68 PRIZE ESSAY : 



depths, 140 out of the numher came up from a depth of 2 

 inches, 40 from a depth of 4|- mches, and 14 from a depth of 

 6} inches. Another experiment gave the following result :(i) 

 Seed buried ^ inch deep, up in 1 1 days 7-8ths of them. 



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ee <i ^ (( £C 



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120. 1 1th. Procuring Seed from Uninfested Districts — Of no 

 utility ; the eggs are not deposited in the seed. The only pos- 

 sible value of this artifice would be to obtain early varieties of 

 wheat, or seed from a considerable distance (two or three degrees) 

 to the south of the localit^^ where it is intended to sow, where- 

 by to ensure it maturity, for a few years, some days earlier than 

 acclimated varieties. 



121. 12th. Sun Drying the Seed. — Germination retarded, 

 therefore equivalent to deferring sowing for a few days. 



13th. Drawing Elder Bushes over the Plants. — A fancy. 



14th. SprinJding Salt, Ashes, or Caustic Lime, over the Young 

 Plants. — This top dressing serves as a manure, and nothing 

 more. It will strengthen the plant and accelerate the period of 

 its maturity. 



(1) Petri. 



(2) This applies to the seed obtained from the shores of tlie Mediterranean, and 

 sown in Canada or the Northern States, but whether its peculiarity be dependent 

 upon change of soil or climate, or both, is not yet fully established. It is known 

 that in Sweden the farmers are in the habit of obtaining- their seed from the north 

 of tlie Gulf of Bothnia, and sowing it on the most exposed farms of the southern 

 part of the country, where the season is short. The effect is to advance the ripening 

 by several days the first season. Whether wheat grown at the Sagucnay, or in dis- 

 tricts below Quebec, would ripen much earlier than an acclimated kind in Western 

 Canada, does not appear to have been fully tried. Both this and the opposite ex- 

 periments are well worthy of trial. 



