I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 401 



to substantiate this opinion experimentally, portions of 

 ground were seeded with rye and wheat, at intervals of eight 

 days, Dec. 14 to Nov. 27, when heavy frost prevented further 

 seeding. The number of fully developed stalks was compared 

 with the number of seeds germinated, as well as with the 

 whole number planted. The diiferences in development w^ere 

 estimated by the number of stalks and heads, and the length 

 of the stalks ; the number of grains, according to the author's 

 view, in small patches, not afibrding a proper criterion for 

 comparison, even if the ravages of the birds did not render 

 their complete determination impossible. In the tabular state- 

 ment given the numbers are in all respects favorable to the 

 three early seedings. In sjjite of the differences in time of 

 seeding, there was a difference of only a few days in the shoot- 

 ing of the stalk, and in blossoming, so that the grain ripened 

 about the same time ; and in these facts may lie the poorer 

 yield of the late seeding, even of the plants that reached ma- 

 turity. TJIiese began to shoot under the influence of favora- 

 ble weather in the spring, without having had time to assim- 

 ilate sufficient nutriment for vigorous development. The 

 author does not contend that a difference of eight days in 

 seeding-time, at the right season, would necessarily have a de- 

 cided effect, but that other influences, such as peculiarities of 

 soil, character of preceding crops, etc., may be greater ; and 

 again he admits that the weather in the beginning of Novem- 

 ber may at times perhaps be less favorable to newly sown 

 seed than in the middle of the month ; but he claims that 

 circumstances of this kind do not affect the general statement 

 (as substantiated by his experiments), namely, that sowing 

 seed at the proper time, i. e., early in the season, insures great-' 

 er certainty of germination and development, more vigorous 

 and healthy plants, fuller growth, larger number of stalks and 

 heads, and longer straw. 28 C\ January^ 1873, 47. 



REPORT ox TEA-CULTURE IN JAPAN. 



A communication from the Secretary of State has lately 

 been published by Congress, containing an interesting account 

 of the growth, culture, and preparation of tea in Japan and 

 China, being compiled from a series of communications for- 

 warded by the American legations in those countries. The 

 dispatch from Japan was accompanied by a series of draw- 

 ings, which, however, have not been reproduced. 



