TESTS OF DEPARTMENT SEEDS. 409 



Tlic case also is cited by the same writer of the progress of wheat- 

 cultivation iu Ihc county of Norfolk, England. The average produce 

 was, in 1773, 15 bushels per acre; in 1796, 28 bushels per acre; in 1SG2, 

 32 to 36 bushels per acre, the increase being due to drainage, tillage, 

 and to the growth of improved varieties. 



Touching the same subject a well- versed writer pertinently says: 



If the untauglit peasantry of Russia or Hungary grow more wheat per acre thau the 

 comparatively educated farmers of the United States, our education is found wanting. 



And this covers the ground. It is not wholly the education af- 

 forded by books, but, in conjunction, that attained through observation, 

 experience, endurance, which gives great results. The neglect of farm- 

 ers in regard to seed-selection and labor to maintain their excellence is 

 a matter of serious concern. In view of the well-ascertained degener- 

 acy of varieties of seeds cultivated in many sections of our country, 

 the Department unceasingly devotes itself to the substitution of the 

 fresh and the vigorous. In putting into the hand of the farmer such 

 qualities of seeds and plants as are best adapted to his land and climate, 

 he is, as it were, placed upon his feet .ind given the opportunity of con- 

 ducting his operations more advantageously. It must not be forgotten 

 that seed-selection is of jirimary importance ; nor less to be urged, the 

 necessity of rotation of crop and supply of the soil with the elements 

 requisite for the sustenance of particular growth. The means are not 

 without easy avail. Careful husbanding of the resources aflorded by 

 nature, and proper appliance, are almost alone necessary for the attain- 

 ment of residts hoped for by the cultivator. Farmers must depend and 

 act upon the fact that it is within themselves to maintain the standard 

 of their seeds, and, of course, the products of them. To look for new 

 varieties constantly, to reach out periodically for new supplies from dis- 

 tant sources, is simply the impolicy of careless husbandry, the result of 

 that thoughtlessness which taketh no care for the morrow. The state- 

 ment of a contributor to one of our leading current publications is worthy 

 of consideration : 



Tho notion that wheat cannot be impi'oved upon without going off the original fiirm 

 for seed is against the opinions and practice of the best wheat-growers in tho true 

 wheat-countries, such as Central and Western New^ York. A wheat-raiser there will 

 determine by trial the variety of wheat that ho can make most profitable, and he will 

 so handle it in preparing his seed as to secure tho large, plump, and perfect kernels, 

 rejecting all that are below the highest standard, and continue from year to year to do 

 this. Some select the heads, one by one, of the most perfect samples, and ha\ang se- 

 cured enough to sow, perhaps, only one acre, they will give the best cultivation to it ; 

 and, again, from tho product select another bushel, and so go on, until they will have 

 a sample of wheat that will be so improved that it will take the name of tho improver, 

 and bo ranked in value high above the unimproved. Let the same care and skill be 

 given to the improvement of wheat, by men who live in the best wheat-countries, that 

 has been given to short-horn cattle, and the idea of going anywhere but to these im- 

 l)rovors for seed will have no supporters. 



Eeferring to the fact of the rapid deterioration of the soil in Ohio by 

 excessive cropping, and premising the inquiry, " How shall we retain the 

 fertility of our soiH" the Hon. D. C. Eichmond, before the agri- 

 cultural convention of that State for 1871, adduces some practical illus- 

 trations from the agriculture of foreign countries which may be weighed 

 with profit : 



There is abundant evidence that a country can maintain its fertility from its own 

 sources. For instance, China, which is the best-cultivated country in the world, has 

 naturally a very poor soil, with many of the hill-sides covered with a poor, yellow, 

 hard-pan, the waters of the sea which wash its coast exhibiting a poor clay-color. 

 This country, by the untiring industry of the peoiilc, retains its fertility from its own 

 resources, supports its immense population of over 400,000,000, and has continued to 



