357 



ferent soils, also, require a different amount of seed ; and a differ 

 ent amount of the same kind of seed is very necessary in order 

 to produce the greatest amount of grain per acre. Sometimes 60 

 Ibs. of a given kind of winter wheat will produce only half as 

 much as 60 Ibs. of the same kind of wheat, both kinds being of 

 first quality, if the kernels were large in the first, and half as 

 large in the second mentioned. We have no standard size for 

 the kernels of any kind of grain. If we had it would be an easy 

 task to "determine, with the greatest accuracy, how much grain 

 of any kind we must sow in order to obtain the greatest amount 

 per acre. Some grain tillers to a certain extent, if it is not sowed 

 too thick. Therefore, if one hundred kernels of grain are sowed 

 at such a distance apart that by tillering they will produce just 

 six heads each, or six hundred heads ; and if six hundred kernels 

 are sowed in the same space of ground and do not tiller at all, the 

 evidence cannot be gainsayed, that, although the first amount 

 mentioned may be too small, six times that amount will be less 

 profitable than the first, or an amount a little larger. One kernel 

 of buckwheat or of flax-seed, when sowed alone, will usually pro 

 duce more seed than half a dozen kernels, when sowed within the 

 compass which is occupied by the one plant. Now the question 

 arises, how may the tyro know, or be able to determine with tol 

 erable certainty, how much to sow per acre in order to get the 

 largest amount of grain. A will tell him so much, and B will 

 say double that amount ; while C will affirm that in both cases 

 the amount is too small. They may all be correct, and under 

 different circumstances all be very wrong. 



509. In order to settle the point most satisfactorily, let a 

 farmer measure off a number of plots of good soil, as nearly equal 

 in every respect as practicable, and sow them all with the same 

 kind of grain. Now in one acre of ground there are 43,560 

 square feet. One bushel of wheat weighs sixty Ibs. Now we 

 will have the plots for sowing wheat contain just one sixtieth of 

 an acre ; so that by sowing one pound on a plot it will be at the 

 rate of one bushel per acre. One sixtieth of 43,560 is 726. 

 Now a plot of ground twenty-seven feet square not twenty-seven 



