342 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



wearing, to say nothing of the personal attendance at the 

 shows, and consequent absence from their works thereby 

 occasioned," that a deputation of manufacturers in 1835 

 brought this matter under the consideration of the Society's 

 Council. Then it was an'anged that implements and ma- 

 chines should be arranged in classes, and competition in 

 each class only talM place once in three 'or four years. 

 Now it seems what the manufacturers ask for is " that trials 

 of agricultural machinery should be of longer continuance 

 than lieretofore, and conducted as much as possible in the 

 manner and under the same circumstances that such ma- 

 chinery will be used in the ordinary practice of farming." 

 This may look plausible enough, but how can trials at an 

 agricultural show be so conducted? At the same time the 

 Council of the Society, undertaking to offer prizes, should, 



so far as they reasonably can, meet the views of the manu- 

 facturers, Perhaps it may be found the prizes have done 

 all they can for steam-engines, as applied to thrashing and 

 analogous purposes, and that there is really no use in offer- 

 ing such prizes any longer. These engines may have be- 

 come so generally known and used, that further improve- 

 ments in them had best be left to the competition of 

 makers and the discrimination of their customers. These 

 and other questions may usefully engage the Council's deli- 

 berations. By some means or other, the agricultural public 

 ought to have the opportunity of inspecting at the Society's 

 show the machinery of the great firms who object to the 

 arrangements which until lately have been supposed to be 

 entirely successful. — Economist. 



ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE QUALITY OF GRAIN ON THE 

 PRODUCTION OF THE CROPS. 



[translated from the "journal d'agriculture pratique."] 



Seeda which have not acquired their full development, 

 and all the qualities of the species they represent, generally 

 yield but weak products. There may be exceptions, but the 

 facts which I shall cite appear very conclusive. 



S«ed3 that are incomplete for want of maturity cannot 

 produce complete types. Do we not find similar results in 

 animals that are too young or too old ? A bull, a cow, a 

 horse, whose members are incompletely formed cannot impart 

 what it does not possess. A decrepid animal, too — can it im- 

 part what it has lost ? I think not. Dogs of a breed whose 

 tails have been cut for many generations are born without 

 tails. I have had pigs in a similar condition. Cows without 

 horns produce similar cilves. 



In gardening', we obtain plants deprived of certain organs > 

 others which hate them in abundance, and which end in pro- 

 duciug varieties. Thus eschalottes which have been too 

 long sown near onions, yield no longer any seed, and become 

 useless. For the same reason, some varieties of potatoes have 

 ceased flowering, because we take them up for a long time 

 before the piriod of flowering. Seed taken ftora flax and 

 hemp of great height, but not having acquired their full ma- 

 turity, yield very small products ; and if we coctiniie to har- 

 vest it befo'e it is fully ripe, the plants will go on diminiahiug 

 in vigour and height to such an extent, that after some years 

 out flax and hemp seeds will be transformed into dwarf 

 species. 



Colza, of the large kind, which we harvest before its com- 

 plete maturity, in order to avoid losing the seed, diminish in 

 height after a few years. If afterwards we allow these de- 

 generated species to attain maturity, we shall restore their 

 size by degrees, until they reach the point from which they 

 had declined. We may therefore diminish or increase in size 

 the breeds of animals and species of plants, by employing for 

 reproduction, individuals that have acquired all these qualities, 

 and are capable of transmitting them ; or else, by taking 

 others imperfect, and unable to impart what they do not 

 possess. 



Twelve or fifteen years ago, trefoil sown in one of my 

 fields, after presenting in autumn the finest appearance, dis- 

 appeared in the spring. The leaves shrivelled up, the stalks 

 did not rise, the major part of the plants dried, end were 



attacked with a species of decay. I attributed this disease at 

 first to the state of the soils then to the temperature ; in 

 short, to three or four other causes more or less likely ; but 

 the bad quality of the seed did not occur to my mind. 



Some years later I harvested, before its full maturity, some 

 rye that I had sown for forage, and which, not being able to 

 consume it in proper time, was kept to make bands. It was 

 cut while yet green; but the grain, in appearance ripe, had 

 probably not acquired that degree of perfection indispensable 

 for reproducing its species. I sowed this rye in order to ob- 

 tain forage in the spring. It came up well, and exhibited a 

 good vegetation at first ; then the foliage became yellow and 

 wasted, and the soil became so denuded, that I found it ne- 

 cessary to plough it up to replace it with another crop. Many 

 causes were alleged for it, but the true one remained still un- 

 known. Last year, however, in a field of three hectares, which 

 had borne a fine crop of beetroot, I sowed in April barley and 

 clover. In two-thirds of the field I sowed cloverseed of mid- 

 dling quality that had been taken from very vigorous plants 

 but the heads had not ripened in a uniform manner. In the 

 other part, I sowed seed perfectly ripe, and of the best 

 quality. 



At the time of harvest, after having cleared the field of 

 cereal crops, the clover was fine throughout, and the field pre- 

 sented a uniform aspect. As the clover was high enough to 

 be mown, it was cut for forage in October, and it maintained 

 its fine appearance until December. Towards that time many 

 of the stools of the clover in that part where we had sown 

 the bad seed dried up ; then others ; and at last, in the spring 

 there remained of them only a few tufts, here and there ; the 

 rest had either died out or were so poor, that we could no 

 longer reckon upon them : they seemed to have been pierced 

 by insects. Those stools, proceeding probably from the refuse 

 seeds, still subjisted, and yielded a. middling crop, being few 

 in number ; the second cutting was rather better, but still it 

 was meagre. In that part in which the good seed was sown 

 I retained a good crop of forage, cut grten, and the second 

 cutting was very fine, very thick, and seemed of a different 

 species. 



In view of this fact, I recollected my first pasture of trefoil 

 and rye, and of some sowings of wheat, which had the same 



