The next eight years no single plant judged worthy of selection on his own farm attracted Shirreff's attention. But in the fall of 1832 he saw a beautiful plant of wheat on a neighboring farm and he secured a head of it with about 100 grains. From this he produced the "Hopetown wheat." After careful separation from the kernels this original ear was preserved, and was afterwards exhibited at the Stirling Agricultural [113] Museum. The "Hopetown wheat" has proved to be a constant variety, excelling the ordinary "Hunter's wheat" by larger grains and longer heads; it yields likewise a straw of superior quality and has become quite popular in large districts of England and Scotland, where it is known by the name of "White Hunter's" from its origin and the brilliant whiteness of its heads. In the same way Shirreff's oats were discovered in a single plant in a field where it was isolated in order to be brought into commerce after multiplication. It has won the surname of "Make-him-rich." Nothing is on record about the details of its origin. Four valuable new varieties of wheat and oats were obtained in this way in less than forty years. Then Shirreff changed his ideas and his method of working. Striking specimens appeared to be too rare, and the expectation of a profitable result too small. Therefore he began work on a larger scale. He sought and selected during the summer of 1857 seventy heads of wheat, each from a single plant showing some marked and presumably favorable peculiarity. These were not gathered on one field, but were brought together from all the fields to which he had access in his vicinity. The grains of each of these selected heads were [114] sown separately, and the lots compared during their whole life-period and chiefly at harvest time. Three of the lots were judged of high excellence, and they alone were propagated, and proving to be constant new varieties from the outset were given to the trade under the names of "Shirreff's bearded white," "Shirreff's bearded red," and "Pringle's wheat." They have found wide acceptance, and the first two of them are still considered by Vilmorin as belonging to the best wheats of France. This second method of Shirreff evidently is quite analogous to the principle of Lagasca and Le Couteur. The previous assumption that new varieties with striking features were being produced by nature from time to time, was abandoned, and a systematic inquiry into the worth of all the divergent constituents of the fields was begun. Every single ear at once proved to belong to a constant and pure race, but most of these were only of average value. Some few however, excelled to a degree, which made them worth multiplying, and to be introduced into trade as separate varieties. Once started, this new method of comparison, selection and isolated multiplication was of course capable of many improvements. The culture in the experiment-field was improved, so as to insure a fuller and more rapid growth.