What exactly was the yield of wheat in this particular
field I do not know ; but on an adjacent farm two fields yielded well over seven quarters to the acre, an enormous weight ; and the quality is high, even if not up to Manitoba Hard. Doubt- less Lord Astor, Mr. Street and Mr. McDougall have the better of the argument in their onslaught on the old theory that wheat is the kernel of British farming. Economically their figures are indisputable, but scientifically the claim of that king of hybridizers, of selectors, of Mendelians, Sir Rowland Biffen, holds good. We can grow heavier crops of wheat than the inhabitants of less happier lands, because the plant bides longer in the soil. We may sow—as many this year will sow— in September crops that will not be reaped till the following September is in sight. The plant has a stout root system long before our alleged winter arrives. Sixty " berries " to a wheat ear (as I counted recently) is common, and if we allow for tillering (though a little discouraged by the modern drill) the Biblical hundredfold ceases altogether to be a superlative.
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