Ch.IX.] ON THE GROWTH OF CORN. 131 



sumed to produce a shoot — such quantities might be deemed excessive, 

 for not one-fourth of them could find space for their roots. But 

 as in the ordinary mode of sowing, such precision cannot be expected, 

 nor can the germination of every seed, though duly deposited in the 

 earth, be relied on, experience has shown the sum already stated to be 

 necessary, and the experiments of those who have tried lesser quantities 

 have not been generally successful. The just amount must, however, de- 

 pend upon the goodness of the seed, the expertness of the sower, the state 

 of the soil both in respect to manure, fertility, and the condition into 

 which it has been brought bv tillage ; and lastly, by the earliness of the 

 sowing. The latter point is, indeed, of such importance — particularly in 

 autumn sowing — that some sorts of rye will produce a crop, if sown in July, 

 with half the quantity of seed that is found necessary in October. Savings 

 may, tlierefore, unquestionably be made ; and the seed be further di- 

 minished by more careful attention to the different operations of sowing. 



Among the general run of farmers there is a far greater disposition to 

 sow profusely than to lessen the quantity of seed. This chiefly arises from 

 their fear of throwing away the chance of a crop by not sowing enough ; 

 and the land is, therefore, very generally sown with more seed than it 

 requires. The practice has also been advocated, though upon another prin- 

 ciple, which we shall hereafter notice, by Mr. Coke, of Norfolk. Thick 

 sowing certainly gives a finer appearance to a crop of corn, in the early 

 period of its growth, than when tlie seed has been put in thin ; but when 

 thus crowded, the shoots exhaust each other, acquire a yellow, dusky tinge, 

 and, if the weather be at all unfavourable, many of them perish : it may 

 also be seen that the most vacant spots are precisely those on which the 

 plants stood the thickest *. 



Another motive for thick sowing exists in the idea that the growth of 

 weeds is thereby prevented. It not improbably, however, has a contrary 

 effect : for, if the corn be sown at proper distances, the spreading of the 

 roots occasions them to interweave among each other, and form a tissue 

 which may choke the weeds ; but, if sown too thick, they strike downwards 

 and do not prevent the weeds from springing. On this point we have the 

 evidence of Von Thaer, who says, that, on some marsh-land upon the 

 banks of the Oder, it is customary to sow oats at the extraordinary rate of 

 nearly eight bushels per acre, with the intention of keeping down the rank- 

 ness of weeds with which the ground is much infested. Yet it has not that 

 effect ; while he, who sows only half the quantity, finds his land quite as 

 clean as that of his neighbours. He, indeed, states that the finest crops of 

 any corn which he has ever seen contained only five or six plants to the 

 foot square f . 



* See chapter iv. \\ 50, of this vohime. In addition to what is there said, we our- 

 selves witnessed a field in which the plants of the wheat were so thinned by the ^rub 

 during the spring of 1834, that there was some intention of ploughing it up. It was, 

 however, allowed to stand, and they tillered to such an extent, that the crop was much 

 finer than upon any other jiart of the same extensive farm. 



A remarkable instance of a similar nature has also been mentioned in a recent number 

 of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, in which it is stated that two-thirds of a pro- 

 mising crop of potatoe-oats were destroyed by the grub. The remaining shoots, howevei", 

 stook'd out so luxuriantly, that " so many as 14 stems were counted from one root; 

 some of the heads contained upwards of 500 grains, and some of the straws were nearly 

 as thick as the little finger. The strength of the straw made the reaping of it a ditHcult 

 task ; and the crop yielded, with all the unfavourable appearance in which it was left 

 by the grub, fiO bushels per imperial acre of very fine corn : the land was, however, a 

 deep hazel-loam of first-rate quality." — No. XXII. p. 541. 



f Principes Raisonnes d'Agiic, 2de ed.,tom. iv. o 967, p. 27. 



K 2 



