154 EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT, PartU. 



vanced, this feed came up pretty well before winter. The plants 

 throve greatly in the fpring, and the field became covered with 

 ftrong flalks, and very large ears, full of fine plump grain. 



The crop yielded 800 pounds of clean wheat, without mixture 

 of any other feeds,. Deducting from this the 24 pounds of feed, 

 the neat produce is 776 pounds. This field, fowed in the common 

 way, produces in the beft years, about 875 pounds : from which 

 if we deduct 165 pounds for the feed, the neat produce will be 

 710 pounds. Thus we fee that the fame ground fowed with the 

 drill plough, produced 66 pounds more than when fown in the 

 common way. But as wheat raifed in this laft way is always mix- 

 ed v/ith abundance of feeds of weeds, which muft be feparated by 

 fifting, an allowance muil likewife be made for that ; and the 

 profit will then not be limited to the 66 pounds only, which the 

 owner reaped more than in the common way. 



" I omit feveral experiments of wheat fowed in beds, and with 

 the drill-plough, in equally diflant rows, the fuccefs of which has 

 been nearly equal to that of thofe I have already fpoken of. I fliall 

 mention only one more, and that, on account of a circumftance 

 which deferves to be known. I made it on a light foil, the worft 

 I knew of, full of pretty large ftones, and which had not beea 

 dunged in the memory of man. The ftones did not hinder the 

 drill-plough from dropping the feeds very regularly. I chofe this 

 bad foil, on purpofe to fee how wheat would thrive in it. I 

 allowed too little feed, confidering the badnefs of the foil. The 

 ilones prevented many plants from rifing, and many more were 

 deftroyed by infedls; fo that the corn was very thin, and the crop 

 fmalL I was, however, pleafed with it, becaufe I found the plants 

 grew almoft as ftrong as in a good foil, and the ears were as large, 

 and as fall of grain. 



" A little before harveft, the wheat of all thefe experiments 

 fuftained many heavy rains, accompanied with very high winds ; 

 and though the ftraw was much longer than that of the wheat 

 which had been fowed in the common way, the corn was not 

 lodged J whilft a great deal was in the neighbouring fields. Some 

 indeed was beat ; but that is different from being lodge J. This 

 laft is very hurtful to the filling of the grain, but its being ^e,ni 

 is attended with no inconvenience*. I am even inclined to think 



that 



* We were therefore right, feys M. Duhamel, in obferving, that corn would be lefs 

 liable to be lodged in following our method, than in proceeding in the common.way. 



