Chti j)..4' AT DMAtNVILL JERS AND ACOU. i r 7 



fhoots, arvd* produced fmall ears, which were too backward to ripen, 

 becaufe there was a neceffity of cutting down the whole when the 

 grain in the principal ears had attained its full growth. 



M. Duhamel thinks that feveral reafons may be affigned for thi'; 

 accident, i . The feed was fowed late : whereas it fliould, accord- 

 ing to the new method, certainly be fowed early. 2. As the alleys 

 were cultivated by hand, the owner contented himfelf with deftroy- 

 ing the weeds by a flight hoeing, as is done in gardens : hence arofe 

 this double inconveniency; that the wheat then growing was not 

 well cultivated, and the foil was not fufficiently prepared for the 

 enfuing crop. 3. The variety of bulinefs neceffary to be done in the 

 common field, which frequently prevents many things being per- 

 fonned at the proper feafon, and the not being able to horfe-hoe this 

 fpll^t early enough in fpring, hindered the plants from branching fo 

 mifch as they might otherwife have done. This obfervation fhews 

 the importance of hoeing at the proper feafons ; and will more fully 

 appear hereafter, from M. de Chateau-vieux's experiments. 



II. Experiment made at Denainvilliers, in order to know u-hctber it 

 be mojl profitable to foxv in tivo rows, or in three. 



1 T is not yet determined, fays M. Duhamel, continuing his expe- 

 "^ riments, whether it be moft profitable to fow, as we have hitherto 

 done, three rows at feven inches dilliance from one another, leaving 

 the alleys four feet wide ; or to fow only two rows in each bed,, 

 allowing but three feet for the alleys. 



To know by experience which of the two ways would be befl, 

 w^e fowed a field, partly in three rows, and partly in two. 



This field was reaped the 8th of Auguft, tho' the corn was not 

 quite ripe, becaufe it v»ould otherwife have been eaten up by birds. 

 We therefore, continues he, cannot fay whether the two rows or the 

 three would have produced moft in proportion. All that could be 

 done was to make the following obfervations : 



An equal number of flieaves, and equally large, was gathered 

 off from each. 



The ftraw of the two rows was much longer than that of the 

 three rows, and the ears of the two rows were much the biggeft 

 and longeft. 



All v?ho faw the field, believed there was at leaft as much corn, 

 if not more, on the beds which had but two rows, as on thofe 

 which had three. 



