THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



473 



shown in the diarrram, you get a complete effect 

 on the whole eurface. When drains are laid off 

 to run in the direciion down the slope, they have a 

 much greater effect in draining than when laid 

 across the field, ft is rather difficult to induce ppr- 

 sons to believe this, but it is the fact. If carried 

 across the field, though they maycaich the water, 

 yet, having less declinaiion, it will remain longer 

 at the bottom of the drains. Another ohjectTon 

 IS, that the water which is there retained has a 

 -tendency lo sink away to the sides of the drain 

 and therefore will probably come uneome distance 

 below (he dram. But if the drains are carried in 

 the direction pointed out, you cut the drain so ihat 

 Jhe water constantly sinks into it; and thouoh it 

 may fall a Imle into ihe slope of the hill vet the ! 

 greater part of it goes to the drain. ' 



CHANGE OF SEED. 



By Professor Sprengel, of Gutilngen. 



. Translated for tlie New Genesee Farmer from tlie German. 



Occasional change of seed is unnuesiionably ol 

 Ihe highest importance in agriculture. Observant 

 I' farmers have doubtless remarked that, though all 

 : possible pains be taken to secure the besT and 

 most p^rlect seed grain, it is generally more ad- 

 vantageous to procure a supply from some other 

 and distant section of counir}-. 



Fn the year 1811, I obiam^^d a parcel of mulli- 

 cauhsryelrom Friedland in Bol.e.nia— a celehral 

 ed rye district, having a clay soil. This rve 

 thus brought a distance of 21 miles, was sown in 

 a sandy soil, rich in humus, which had been 

 manured by ploughing in a green crop of vetch-s 

 It vegetated well, grew astonishinaly, and attain- 

 ed a height ol horn 9 to 9i feet, with heads pro- 

 poriionahly long— measiLrin!? from 9 to 10 inches 

 and containing from 115 to 120 grains each. In 

 the ensuing fall I sowed some of the rye thu^ 

 produced, on a soil of similar character and equal 

 quality, manured as before by turning in a cron 

 of vetches The^stalks, however, scarcely attain- 

 ed a height of 7 feei-which was the more re- 

 markable, a?, in the summer of 1812, the season 

 being peculiarly propitious, all the other rve in 

 a/.,J'".?"^r'M''' .unusually tall. When sown 

 sf!l ;. ^°"°^'"f? f^son, this rye produced 

 stalks averaging only 5 feet high ; and the heads 

 were proporuonably shorter and less productive, 

 rU^ \^'?^'"- '^''^^ deterioration of this rye was 

 endered ihe more obvious, as, in theyeaf 1812 



litv Ti T' ^'''^' '^^^ f^™™ 'he original loca: 

 i> y , seeded it on land of similar quality, afier 

 ploughing in vetches as before, the stalks of wh ch 

 ^rew to the height of from 8 to 81 leel-cont as 

 iog^strongly with the morestun.e^d growth oHhe 



I have experienced similar results in the cultiva- 

 tion of buckwheat, oats, barley, beans, potatoes, 

 and f]ax. With us, the stalks ollndian corn, also, 

 from seed imported from the southern part of the 

 United States, attain a height of 15 or 16 feet, the 

 first year ; but Ihe product o( the second seedintr 

 will not exceed 10 feel in height : and in the third 

 year, it will not be taller' than our domestic 

 corn. 



On many soils a frequent change ofseed appears 

 to be essential, for various reasons. It is undoubt- 

 edly true that the seed can only produce a vigo- 

 rous and perfect plant, when its germ is adequately 

 developed ,• and it is equally certain ihat such a 

 developement can result only from a proper com- 

 mixture ol the ingredients of a soil, aided by the 

 influence of climate, seasons, &c. But the success 

 of the plant is determined also, in a great measure, 

 by the kind of nourishmpnt afforded lo its earliest 

 aermsand radicles. Hence, when seed grain, 

 having a perfect germ, is supplied, seasonably and 

 in due proportions, with those substances which 

 contain, in an assimilable state, the peculiar 

 ;j«6i«/wm or nourishment- which the infant plant 

 needs, it will grow vitrorously, and flourish per- 

 manently lo maturiiy'if the soil continue subse- 

 quently to furnish a proper supply of the requisite 

 jfood. A field recently manured with fresh stable 

 j dung, it is well known, will not produce wood 

 j seed grain ; and hence it is probable that ih^ good 

 or bad quality ofseed grain depends on the pre- 

 i sence or absence of certain ingredients of soils. 

 Grain grown on land recently manured with ani- 

 I mal dung, contains, according to Hermbstadt, 

 more gluten than that grown on lands not so 

 manured ; and where the land was manured with 

 I sheep dung, the grain produced is peculiarly rich 

 I in gluten, because this kind olmanure contains in 

 j abundance the nitrogen essential to its formation, 

 j Now such grain is probably unsuited lor seed, 

 precisely because it contains too great a quantity or 

 proportion ofgluien, whereby the starch of the seed 

 grain is too suddenly decomposed. Whereas, 

 I were a less proportion ofgluien present, the starch 

 j would be gradualhj convened into sugar— \he 

 earliest Ibod required by the developing germ. 

 We niay therefore conclude that, in general, all 

 grain is unsuited for seed if it contain a very large 

 proportion of gluten, or of other nitrogenous sub- 

 stances capable of convening starch rapidly or 

 suddenly into sugar. But in grain intended for 

 breadstuffs, this over-proportion ofgluien is a very 

 desirable quality ; because the tiiore ofit any grain 

 contains, the better is it adapted for prodiicing 

 flour— gluten being among the most nourishing 

 substances. ° 



Experienced farmers know it to be very advan- 

 tageous lo sow, in a sandy soil, rye grown on clay- 

 ey or aluminous upland. The reason appears to 

 be this, that the rye from clay soils contains only 

 the due proponion ofgluien. On the contrary, it 

 is found to be improper to sow rye from rich, 

 moist bottom lands on sandy soils ; because the 

 seed contains such an over-proportion of gluten 

 as to conven the whole of the starch suddenly into 

 sugar, and the sugar as suddenly into other sub- 

 stances not congenial lo the germinating plant. 

 Sandy soils in general do not'fijrnish good seed 

 grain, inasmuch as such grain is deficient in cer- 

 tain substances— as lime, magnesia, &c.— essen- 

 tial, nay indispensable, to Ihe perfect develope- 



