Ch. IX.] ON THE GROWTH OF CORN. 133 



many respects defective. From experiments made in the year 1817, by a 

 special commission appointed by the French government, to inquire 

 into the state of the crops, and to determine in what degree grain whicli has 

 been in different proportions deteriorated might be made available as 

 seed, it was found — that grain which has suffered a commencement of ger- 

 mination rises only in the proportion of one-half of the seed employed ; if 

 strongly germinated, in the proportion of one-third ; and if fired or moulded, 

 of not more than one-fifth. 



This is particularly observable in oats imported from tlie Baltic, which 

 are invariably shipped in bulk, and after a long passage are frequently 

 thus damaged. Tiie wheat from Dantzig is generally shipped in bags, 

 which have some effect in preventing it from heating: it is, besides, pre- 

 viously screened with extreme care, in the warehouses of that immense 

 granary, and, being of the former year's growth, it is consequently 

 in a dry state ; but from other ports much is exported in very different 

 order. Caution is therefore requisite in the purchase of foreign corn for 

 seed ; for although it may have been cooled by exposure to the air, and 

 thus appear undamaged, yet, if sown, it may disappoint the expectation of 

 the grower*. When intended for consumption as food, it may be preserved 

 with safety for a great length of time, by completely drying it, and 

 depriving it of all communication with the air ; and in this manner wheat 

 has been kept for many years at Malta, and other places, in rocks hollowed 

 into deep conical caves, and hermetically sealed at the top. In this country, 

 when injured by wet, it is kiln-dried, in the manner stated under the head 

 of ' Harvest ;' but although it may be thus rendered fit for mealing, it yet 

 can never be safely used for seed. 



Some seeds retain the power of gcr7nj nation for a long time, if gathered 

 when ripe, and preserved with care. Others lose it after the first year. 

 That of wheat has been known to vegetate when five years old, and rye at 

 three ; and all the best species of corn can be grown when not more than 

 two years old ; but, in general, wheat should not be sown when more than 

 one year old, and rye, barley, and oats are always preferred when of the 

 last harvest. Seeds'of recent growth also germinate more freely than those 

 which are comparatively old ; but it has been observed that they afford no 

 superior advantage in point of crop, and are even thought to occasion an 

 increase of straw rather than of corn. If kept long in the granary, their 

 sources of vegetation are more weakened than when held in the stacks; and 

 therefore, when intended for seed, grain should never be threshed until the 

 time of sowing. 



PRODUCT AND VEGETATION. 



Endeavours have been made to ascertain the product of grain on dif- 

 ferent soils, and in various countries. The results from which these averages 

 are drawn are, however, extremely deceitful, and although furnishing ideas 

 for the calculations of political economists, yet contain no data in which a 

 farmer can place confidence, for the crops vary every year, and if any 

 given series of years be taken, the averages will be invariably found unequal. 

 Circumstances however occur during the vegetation of corn, which deserve 



* IMany cargoes have been so heated on long voyages, when shij)iHd in hulk, as fo 

 render the pick-axe necessary to get the vheatoutof the ship's hold, and in several 

 instances the whole has been thrown overboard by permission of the Board of Customs, 

 or burnt for manure, as it vto\M have endangered the safety of the wan-houses, from the 

 intense heat which it engenders ; for even spreading out heated corn on a floor three ov 

 four inches thick will not cool it. 



