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30« E'X P E R I ME N T S ON PartriT; 



longer ears, aiid the grain \va5 better filled, than any I ever faw 

 grow in the common method of hufbandry; and the land upoa 

 ** which this grew was not very rich : but I Irave frequently oblerved. 

 ■** on the fides of hot-beds in kitdien gardens, where barley ftraw- 

 " has been ufed for covering the beds, that fome of the grains left 

 " in the ears, have dropt out and grown, tlie roots ha\e produced 

 " from thirty to lixty flalks each, and thole iiave been three or four 

 ff: times larger than the ilalks ever arrive at in the common way. 

 " Birt to this I know it will be objected, that although upon rich 

 '*^ fend in a garden, thefe roots of corn may probably have fo many 

 " ftalks; yet in poor land they will not have fuch produce; there- 

 " fore unleis there is a greater quantity of feeds fown, their crops will 

 " not be vsorth {landing ; which is one of the grcateft falkcics that 

 a/fican be imagined : for to ilippofe that poor land can nourilli more. 

 iT*,than twice the number of roots in the fame fpace as ricli land, is 

 fuch an abfurdity, as one could hardly fuppofe any perfon of com- - 

 mon underllanding guilty of : and yet fo it is; for the general' 

 praftice is to allow a greater quantity of feed to poor land, than 

 for richer grounds; not confidering that where the roots fland fo • 

 clofe, they will deprive each other of nourilhment, and fo ftarve 

 themfelves; which is always the cafe v. Here the roots iland clofe,., 

 *' as any perfon may at firft fight obferve in any part of the fields 

 ** where the corrr happens tofcatter when they are fowing it: or ia. 

 '* places, where, by harrowing, the feed is drawn in heaps, thofe- 

 ■j*^ patches will ftarve, and nevei- grow to a third part of the fize of 

 ** the other parts of the fame field : and yet, common as this is, it ia 

 " little noticed by farmers; otherwife they furely would not continue • 

 " their old cuftom of fowing. I have made many experiments for, 

 f'' feveral years in the pooreft land, and have always found that all 

 ..Jf crops which are fowed or planted at a greater diftance than ufual, 

 *' have fucceeded beft; and I am convinced that if the farmers could 

 :!**]'be prevailed on to quit their prejudices, and make trial of this 

 •/^method of fowing their corn thin, they would foon fee the advan- 

 V tageof this hulbandry. 



..:.'■* The noblemen and gentlemen in France are very bufy ia- 

 ^Jift fitting e^camples of this hulbandry in- moft of their provinces, be- 

 ; !^ ing convinced of its great utility, by making trials : and it were to 

 .^ be wifhed the fame was dcuie in England." 



e H A p. 



