230 EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT, Part II. 



alleys, may find a fufficient depth of mould immediately under 

 them, to fupply them with their neteirary nourifliment. 



" But at the fame time that a provifion is made for the nourishment 

 of the plants, care mufl be taken not to lofe too much land, by 

 making the alleys wider than they need be. My experiments have 

 determined me to make my beds for the future about fix feet wide. 

 By leaving feven inches diftance between each row, the five rows 

 will take up about two feet four inches, and there will remain 

 three feet eight inches for the breadth of the alleys. This fpace is 

 fuflicient for the plough or cultivator to operate in with eafe. 



ARTICLE IX. 



Experiment made in order to ktiow which is the mojl profitable loay of 

 Joining the beds; and to afcertain more precifily the quantity of feed 

 proper to be tfed, iii order to have the great eft crop. 



*' '"jpHE title of this article divides it naturally into two parts, which 



-*• I lliall treat feparately. 



" It is of great confequence to know which is the mofl profitable 

 way of fowing the beds ; that is to fay, that by which they will be 

 flocked with a proper number of plants; for when too much feed is 

 fowed, the plants hurt one another ; and when too little, the earth 

 is not enabled to produce fo much as it is capable of doing. 



*' The bufinefs therefore is, to determine what number of plants 

 would be mofl: advantageous. Luckily, the difference is wide 

 enough between the too great, and the too fmall number ; and the 

 produce of the crop cannot be diminifhed but by an excefs one way 

 or the other. 



*' But whatever certainty we may acquire with refpeft to this in- 

 terefting point, we cannot flatter ourfelves that we fliall always be 

 able to keep to it in our practice. The various accidents to which 

 corn is liable, from the hour of its being fowed till it is reaped, will 

 always frufi:rate the methodical arrangement which we may have in- 

 tended to give the plants. 



" The difficulty of fucceeding in this inquiry, ought not however 

 to difcourage us : for it would be attended with fuch advantages as 

 would make very ample amends for all the labour beftowed upon 

 it. Let us then have recourfe to experiments. Thofe that are made 

 with this view, will never be quite ufelefs. If they do not lead us 



to 



