112 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



&quot; At first, no matter how much seed has been sown, nearly 

 every grain vegetates and finds space to grow ; and in the early 

 stages, when the air and soil are moist, and the plants small, 

 there is food for all. But as the plants increase, a struggle for 

 room and nourishment commences, which increases with their 

 growth, and finally terminates by the destruction of the weaker 

 by the stronger plants ; but not until after a contest, lasting up to 

 harvest, which leaves the survivors stunted, and the soil ex 

 hausted by having had to support three plants instead of one ; 

 and producing mischief, which is frequently the cause of blight, 

 mildew, and the falling of the crop. 



&quot;It is to this I would principally ascribe the mildew, and 

 blight, and falling, of the crop ; for so far my practice proves it, 

 that, since I have taken to sow only a bushel of wheat per acre, 

 and I have done so now for some years, and on many hundreds 

 of acres of wheat, I have rarely found any portion affected by 

 any disease.&quot; * 



This is certainly strong and decisive testimony, and shows 

 how deserving the subject is of the most exact and repeated 

 experiments. Since the foregoing account of the Horsham 

 experiment of the last season, I have received information of the 

 result of a second experiment made this season by the same 

 individual, Mr. Allman, nursery-man of Horsham, Sussex county. 

 He has dug an acre of land with spade or fork, and dibbled it 

 with the same kind of wheat which he sowed the previous year, 

 and the crop is fast advancing to maturity. The amount of seed 

 required for planting the acre, one grain in a hole, at the distance 

 of nine by six inches, was a little more than one and a half 

 gallon ; the seed was covered about two inches in depth ; the 

 cost of digging the ground ten inches deep was 2J d. per rod ; 

 the cost of planting or dibbling the seed was 10s. per acre, and 

 the expense of hoeing it was 7s. per acre. No manure has 

 been applied to the land this year ; but of the character of the 

 soil I am not informed. I am assured that it promises to yield 

 as well as it did the last season. A specimen which has been 

 sent to me fully ripe, shows an equal growth both in the size of 

 the stalk, which is more than five feet, and in the number of 

 stems from a single seed. I shall presently have an exact 



* Hewitt Davis, on thin sowing. 



