Chap. IV. : S M Y R N A W H E A T. 287 



near three weeks after the common wheat. It produced thirty one 

 iheaves, which yielded 420 pounds of grain ; that is to fay, 56 

 for one. If this ground had been {own according to the common 

 method of the country, it would have taken vp fitty pound weight, 

 of feed; and, good as the foil was, its produce would not have been 

 more, even in the bell: of years, according to the general run ol the 

 crops of tlii': country. 



" The rcfult of this experiment," fays M. le Vayer, " feems to 

 " contradid: the theory of the new hufbanary, which promifes that the 

 ** ftaiks of wheat cultivated in the new way, being lefs crowded, and 

 " more expofcd to the air, will be flronger and lefs apt to be lodged, 

 " than that which is fowed in the common way. It is likewife to 

 " be obferved, that the common wheat, fowed according to the old 

 " method, was not lodged at all this year, but kept quite upright, 

 " tho' it fuftained the fame rain as the other. The bignefs of the 

 ** ears of the Smyrna wheat, which makes them the more apt to re- 

 " tain wet, may have occafioned this difference. However, M. du 

 ** Verger, who, the fame autumn, and laft fpring, fowed common 

 " wheat, fpring corn, and barley, in rows, found that neither of 

 ** thefe grains ripened till long after thofe of the fame fpecies fown 

 ** in the common way, and that all of them were lodged. That ex- 

 " cepted, his crop was good. But if the fame accident ihould happen 

 " every year, it might be feared that the grain would not be able to 

 •* ripen thoroughly, and efpecially in cold wet years. This is, per- 

 " haps, an inconvenience in the new hufbandry, to which cold 

 " countries may be more liable, than thofe that are warmer." 



This, as M. Duhamel obferves, cannot be known, but by a ferles 

 of experiments : for, adds he, we fee that the corn fown in the new 

 way, has been reaped, in many places, ahnoft as early as any other, 

 when care has been taken to fow it fooner. It has been prevented 

 from lodging, by turning the earth of the alleys over towards the 

 rows. 



M. du Verger, who lives at Mans, having communicated his ex- 

 periments to M. Duhamel, this lafh obferves, that they were made on 

 very fmall fpots of ground, from v/hich no conclufion can be drawn; 

 becaufe the borders of a field are almoft as favourably fituated as the 

 beds in the new hufoandry, t':'; roots of the plants there being able 

 to extend themfelves to feek tj :eir food : this is the reafon why the 

 plants near the foot paths in corn fields are always the fineft : now 

 it is very plain that the outfide borders of a very fmall fpot of ground 



are 



