218 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



pecks per acre, gave say, twenty-five bushels per acre. Two 

 pecks of seed, however, were only tried in the latter, whilst four 

 times that quantity was used in the former case j proportionally, 

 therefore, instead of forty-six bushels two pecks, it should have 

 given one hundred bushels. I throw out these hints for serious 

 consideration, as, without doubt, such a saving of seed as the 

 general introduction of the dibbling machine would produce 

 must be esteemed of national importance.&quot; 



These are, certainly, very remarkable results yet Mr. Miles 

 gives, in the same paper, an account from a book of husbandry 

 written some years since, in which an experiment is detailed of 

 sowing ten pounds to the acre, and twenty pounds to the acre, in 

 which the advantage appears to have been greatly in favor of the 

 thin sowing. In Mr. Miles s case, a good many of the wheat 

 plants were destroyed by the frost. In the thickly-sown, a loss 

 could be afforded, as a sufficiency of plants would remain for a 

 crop ; in the thinly-dibbled wheats, there was no such reserve to 

 fall back upon, and the loss was fatal. 



In this matter, many things are to be considered. Some kinds 

 of wheat tiller much more than others ; that is, a single plant of 

 one kind of wheat will throw out more shoots than a plant of 

 another kind. The time of sowing is a material point. The 

 earlier sown wheat has much more time to thicken, and throw 

 out bearing shoots, than late sown wheats. The condition of 

 the land, likewise, is to be considered. Highly-enriched and 

 manured land will nourish more plants than that which is 

 poor and scantily manured. The state of the land, in the next 

 place, as it respects weeds, must be taken into view. On land 

 which is foul, thin sowing will give an opportunity for the weeds 

 to spread themselves, very much to the disadvantage of the crop. 



I have already treated this subject, to some extent, in my second 

 report, to which I must refer my readers. I cannot help think 

 ing that, with early sowing upon well-manured and well-cleaned 

 land, and the faithful hoeing of the crop, so as to keep it free 

 from weeds, a much less quantity of seed than what is usually 

 applied might be safely and strongly recommended. But, as 

 these favorable circumstances cannot always be secured, certainly, 

 in ordinary cases, a liberal allowance of seed is to be advised. 

 The only saving to bo calculated upon, in this matter, is in the 

 quantity of seed: :AS it does not appear, from any experiments 



