average," and "under 
average," which are chiefly used in describing the crops, are but 
vague and indefinite. They are, nevertheless, preferable to those 
■which are much more definite, when applied to crops not even 
harvested. The returns so collected are, however, not only the 
best at our command, but they are extremely valuable. 
As is well known to many of the readers of this Journal, wheat 
has been grown in a 14-acre field at Rothamsted, for twenty-five 
years in succession ; the field being divided into plots, some of 
which are unmanured, one receiving farmyard manure every 
year, and the rest receiving, each a different description or amount 
of artificial manure ; the same description and amount of manure 
having been applied to the same plot each year, for the last 
seventeen years. In all other respects the management is the same 
over all the plots each year, and, as far as possible, the same year 
after year. The result is, that the difference in the quantity and 
quality of the produce from year to year is mainly due to the 
varying characters of the seasons, Most of the plots are 6-lOths 
of an acre each, but some are only 3-lOths. 
After careful observation and comparison, for a series of years, 
of the fluctuations of result obtained in the experimental wheat- 
field from year to year, and of those in the crop of the country 
generally, it was thought that the results of certain selected plots 
would afford an useful indication of the general character of the 
wheat-crop of the country. Accordingly, for the last six years, 
as soon as the crop was thrashed, a statement of the produce 
obtained on those plots, together with such comments as seemed 
appropriate, has been sent to ' The Times ' for the information of 
those interested in the subject. Referring to the results in that 
field, Mr. Caird, in the paper above quoted, says that they " have 
proved a very satisfactory index of the general yield over the 
chief wheat-producing area of the kingdom, and are indeed the 
most instructive series of facts for the guidance of the British 
corn-grower on record." 
However valuable and instructive the records in question may 
be, in default of more directly applicable information, it will, 
nevertheless, be seen further on, how very requisite is more 
exact knowledge than can possibly be acquired by such means, 
to enable us to form really reliable estimates of the total, or even 
of the acreage, yield of wheat in the country at large. At the 
same time, the collecting together and attempting to apply such 
data as we do possess, will of itself be instructive ; and it is 
hoped that the course of the inquiry will at least bring to view 
