22« EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT. Part II. 



" That nothing may be negledred which can be of any fervice ta 

 the feed, great care ought, in my opinion, to be taken in threfhing^ 

 it ; efpecially in the manner that is commonly praftifed, with flails, 

 upon the barn floor, or by trampling it with horfes. In either of 

 thefe ways, a great number of the grains are fo bruifed and hurt, 

 that it is impoflible they fliould ever grow. If the wheat intended 

 for feed, is not thoroughly dry and hard, the mifchief is ftill greater; 

 much more of it being then abfolutely cruflied by the flail. 



" As the new hufbandry requires much lefs feed, it will be the 

 eafier to execute an operation which might be too long and trouble- 

 fome to praclife for fo great a quantity as is ufed in the old way. 



" The method I advife, and which I myfelf have pradlifed, is 

 this. Let one or two beams, two feet and a half, or three fit thick, 

 be laid acrofs the barn floor : let the threfhers ftand at each fide of 

 the beam, with a loofe flieaf of wheat behind every man, from 

 which he will take a handful at a time, and give it tw^o or three 

 flrokes againft the beam : this will bring out a great deal of grain, 

 which is to be referved for feed. Thefe ears may be bundled up 

 again, and afterwards threflied out with the flail, for other ufes. . 



" This method is not fo tedious as fome may imagine : we are 

 fure that not a grain is bruifed ; the corns drop very readily out of 

 the ears, efpecially of wheat that has grown in beds : the great flze 

 of the grain helps to open the hufks, and thofe are the moll perfed: 

 grains which drop out thus. I think I may compare this operation 

 with what is done in the making of wine. The firfl; running is. 

 alwavs the highefi: flavour'd and beft. 



" Though. the proper time for fowing be come, the corn ought 

 not to be put into the earth, if the temperature of the feafon is 

 not favourable. It ought, on the contrary, to be deferred, in hopes 

 of a change. If the weather is very hot, and the earth extremely- 

 dry, there will be an ablblute neceflity of waiting till fome rain has 

 falfen. Without this precaution, the feed will rife but very imper- 

 fectly. I am fure of it, by feveral experiitients which I have made, 

 and which contradift a common faying of our farmers, that the 

 earth is the bell granary to keep corn. Full of this notion, when- 

 ever the flated time comes round, they fow without diHindtion, in 

 wet or dry land : even heat does not hinder them : they think their 

 feed will certainly fprout well after the firfl: rain : but I have always 

 experienced that the plants have come up thin. 



" I tried an experiment purpofely to fatisfy myfelf whether one 



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