Essay on Agriculture as a Science. 269 



We have Scriptural authority for the result, marking the pro- 

 gress each separate grain had made in the same time. 



Moses tells us that at the time of a particular event, " the 

 barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled, but the wheat and 

 the rye were not grown up." 



The experimentalist will now diversify his trials; and by sow- 

 ing the same grain at different times, in many small plots, he 

 will soon be able to determine, how far, for the security of the 

 young tendril, he can delay sowing, without throwing the mature 

 plant into a season unfit for ripening its seed. 



It has been made a question — Whether in choosing our corn 

 for seed, we should choose our weightiest pickle, or whether the 

 smaller and lighter might not answer just as well ; — in other 

 words : From which side of our winnowing heap are we to take 

 our seed — the windward — or the leeward ? The fuller, plumper 

 and larger grain, will not cover so much ground as the smaller, 

 and is also of higher price; hence by sowing the smaller and 

 lighter grain, we should save considerably; and Sir Joseph 

 Banks is of opinion we may safely take our seed from the lee- 

 ward side of the heap. 



Was the question brought before the agricultural school, ar- 

 ranged as 1 suppose ; — the theorist would tell us that the farina 

 constitutes the whole value of the corn ; that this portion of the 

 vegetable forms no part of the organic construction, has no con- 

 nexion with the vital principle of the germ, hut is merely a mass 

 of unorganized matter, provided by Nature for the sustenance 

 of the nascent plant, until by its roots it can extract food for it- 

 self; — that the farina in vegetables corresponds with the yolk 

 of the egg in oviparous animals. 



Now we obser\e that in every thing connected with the pre- 

 servation of species. Nature is. not only liberal, but generally 

 profuse, and (no doubt to provide against difficulties) often re- 

 dundant — besides, the provision was made when the vegetable 

 fibe was left to propagate itself, without any of the facilities 

 devised by man, which he now gives to assist vegetation and 

 increase produce. 



More farina, it is obvious, would be required under the hard- 

 ships of a state of nature ; and a greater quantity will be formed 

 under cultivation, as animals fostered by man acquire a degree 

 of obesity which they never reach in a state of nature. Thus 

 it appears, the quantity of farina is increased, and the expendi- 

 ture of it diminished ; of course it is highly probable, we may 

 with safety avail ourselves of the redundance; that is, sow the 

 lighter, and consume the weightier grain. 



The question is now brought before the experimentalist, and 

 one of the lightest he has to encounter ; he need only sow a few 



iniall 



