Ch. X.] ox WHEAT. 145 



posts of tlung, or other putrescent matter, it also prevents their fermen- 

 tation, and it should, therefore, never be laid upon land in which those 

 manures are not already decomposed; but it materially assists in the de- 

 struction of weeds and insects, and, therefore, may be employed with mani- 

 fest advantage when discreetly used. Mild lime — or lime in an effete, state 

 — is, on the contrary, of a totally opposite character ; may be used with 

 perfect safety in the formation of composts, and is not injurious when laid 

 upon the land after the application of dung. It also binds sands and 

 gravels, while it opens clays. In whichever state, whether effete or caustic, 

 the lime be applied to a wheat fallow, it should, however, be intimately 

 combined with the surface soil previous to the sowing of the seed. 



SEED AND SOWING. 



The time o^ sowing winter wheat must depend both upon the state of the 

 land, as well as the season, and it is not always in the farmer's power to 

 choose the moment which he would prefer ; for if the corn be sown after 

 another crop, that crop must first be removed, and even if it be sown upon 

 a fallow, the operations of a late harvest, or the state of the weather, may 

 interfere. It is, however, generally recommended to put it into the 

 ground as early as may be convenient in autumn, and, on strong soils, it 

 is not unfrequentlv sown in the latter end of September, though more 

 usually in the course of October or the beginning of November. A\ heat 

 sown early on friable loams is, however, apt to exhaust its vegetative 

 powers so much, as to grow weak and languid at that period when vigour 

 is most requisite, and on poor soils, the plants being so rapidly deprived 

 of their vegetative properties, become foxy. The seed is, therefore, not 

 generally sown before the 10th of October ; and if the land be then either 

 so wet as to impede the working of the cattle, or so dry as to risk tlie 

 vegetation oj the seed, the operation is sometimes delayed until November 

 or December. When sown after turnips, wheat is, indeed, sown by many 

 farmers throughout the winter, according as the land is cleared, until the 

 middle of March *; but, when deferred imtil that period, the seed chosen 

 should be of the true spring species. Perhaps it may be safely assumed as a 

 general rule, that strong lands should be sown from the middle of September 

 to the latter end of October; and those which are thin and shallow, pro- 

 bably from the latterpart of October to the middle of November. Early sowing 

 is, however, on most soils, advantageous ; for late-sown wheats are more apt 

 to become mildewed ; and even should they escape that danger, yet, if the 

 season prove unkind, they will not ripen so soon by some days, as corn 

 which is sown earlier, and every experienced farmer well knows the im- 

 portance to be attached to this fact in a fickle harvest. 



The quantity of seed per acre must necessarily depend upon the manner 

 in which it is sown — wliether broad-cast, drilled or dibbled; on the various 

 modes of performing which operations we have already said ail that we 

 deem necessary, and, as to their results, we have only to add, that so far 



* An iiiitance is mentioned in the Survey of Northumbevliind, of many hundred acres 

 being sown in Glendale-ward so late as l/ie ber/inniivj of April, which were all well 

 harvested, and produced, on an average, 24 bushels per acre of excellent grain, in many 

 cases superior to that sown in autumn, which is rather singular, as it is generally 

 thought that wheat sown so late does not produce grain so well perfected as that which 

 is sown earlier. — Third Edit., p. 75. ])uring a very wet season. Mr. Krown, of Markle, 

 also delayed his sowing until after the l!)th of February: he then sowed 143 acres of 

 Essex White, and Egyptian Red Wheat ; and although the harvest was about ten days 

 later than usual, his crops yielded from 24 to 40 bushels per acre, of a fir.st-rate 

 sample. — Middlesex Rep., 2ud Edit., p. 211. 



Vol. 1 1. L 



