LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 435 



estimated 934,120 ears to the acre, and the yield was 54 bushels per acre. 

 The estimated number of heads on the dibbled acre was 1,001,880, or 67,760 

 more than on the drilled piece. The amount of seed used on the drilled 

 piece being more than 21 times that used on the dibbled piece. Pedigree 

 seed was used in both cases. 



In a trial on large areas, he grew on ten acres of his poorest wheat land, 

 from one peck of seed per acre, the grains planted singly, 57 bushels per 

 acre of grain, aud 45 hundred weight of straw; and on eight acres of his 

 best wheat land, from one and one-half bushels of seed per acre, drilled in 

 the usual manner, he obtained 54 bushels of grain and 36 hundred weight of 

 straw per acre. 



There appears two factors in Mr. Hallet's method of thin seeding that sup- 

 plement and greatly add to the benefits accruing from repeated selection, 

 namely, giving each plant plenty of room for full development and good 

 cultivation ; for where his plants were grown 12x12 inches apart, or 9x9 

 inches apart, they were given the same culture that would be given a root 

 crop. 



But on those pieces where the common practice was followed, drilling one 

 and one-half bushels of seed to the acre, we can see the benefits of repeated 

 selection alone. These gave from the pedigree seed 54 bushels per acre, 

 while the yield from his ordinary seed was only 36 bushels per acre. 



Backed by the facts accumulated from his experiments, Mr. Hallet made 

 a strong plea for thin seeding. His method and the results of his experi- 

 ments were discussed pro and con before all the agricultural societies and 

 clubs in the kingdom. A good many farmers gave his method a trial. Some 

 phenomenal crops were reported, and some complete failures. Messrs. 

 Lawes & Gilbert took up one plan of thin seeding and after a four years' trial 

 pronounced it a failure on Kothamstead soil. In their summing up of the 

 experiment they remark: " We think, therefore, that considerable caution 

 should be exercised in the application to various descriptions of land, of 

 plang which peculiarly rely for their success on qualities of soil which are 

 admittedly so variable in the degree of their activity." Thin seeding was 

 not generally adopted because of its uncertainty. On certain soils, with all 

 conditions favorable, the crops were good, on other soils, and particularly on 

 heavy soils, failure was the rule. But wherever the pedigree seed was used 

 with the ordinary method of seeding, large increase of yield was invariably 

 reported. 



The advantages of selection were abundantly proved. 



CKOSSIKG. 



By following Mr. Hallet's plan of selection we can render more perma- 

 nent any good qualities a variety may possess, and the yield may be greatly 

 increased. But when it becomes desirable to change the character of a 

 variety, or of its fruit, to add new qualities, or to combine qualities which 

 exist in different varieties, we must resort to crossing. With the florist and 

 vegetable gardener this practice has been rapidly extending, and its use has 

 resulted in a wonderful improvement in varieties, but its application to the 

 improvement of farm crops has as yet been very limited. The earliest 

 recorded attempt at crossing wheat that I am able to find is that made by 

 Mr. Knight, about the year 1790. He did not perform the operation of 



