upon Drilling and horse-hoeing. 181 



Alanv crops of wheat have been greatly injured by deposit- 

 ing the seed too deep, especially in wet soils : a little at- 

 tention to the principles of vegetation will demonstrate this. 

 Nature is uniform in her operations ; and whether the seed 

 be put into the earth at four, three, two, or one inch below 

 .the surface, the roots, which are to carry the corn to per- 

 fection, will be formed at one precise depth and very near 

 the surface. Wheat has two sets of roots, which may be 

 tern)ed the seminal &w\ coronal: the first come from the 

 grain, and the others are formed in the spring from the 

 crown of the plant; thev are united by a tube of commu- 

 nication, by which the plant is supported until the coronal 

 roots are formed. By depositing the seed too deep, it fre- 

 tjuently perishes by a superabundance of moisture ; and cer- 

 tainly from its increased length this little thread-like tube 

 is more liable to be cut asunder by the red or wire-worm. 

 This theorv is confirmed by practical observation ; for in 

 the spring of the year I have frequently taken up plants of 

 broad-cast wheat, and always found that those which ap- 

 peared most luxuriant had been covered by mn more than 

 an inch of mould, and those w hich had fallen into the fur- 

 rows, and were three or four inches below the surface, had 

 a very sickly appearance, with a small blade of a bad colour, 

 and making no eflbrts f(»r tillering. From this theory. 

 Strengthened and confirmed by observation, I conclude that 

 an inch is the best depth for depositing the seed of wheat. 

 7'he same obser\ations will apply to oats, barley, and rye, 

 all plants which form their coronal roots near the surface. 

 I should recommend wheat, barley, oats, vetches, and rye, 

 on soils not very wet, to be drilled on five- or ten-feet ridges, 

 in equidistant rows of one foot. Beans, pease, and turnips, 

 on three-feet ridges, two rows on a ridge, nine inches from 

 row to row, with intervals of twenty-seven inches. Lauds 

 in high tilth, and on five-feet ridge.s, w ill require only three 

 pecks of seed w heat or rye ; five pecks of oats, barley or 

 vetches, and one bushel of beans or pease, per acre, and 

 half a pound of turnip-seed on the three-feet ridges, vary- 

 ing a peck an acre, according to the goodness of the seed 

 and the richness of the soil. For scarifying, and horse-hoe- 

 ing, some attention and judgment will be requisite. No 

 corn should be scarified until the spring of the year. Pul- 

 verize the surface by passing the fixed harrow across the 

 wheat previous to scarifying, to break the incrustation on 

 the surface, lest the scarifiers should throw large flakes of 

 earth o\er the rows of corn. After this operation, pass the 

 scarifiers through, about an inch below the surface, return - 

 M 3 ing 



