His first result was the "Mungoswell's wheat." In the spring of 1819 he observed quite accidentally in a field of the farm of that name, a single plant which attracted his attention by a deeper green and by being more heavily headed out. Without going into further details, he at once chose this specimen as the starting point of a new race. He destroyed the surrounding plants so as to give it more space, applied manure to its roots, and tended it with special care. It yielded 63 heads and nearly [111] 2500 grains. All of these were sown the following fall, and likewise in the succeeding years the whole harvest was sown in separate lots. After two years of rapid multiplication it proved to be a good new variety and was brought into commerce. It has become one of the prominent varieties of wheat in East Lothian, that county of Scotland of which Haddington is the principal borough. The grains of "Mungoswell's wheat" are whiter than those of the allied "Hunter's wheat," more rounded but otherwise of the same size acid weight. The straw is taller and stronger, and each plant produces more culms and more heads. Shirreff assumed, that the original plant of this variety was a sport from the race in which he had found it, and that it was the only instance of this sport. He gives no details about this most interesting side of the question, omitting even to tell the name of the parent variety. He only asserts that it was seen to be better, and afterwards proved so by the appreciation of other breeders and its success in trade. He observed it to be quite constant from the beginning, no subsequent selection being needed. This important feature was simply assumed by him to be true as a matter of course. [112] Some years afterwards, in the summer of 1824, he observed a large specimen of oats in one of the fields of the same farm. Being at that time occupied in making a standard collection of oats for a closer comparison of the varieties, he saved the seeds of that plant and sowed them in a row in his experiment-field. It yielded the largest culms of the whole collection and bore long and heavy kernels with a red streak on the concave side and it excelled all other sorts by the fine qualities of its very white meal. In the unequal length of its stalks it has however a drawback, as the field appears thinner and more meager than it is in reality. "Hopetown oats," as it is called, has found its way into culture extensively in Scotland and has even been introduced with success into England, Denmark and the United States. It has been one of the best Scottish oats for more than half a century.