26o EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT, Partft. 



EXPERIMENT, No. XI. 



"Executed by the fame per/on who made thofe of 1754, marked ivith the 

 fame number, (p. 208.) atid thofe of 1753 marked NoA'K. (p. 172.) 



" T" HOUGH the following extraft does not agree exadlly with 

 ■* the title of this article, I was unwilling to make a feparate 

 one of it. It contains very interefting details : the mofl eltential 

 circumftances are related with great precifion ; and the confequences 

 of the lefults are eftablilhed by very inftrudlive calculations. They 

 iliew the writer of them to be a ftudious hufbandman, a very fkil- 

 ful naturalifl, a zealous lover of the public good, who infirudls by 

 his example, and flill more by his knowledge. 



" Thcfe experiments were made about fifteen miles from Genevaj 

 in a country where it is the cuftom to fow their land two years run- 

 ning. The firft year, it is fowed with wheat ; the fecond, with 

 fpring corn ; and the third, it refted. 



ExfraSi of a letter dated December jth, 1755. 



" I received the journal of your lafl year's experiments, and have 

 " read it with very great pleafure. If it were poiTible for me to 

 " make any obfervation of the leaft importance, upon your experi- 

 " ments, which had efcaped you, I fiiould take the liberty to lay it 

 " before you, perfuaded that you would receive it kindly. 



" In general, I afcribe, as you have done, the different fuccefs of 

 ** the new hufbandry, i . To the intrinfic quality of the foils, fome 

 " of which ieem unfit for the produd:ion of wheat; 2. To the con- 

 " dition of the lands, when they firft began to be cultivated in the 

 *' new way : 3. To the manner in which they were prepared ac- 

 •*^ cording to the principles of this hufbandry: and laflly, to the 

 " quantity of feed that was ufed. 



*• I was particularly pleafed with your experiment on the barley. 



" It is certainly very inilrudling, and confirms what I before fufpect- 



•* ed, that, in our climate, wheat and other plants love fociety ; and 



"** that they thrive better when numbers of them are planted toge- 



" ther, than they would do feparately, provided that number be 



, ** not too great. You will certainly not fail to repeat that expe- 



♦' riment in years lefs hot and lefs dry, and upon other plants. Still 



♦* I am afraid that no fixed rule can ever be given in relation to the 



*' ijuantity of the feed : too many circumftances influence the con- 



2 " ditioa 



