1 804. On the ^idfitity of Seed required for a Scots Acfi, if^lj 



fully fufTicipnt for an acre ; but if he defers fowlng till the mid- 

 dle of the following month, three firlots will not be too much. 

 Wheat after peas or beans, if the land is clean and fufHciently dry, 

 will not require to he thicker fown than on fallow ; but if fowii 

 later than the middle of Oclober, more feed fhouM be given, 

 as the rilk of fonie of it perilhing is greater after that time. If 

 wheat is not fown before the fpring, a greater quantity of feed 

 may be neceiVary, as thick fowing haftens the progrefs of the 

 crop to maturity j and I lliould not think fourteen pecks more 

 than enough, if fown at that feafon. 2d/y^ With regard to bar- 

 Icy, I would recommend ten pecks per acre on dunged and well 

 fallowed land, and eleven pecks, or three firlots, on land that 

 had been peas or beans the preceding year, ^d/'y, As to the 

 quantity of oats per acre, perhaps I may be thought rather de- 

 viating from the fure road of experience, when I venture to re- 

 commend a fmalier quantity than one boll per acre ; but from 

 my own pratbice on fuch lands as are not deemed fitteft for thin 

 fowing, being moftly thin clay on a cold bottom, interfpeifed 

 with fpots of loam on a rocky bottom, I have frequently fown 

 at the rate of three firlots per acre, without having reafon to 

 complain of v/ant of fuccefs : however, in this as in every other 

 cafe, the practical farmtir mull excrcife his own judgement to 

 determine the proper quantity, by the ftate of the ground in the 

 time of fowijig. For there is not the leaft doubt, that confider- 

 ably !■■ fs feed will fuihce in a favourable, than in a backward, 

 wet, and untoward feaion. In general, however, I have no hefi- 

 tation in alTerting, that, in an ordinary feed-time, fourteen pecks 

 of oats are .perfedly fuflicient for an acre. Of the kind called 

 potato oats, I reckon ten pecks a large enough quantity. Having 

 had little experience in the fowing of the other early kinds of oats, 

 I {liall be filent concerning them. But let me again obferve, that 

 great care Ihould be taken to cover the ground as equally with 

 the feed as polhble ; for if done in a ilovenly and carelefs man- 

 ner, it mull be evident, that no given rules as to quantity can be 

 of any ufe. And here allow me to notice the folly and vanity of 

 fome people, who pique themfelves on being thought great: 

 fowers, and will tell you with great felf-approbation, of their 

 having fown fuch and fuch quantities in a given time ; never re- 

 colleding, that, however ftrong a proof fuch feats may be of 

 their bodily powers, they for the moft part betray a proportional 

 v/ant of judgement in the diflribution of the feed; and, inftead 

 of being gainers by fuch violent exertions, they very often throw 

 aw'ay as many firlots of corn as they fow acres, befides injuring 

 the future crop. It will be needlefs to ^int out what a faving 

 to the nation, as well as to individuals, three or four pecks per 



acre 



