134 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch, IX. 



attention, as affecting the state of the crop, and enabling men of experi- 

 ence to form some probable estimate of its produce. 



Thus, it is thought advantageous when Autumn-sown grain remains a 

 proportionately long time in the ground uitliout sprouting — provided always 

 that this be not occasioned by unusual drought, — tor the roots are thus found 

 to acquire strength; and it has been observed, that, under afavoural)le lem- 

 perature of the air, tlie braiding of the seed has been three days later on 

 deep land than on a superficial soil. For Spring corn, it is on the contrary 

 best that it should sprout quickly, to enable it to get ahead of the annual 

 weeds. 



It is considered a good sign when the shoots rise in a uniform manner ; 

 for any inequality tends to mark some future deficiency in the crop. This, — 

 as we have already observed in our remarks upon the depth of sowing, — is 

 more to be dreaded in spring corn than in that which is sown in autumn ; 

 for the plants of the latter acquire an apparent degree of equal growth, 

 while the former always maintain their disparity. 



The young plants should be of a dark-coloured hue, and the first 

 leaves which are found should be short, thick, not sharply pointed, but firm 

 and elastic. Those of wheat, approaching to a tinge of brown ; rye, 

 brown, drawing towards red ; and those'of all spring corn, of a deep green, 

 without any intermixture of yellow : which latter colour always indicates 

 some disease, from which the plants rarely recover. 



Wlien these first leaves have unfolded themselves, numerous lateral shoots 

 spring from the coronal root, in the manner called " tillering," and from 

 their strength and abundance a judgment may be formed regarding the 

 future crop. It is, however, neither desirable that they should rise 

 promptly in height, nor that they should droop through weakness : they 

 should first spread over the ground, and when they have covered it, they 

 should then rise with a vigorous stem ; but the more gradually this is effected 

 the better. The strength of the stem, especially in the lower part, is quite 

 as important as their height, for it is only when they are proportionally 

 strong that they will carry large ears, and the knots of the joints should be 

 thick and brown. When the ears are formed, and have become in bloom, their 

 tops should present a nearly equal appearance throughout, and, when 

 viewed by casting the eye across the field, the crop should seem level in 

 height ; for when the stems rise at different heights it is a bad sign. 



The ii/ne of blooming is also a critical moment. If the weather con- 

 tinue long wet, vegetation proceeds imperfectly ; but if the month of June 

 be dry and warm, with only occasional showers of rain, it is desirable. This 

 is also a time when there is the greatest danger of the crop being laid. If 

 this happen before the blooming be completed, through the effects of storm, 

 it occasions no great mischief, for the plants soon recover their original 

 position; but it is very prejudicial if it be caused by their apparent weight 

 and richness, for that is frequently the consequence of weakness in the 

 stem, and a general failure in the quality of the plant, occasioned, not 

 uncommonly, by injudicious application of dung and insuffxcient tillage. 



The autumn sowings reach the winter season at various stages of tlieir 

 growth ; but although their progress may be checked by severe cold, it is 

 never entirely destroyed, and vegetation is renewed with increased vigour 

 when the weather becomes open. Thus, in very long continued frosts, 

 which have penetrated far deeper into the earth than the roots, the ])lants 

 have tillered with extraordinary luxuriance in the ensuing spring, and the 

 sharpest winters have generally been productive of the most abundant 

 crops. Those winters which are in this country termed mild, and which 



