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In Oxfordshire, they have a sort of wheat which theycall long coned-wheat, and reckon the best for rank clays.Its straw not being hollow, it is the less liable to lodge,and farmers observe that it is the least apt to be mildewed,or be eaten by birds, from which last it is greatly guardedby its long rough awns; but '.he flour of it is somewhatcoarse. Their white kind of red eared wheat has a whitecar and a red grain, and is a very good fort for clayey land.It yields a good crop, and seldom smuts.

In Staffordshire, they reckon the red Lammas or beardedWheat the best for cold lands or stiff clays.

In Berkshire is a wheat called pendulum-wheat, fromthe hanging of its ear, much like the cone-wheat.

In Northamptonshire, they have a fort of wheat with awhite straw and reddish ear and grain; much commendedfor the plumpness and largeness of the grain, and thestrength of the straw, which prevents its being subject tolodge ; nor is it apt to be eaten by birds. They have also ared eared bearded wheat, and a fort of pollard or duck-billwheat, as it is called, known in Sussex by the name offuller’s wheat, which has so close and thick a husk, thatthe birds never injure it. Mr. Miller observes that thissort of wheat grows very tall, and, if it be sown toothick, is very apt to be lodged by rain and wind ; for thatits ears are large and heavy, and incline on one side asthe grain increases in weight: but that, if its roots are ata proper distance from each other, it will tiller greatly andhave strong stalks, and that the grain of this wheat yieldsmore flour in proportion than that of any other sort. Theawns of this wheat always drop oft" when the grain is fullgrown.

Smyrna wheat, commonly called many-eared wheat,because several lesser or collateral ears grow around thebottom of the main ear, which is very large in its state ofperfection, requires more nourishment than the commonhusbandry in the large way can give it, and therefore isnot cultivated by our farmers: but it would, probably, doextremely well in the horse-hoeing husbandry, where thequantity of food can be enlarged almost at pleasure. Forthe same reason maiz, commonly called Turky or Indiancorn, is fittest for this last husbandry. See Maiz.

Some gentlemen have been curious enough to procuretheir feed wheat from Sicily, and it has succeeded veryWell as to the growth : but the grain of this species hasproved too hard for our English mills to grind.

The best time for sowing wheat is about the beginningof September, especially if any rain has fallen ; a circum-stance so essential, that, if the earth be very dry, thefarmer had better stay till friendly showers have moistenedhis soil, than put his corn in ground where it will notgrow before it has been wet, let the time be ever so long.Mr. Mortimer fays he has known wheat to be so mustieda «d spoiled by laying long in the ground, before rain came,that it has never grown at all: to which he adds, that hehaslikewife seen very good cropsof wheat from feeds sown,r > July. It is a general practice among farmers, to makec hoice of a time for sowing their wheat when the earth is.otoist; an d the writers on agriculture have likewise, ingeneral, recommended that practice ; but without affign-' n g any reason for it, or such reasons as are by no meanssatisfactory. This is the more extraordinary, because sow-! n g dry, is almost universally recommended and practised,*n sowing other feeds. The ground of this difference ap-pears to be, that wheat being subject to be smutty, theee d is commonly brined and limed, v>hkh has been found

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in a great measure a security from that distemper in thecrop. It is nevertheless true, that sound good feed, froma good change, produces, for the most part, found cropsof wheat, free from smuttinefs; and when such seed issown dry, or without steeping, it is most advifeable to sowit when the land is dry. When the feed is steeped, itimbibes moisture, more or less, in proportion to the con-dition of the feed, and the time it lies in the steep, and avegetation commences: if the feed in this state is laid indry earth, and the weather for some time continues dry,the vegetation is checked, which kills or much damagesthe feed. Another inconveniency also arises from delay-ing to sow, and waiting for rain ; the season for sowing isdelayed; and if much rainfalls, the earth consolidates,which tenders it less proper for receiving and nourishingthe seed, it being a general maxim with gardeners, andwith husbandmen, in other cafes, that feed thrives bestupon fresh tilled ground. At all events, the husband-man should certainly have his wheat sowing finished bythe middle of October. Whoever neglects this, shews,in so doing, a want of proper œconomy in his affairs,and will have cause to repent the delay.

Early sowings require less feed than late ones, becausethe plants then rife better, and acquire strength to resistthe winter’s cold. More feed should always be allowedfor poor lands than for rich, because a greater number ofplants will peiifhon the former. Rich lands,sowed early,require the least feed of any.

Another circumstance which the husbandman shouldcarefully attend to in sowing, is that his estimate of feedbe formed, not from the capacity of any particular mea-sure, but from the number of grains which that measurewill contain j because the grains of some growths of wheatare much larger than those from off other lands, thoughof the fame species, and perhaps equally good. By notconsidering this, the ground will of course frequently besown too thick, or too thin : though I believe farmersare seldom apt to run into this last extreme. That theytoo often commit the former error, so manifestly contraryto their interest in every respect, is demonstrated by rea-son, and by daily experience : but neither of these is suffi-cient to make them deviate from the beaten track. Insteadof the usual allowance of three bulhels of feed wheat to anacre ofland, repeated trials have shewn that half that quan-tity is generally more than sufficient: consequently a greatdeal of corn is actually thrown away ; for the expence ofpurchasing seed, which most skilful husbandmen do, atleast every other year, amounts to a considerable articlein large farms, and in a whole country, merits the atten-tion of the public, especially in scarce years: besides which,the future plants, crowded together by being thus sowntoo thick, and not having a sufficient space allowed themfor their sustenance, cannot yield near so fine and plenti-ful a crop as they would otherwise produce, A fair trial,made with proper care, would soon convince farmers oftheir error in this respect; for if they but examine a fieldof corn sown in the common way, they will find fewplants with more than twoor three stalks, unless by chance,where some of them stand so as to have room to spread.These will have six, -eight, or ten stalks, and frequentlymany more ; but a field of wheat sown with only a bushelof good corn has been known to be well covered withhealthy vigorous plants, each of which has had from six tofourteen, or more stalks, crowned with long well nou-ri.hed ears, full of sine plump grain, of which it has

yielded