18 



care in the production of tlieir seeds, and instead of their running out, there will 

 be a running up. 



2. How seeds may he improved. — Having seen that deterioration arises from 

 want of selection and defective cultivation, we proceed to point to a method by 

 which these evils may be obviated. Cultivation and selection may go together, 

 and, therefore, will be considered together. 



The law of progress in vegetable life being the same as in animal life, \h.Q first 

 step towards improvement is such selection of varieties as is best suited to each 

 person's soil, and to that climate in which he resides. The second step is to 

 prepare the soil to grow a good plant, just as the breeder of stock prepares shel- 

 ter and food for his breeding animals and their offspring in winter and rich pas- 

 tures in summer. The tJiird one is good cultivation, for by it only can the food 

 of the soil be given to the growing plant. How, then, shall these seeds be so 

 grown in compliance witli these essential requisites'? 



Instead of depending on the general crop for seed, as is now done in wheat, 

 rye, barley, oats, and buckwheat, every farmer should grow his seed separately. 

 The best of his soil sliould be selected, and made rich with green or barnyard 

 manure, as most required. If it is too cold, or if the seed requires to be has- 

 tened in its ripening, it should be warmed and enriched by barnyard manure. 

 If it should be deepened, then clover on which plaster has been sown should be 

 turned under deeply. If the seed about to be sown has been grown in a climate 

 where the season is longer, the time of sowing should be very early, and that it 

 may be thoroughly cultivated, it should be sown in wide drills. 



If the seed has been sown in the fall, as the winter varieties are, then the plants 

 should be well hoed in the spring, and as often as is necessary to keep them free 

 of weeds and the soil well pulverized. So much for the mode of growing seed. 

 The selection may best be made in this way. 



When the plants have headed, the crup should be cleaned of cheat, cockle, 

 smut, &c., by cutting out the plants and shoots producing them. All weak 

 stools or sprouts should be cut out also, for these cannot produce perfect grains, 

 but take from the nourishment due to the stronger ones. What would thus be 

 grown would be so perfect as to need no further selection. The threshing should 

 be done separate!}' from other grain, and by the flail. 



There is no mure reason why our wheats should deteriorate than our Indian 

 .corn. Yet the one degenerates whilst the other improves. There can be but 

 one cause for this, and that we have pointed out — improper growing of the seed. 

 It is in the ability of (?\'ery farmer to correct the evil. But evils, like misfor- 

 tunes, crowd together, for with these, too, like begets like. The loss by freez- 

 ing in and out, noticed in our last report, is aggravated by the weakness of many 

 of the plants, occasioned by the defective seed sown. Every farmer has observed 

 the weakness of the plants of Indian corn, when the seed was small, or has been 

 prematurely taken away by moles or birds. In these cases he could readily see 

 it, but in the smaller cereals he cannot from their crowded condition. But our 

 judgment informs us of the multiplied losses from sowing imperfectly grown 

 seed, and it as clearly points out the necessity of correcting the evil. We have 

 but to overcome a single habit — that of taking our seeds from the general crop. 

 This habit has been of long standing, and has become a second nature. But 

 from the progress now making in our agriculture, we hopefully anticipate its 

 eradication. 



Since the above was written we have received a communication from Mr. 

 Haden, of Fayette county, Kentucky, on the subject of smut in wheat. This 

 communication will be given hereafter, when a notice is made of this disease. 

 It led us to read of the disease called "bunt" in England, where greater exam- 

 ination has been given to it than here, and the conclusion of the article on it in 

 the Cyclopaedia of Agriculture thus recommends the plan above given by Pro- 



