EXPERIMENTS IN CULTIVATION AND MANURES. 



537 



they will care foi* that) because our object has 

 not been to bring home anything to them, but 

 simply to illustrate the general subject of ag- 

 ricultural inslniction, of which Mr. Har- 

 court'e paper following is so valuable a spe- 

 cimen. 



EXPERIMENTS IN CULTIVATION AND 

 MANURES. 



Facts, and not theories or opinions, are the 

 things most wanted now for the improvement 

 of Agriculture. The latter are as plentiful as 

 blackberries, the former are treated as if 

 they were weeds not worth producing, and 

 yet they contain the whole practical truth of 

 the art, and the latter cannot be sound if 

 they are constantly contradicted by them. I 

 therefore persi.st in recording the results of 

 my e.xperiments as a contribution toward 



laying the foundation of more certain knowl- 

 edge, and it is the more necessaiy because 

 Agriculture is not an exact science, but is 

 e.Kposed to a thousand contingencies which 

 perplex our investigations ; and accidents of 

 weather and variations of soil and the rav- 

 ages of animals render accurate comparison 

 extremely difficult. The object of these ex- 

 periments in cultivation was to compare — 



1. Sowing broadcast with sowing by the drill. 



2. Thin sowing with thick sowing. 3. Hoed 

 crops with unhoed crops. The first experi- 

 ment was made in five different places ; but 

 one of them, on account of the havoc com- 

 mitted by the wire-worm, was not a fair trial ; 

 of the remainder, tv^ro gave the following re- 

 sults, the calculation per acre being made 

 from 6 perches measured and weighed : 



1. Drilled wheat. - 

 Broadcast ditto 



2. Drilled wheat. . 

 Broadcast ditto 



The last of these I consider a perfectly fair 

 trial ; and the advantage is on the side of the 

 broadctist, but it is an advantage which I hold 

 to be more than compensated in favor of the 

 drill by the superior economy and execution 

 in keeping the land clean ; with respect to 

 the other I mast observe that a better quality 

 as well as a larger produce argues that ine- 

 quality of soil to which I have already re- 

 ferred ; a crowded crop may increase the 

 quautity at the expense of the quality ; but 



when there is not only more straw and more 

 grain, but more weight per bushel too, that 

 must be ascribed to something more than the 

 difference in sowing ; moreover, the broad- 

 cast was sown thicker — 7 pecks uistead of 6. 

 But the same remark applies still more 

 strongly to the third iustance, where, though 

 in the same field, and that, too, not a large 

 one, the crop will be seen to be so much in- 

 ferior : 



3. Drilled wheat . 

 Broadcast ditto 



Corn per acre. 



uhels. Gallon 

 20 

 33 3 



Straw per acre. 



Trussej. Pounds. 



45 33 



75 20 



Weight per bush. 



Pounds. 



59 

 601 



It is obvious that there must be a great dete- 

 rioration in the quantity of the soil in this part 

 of the field, and to a greater e.xtent where it 

 w^as drilled than where it was broadcast,* for 

 thougk it was so thin upon the ground, the 



bushel weighed 1^ lbs. less. The fourth ex- 

 ample shows the advantage decidedly in favor 

 of the drill, which is not counterbalanced by 

 any similar objection. 



In the next place, the evidence of the ex- 

 periments is very much against thin sowing. 

 It might easily be imagined that since in soine 

 seasons and iu some localities severe injury is 

 inflicted upon wheat by a variety of minute 

 animals, the crops which have no plants to 

 spare must suffer much more ui proportion 

 than thoso which can afford to lose a great 

 many, and yet retain enough to cover the 

 ground. It would seem uimecessary to in- 

 sist upon so plain a proposition, were it not 



* I have since exnmined these soils, and ftnd that 

 in the part of the field where the last experiment 

 was tried there was 5 per cent, less o( alumina 12 

 per cent, less of sand, and 11 per cent, more of lime 

 aud magnesia than in the other. 

 (1017) 



that some persons most resolutely shut their 

 eyes against the most obvious truths ; for this 

 reason only I will mention a fact which oth- 

 erwise would not be worth recording. In a 

 field where the wire-worm had been very de- 

 structive, 7 pecks of corn sown produced 20 

 bushels ; but where 4 pecks only were sown 

 the quantity was reduced to 13 bushels ; and 

 iu another, where 8 pecks had been sown the 

 produce was 33 bushels ; but where half that 

 quantity was sown the produce was less than 

 half, or 16 bushels ; but it was not only un- 

 der circumstances of disadvantage that thin 

 sowing failed of success ; its inferiority was 

 shown, though not in tlie same degi-ee, whea 

 the crop was good, as shown iu the follow- 

 ing cases : 



