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OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



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707 



weather, in the latter case, often admitting of only a very 

 languid and imperfect growth till the spring, by which the 

 crop must be exposed to much danger from various causes. 

 Experience has abundantly proved that late-sown Wheats 

 seldom succeed so well, or afford such plentiful crops, as 

 those that are put in early. But when sown too early, there 

 may notwithstanding be the danger of the crop running too 

 much to straw, and producing light ears. From the begin- 

 ning of September to the middle or even the end of October, 

 may probably be considered as the most favourable time, 

 according to the established practice of the most correct far- 

 mers, in almost every district of the kingdom where this sort 

 of grain is sown. If sown early, especially on the heavy kinds 

 of soils, the land is for the most part in too hard and lumpy 

 a state to admit of the seed being properly covered by the 

 harrow; and in the lighter ones, in too dry a condition for 

 the grain to vegetate in a proper manner : and when delayed 

 later, the ground in one case is apt to become too wet and 

 close by the falling of the autumnal rains, and in the other 

 too loose and porous from the action of the frost. Mr. Young 

 proposes September as the best season for cold backward 

 wet soils, and October for those of the more dry and warm 

 kinds, after there has been a plentiful rain. There are, how- 

 ever, circumstances that may render the times of sowing 

 different ; as, where the soils are of the rich, fertile, loamy, 

 chalky, or gravelly kinds, it may be better to defer it, in 

 many instances, to a considerably later period ; as when such 

 warm lands are cropped too early, they are apt to push the 

 plants forward so rapidly that they become weak and spin- 

 dling in the early spring months, and at the same time the 

 crops are more liable to be infested with weeds, on account 

 of the season being then more favourable to their growth. 

 But that the practice of putting in crops of this sort so late 

 as the latter end of November and beginning of December, 

 frequently depends on the crops that precede them not being 

 capable, from the lateness of the district, or other causes, 

 of being taken off so early, as that the land may be made 

 for the Wheat-crop in the proper time. This is often the 

 case after Peas, Beans, Tares, Turnips, and other similar 

 crops. In these cases, on the lighter sorts of soils, and 

 where drill-culture is employed, it may often be an advisable 

 practice to sow in the spring, as by such a delay the ground 

 may be brought into a more perfect state of preparation 

 than could be the case in sowing it so late in winter. Those 

 persons who sow Wheat in autumn, lose the great advanta^ 

 of a previous crop of Turnips, both as to destroying weeds 

 and manuring the Land ; and they create the labour of either 

 hoeing, harrowing, or otherwise tampering with the weeds 

 and young Wheat in the following spring. A wet seed-time 

 sometimes renders it impossible for the farmer of a clayey 

 soil to sow his usual quantity of Wheat in autumn ; this 

 should not induce him to sow his grain while the land is too 

 wet for the occasion ; he ought rather to wait for the first 

 favourable opportunity in the months of February or March 

 by which time frost will have mellowed the land. He shoulc 

 then sow the residue of his Wheat, as the probability is great 

 that Wheat sown on a mellow soil, in a dry February, will 

 be more productive than if it had been sown on the same 

 land in an adhesive state during a wet November. The 

 autumnal-sown Wheat precludes cultivation for one entire 

 year, which, setting aside all other circumstances, gives 

 great encouragement to the growth of weeds: but in order 

 to estimate the great mischief done by sowing Wheat in that 

 season, its connection with the usual course of crops must be 

 considered. For instance, first, in the ancient, and still very 

 common course of fallow, Wheat, and Oats, there is seldom 

 VOL. n. 125. 



any ploughing from the sowing of the Wheat until the sowing 

 of the Oats, which is a year and a half: secondly, in the 

 course of Wheat, Clover, Spring Corn, or Pulse, there are 

 ;wo years together in which the plough cannot possibly be put 

 nto the ground : thirdly, in the valuable course of Turnips, 

 Barley, Clover, and Wheat, the plough is shut out of the 

 round for nearly two years and a half. These three causes 

 include most of the arable land in Britain, and they shew 

 the prodigious encouragement which such courses give to 

 the growth of weeds. On the contrary, Wheat sown in the 

 spring occupies the ground only half a year, and when that 

 is placed in a succession of Winter Tares and Turnips every 

 two years, the weeds have not time to grow in such a manner 

 as to produce any material injury. There is no period of 

 such a. course of more than six months in summer, or eight 

 in the winter, free from the operation of the plough. This 

 degree of tilth keeps the land free of weeds, and thereby 

 preserves it from being exhausted by them ; and by giving 

 the green and root-crops to sheep and other cattle on the 

 land, it becomes doubly manured every other year, which 

 cannot fail to force the Wheat as if it were sown in a hot- 

 bed. It is not advisable in every possible case to refrain 

 from sowing Wheat in the autumn, in order to sow it in the 

 spring. A dry seed-time is of so much importance to the 

 occupiers of fenny soils, that they ought not to let any such 

 time pass without sowing their grain. In the case of a dry 

 autumn, which is the same thing as a fine seed-time, the far- 

 mers should sow all such land as is then ready, and thereby 

 ensure the important points of a good seed-bed for their 

 grain, and against the dangers of a wet spring. On the 

 other hand, the more rain that falls in autumn, the better 

 chance there is of having a dry spring; and consequently in 

 every wet autumn the Wheat sowing should be postponed 

 until the spring. The proportion of seed that is necessary 

 in different cases, must depend upon, and be regulated by, 

 a variety of different circumstances ; but in general from two 

 to three bushels, according to the state of the soil, the nature 

 of the climate, and the period in which it is put into the 

 ground, may be the most suitable proportion for soils of a 

 medium state of fertility, under the broadcast method of 

 husbandry : but where the drill system of culture is practised, 

 a considerably less quantity may be sufficient for the purpose. 

 In the drilling and dibbling methods of sowing, however, 

 which are unquestionably the best, where they are performed 

 with correctness, six pecks of seed are sufficient ; in the 

 latter mode two rows being put on in a flag, care being taken 

 to have the land rolled after having been ploughed a fort- 

 night or more, and the seed dibbled in to a sufficient depth, 

 without scattering, covering it in by bush-harrowing. Where 

 the lands have a known disposition to mildew, a larger pro- 

 portion of seed should be given, at whatever time or season 

 it may be sown. Much less seed is likewise necessary in 

 early than in late sowings. On the rich soils of Glouces- 

 tershire they generally sow seven pecks, and from eight to 

 twelve in Yorkshire. Where the lands are in a proper state 

 of tillage for receiving crops of this grain, ten pecks have 

 been advised by a practical writer as the medium propor- 

 tion ; but much larger quantities are frequently sown in 

 the northern p.arts of the kingdom. It is obvious, however, 

 that where such large proportions of seed are made use 

 of, the plants must be liable to be drawn up too much, 

 and the crops in consequence to become weak, the ears 

 being smaller and imperfectly filled. There may be also 

 disadvantages from making use of too small proportions of 

 seed, from the ground not being properly covered with 

 plants ; but where care is taken in the after-culture of the 

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