1635.3 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



481 



frost,) it would be very beneficial, to procure a 

 eort-of wheat, either irorn some foreign Country, 

 or raised by selection at home, that would ripen 

 early, without being sown much sooner than at 

 present. Nature produces numerous varieties of 

 the same species, belonging to the same genus; and 

 it is incumbent on the attentive and industrious 

 farmer, to avail himself of the circumstance, from 

 which so much ad might be derived.* 



4. It is a maxim with many farmers, '■•Thai 

 thick craps are sometir, vied, but that thin 

 ones generally are so, in a greater or less de. 

 This arises from the following circums i 

 when the seed is sown thick, the roofs, ins ead ol 

 becoming long and straggling, are short and nu- 

 merous. They are retained in (he soil, more es- 

 pecial/ when the crop is drilled, that, has been 

 prepared tor their reception, instead of wandering 

 into strata, either poor or noxious. From the 

 number of these roots and stems, the richness, 

 which would be injurious to a lew plants, only 

 does justice to a number; for the same quantity of 

 dung that might give twenty stems a disposition 

 to disease, would only yield a proper quantity o' 

 food, when it had fitly to nourish. There is no 

 tillering, which necessarily produces weaker 

 plants, liable to disease. By thick sowing in drills 

 all the advantages of treading, in so far as respects 

 rust or mildew, will be obtained, for the routs of 

 the plants will be short and numerous, and matted 

 together, instead of beinp; long and straggling. 



It is proper here to allude to a communication 

 of much moment, from which it appears, that, in 

 former times, when four bushels of wheat per 

 acre were sown, the mildew was of much rarer 

 occurrence, than since the practice of thin sowing 

 has been adopted;]; and there can hardly be a 

 doubt, if the land is in good order; if the crop is 

 sown early; if four bushels of seed are sown un- 

 der the drilling system; and it' the wheat is pre- 

 ceded by a green crop, ^o as to exhaust the perni- 

 cious qualities of the dung, that the crop of wheat 

 will not be rusted. 



It is proper to a:!d on this subject, that it is 

 much more prudent, to rely on the abundance of 

 seed, than on the effects of tillering. When the 

 latter is depended upon, during; the time, that the 

 process is going on, much time must be lost, in 

 the growth of the plant to maturity. The conse- 

 quence is, both a later, and a more unequal ri- 

 pening. 



5. As wheat is not an indigenous, but an exotic 

 plant, it might be less liable to disease, if the seed 

 were occasionally changed by importations from 

 foreign countries. The best Flemish farmers, re- 

 gularly change their seed every two years, and 



* In Cornwall, they frequently sow a mixture of red 

 and white, (provincially, dredge-corn,) and the crops 

 are mcjre abundant when sown mixed, than when sown 

 separately. When separate, the produce may not ex- 

 ceed 18 bushels per acre; whereas when the two sorts 

 are mixed, the produce will amount to 24 bushels. 



t It may be asked, what is thick and what is thin 

 sowing? That must evidently depend upon the fertili- 

 ty of the soil, and the period of the year when the 

 seed is sown. 



X See Mr. Pint's Letter, annexed to Mr. Blaikie's, 

 printed in the Farmer's Journal, dated Holkham, Oct. 

 12th, 1820. 



assert, "that by this renewal of seed, all the mal- 

 adies of grain are prevented." Some purchase 

 their seed from d'Armentiere, near Lisle, in 

 French ['"landers, while others recommend wheat 

 grown in the Polders, (a species of' salt marsh) 

 in Holland, by means of which, they maintain, 

 thai the rust is avoided.* 



It is likewise stated, on the respectable authority 

 of an eminent naturalist, ^T. A. Knight, Esq.) 

 hat b\ crossing different vaiietiesof wheat, anew 

 sort may be produced, which will completely es- 

 cape being rusted, though the crops in the neigh- 

 hood, and in almost every district in the king- 

 dom, may suffer from it in (he same year.f These 

 circumstances tend to prove, that the rust does not 

 depend solely on atmosj heric influence, otherwise 

 it could not be prevented by changes of seed, or by 

 the crossing of different varieties. 



6. The advantages of treading light soils, have 

 been already explained. J It may be proper, 

 however, to state the following facts, in support of' 

 the doctrine that treading will prevent the rust. 

 In 18U4, a farmer sowed 25 acres of a pea-stubble 

 with wheat. After the usual operations of 

 ploughing, scarifying, manuring, sowing and har- 

 rowing, it was trodden with sheep, to the consist- 

 ency of a highway. The produce was 32 bush- 

 els per acre. For the sake of comparison, a part 

 of the field was left in a light state, untrodden, 

 and it was rusted. The same farmer had 14 acres 

 of wheat planted with potatoes. The potato tops 

 were pulled up, and the wheat sown on the sur- 

 face. The potaioes were then forked and dug 

 up, and the wheat trodden by the women and 

 children in picking up the potatoes. The crop 

 was free from rust, and of excellent quality. It 

 has often been remarked, that, when a field has 

 been desiro3ed with rust, the head lands, which 

 the horses have trodden much in turning, have 

 generally escaped. § 



7. The advantage of using saline manures, as 

 a remedy against the rust, (a late discover)',) is 

 an important circumstance. Its success seems to 

 be proved, by the practice of several farmers in 

 Cornwall, who have been in the habit of sowing, 

 about a fortnight, before the turnips, the refuse salt 

 of the pilchard fishery, as a manure for that crop, 

 in the proportion of 31^ bushels of salt, (5G lbs, 



* That eminent farmer, Robert Barclay, Esq. of 

 Ury, in Scotland, brought his wheat seed from England 

 every two year's, and sowed only what was produced 

 from English wheat the preceding year. 



t In Italy, they recommend thin sowing, alleging, 

 that as the infection may go from ear to ear, it is less 

 apt to spread, when the ears are not in contact. Butthia 

 seems to be erroneous doctrine. 



| A farmer has gone so far as to assert, that if the 

 land, be the soil what it may, were trodden by a troop 

 of horse, or a drove of cattle, after being sown with 

 wheat, there would be scarcely such a thing as the rust 

 known. But it is obvious, that treading in this way 

 would do no good to clay land, but on the contrary, 

 might much injure the crop. Light soils are more lia- 

 ble to produce mildewed wheat, because the plants 

 grow too fast in spring, and have long and straggling 

 roots. 



§ It would not be difficult to invent a machine that 

 would compress the land, if that operation would ef- 

 fectually prevent the rust. 



