THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



VOL. I. 



Si3:^ii2sa(£)iEr©c> (^^^mumm a33ii« 



NO. 5. 



EDMUND RUFFIIV, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.— T. \V. AVHITE, PRINTER. 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF SEEDS 

 ON THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF CROPS. 



By Dr. Bronn, Professor of Rural and Sylvan 

 Economy in the University of Liege. 



[Translaced for the Farmers" Register, from the Jownal d'Jlgri- 

 culture etc. des Pays Biis.] 



Even to the present day, the cultivators of fo- 

 rest trees have not tliought of taking advantage of 

 a phenomenon which is presented to us in the cul- 

 tivation of agricultural jjfants, and which, altlwugh 

 it has never yet been sufficiently explained, is ne- 

 vertheless well established. This- phenomenon is 

 the influence which seed exerts on the quantity 

 and quality of the crop which is produced from it, 

 according to the different nature of the soil and 

 climate from which this seed has been procured. 

 The good results of this influence have appeared 

 after using seed from a cold climate and a te.- 

 nacious and cold soil, in a warm climate and a dry 

 and light soil; but they are also equally apparent 

 under circumstances quite the reverse, provided 

 the soil be not too dry and barren, and the seed 

 has had the opportunity of being developed and 

 coming to perfect maturity. It appears then that 

 the two opposite kinds of soils and climates profit 

 equally froui a change of seed. Let us consider 

 and examine at first a few observations which may 

 serve to explain this phenomenon, and thence en- 

 deavor to deduce the physiological law, and apply 

 it to the cultivation of trees. 



The advantages resulting from a change of seed 

 are generally recognized in the cultivation of the 

 cereal plants. In some mountainous countries, in 

 Scotland for example, they bring the seed from the 

 low country and from the plains, where the climate 

 IS more mild, and consequently the seed more for- 

 ward, a quality which it always preserves for se- 

 veral generations. We are convinced that the cul- 

 tivator of this mountainous district, if he always 

 used seed from his own crops, would reap later and 

 later harvests, so that at last perhaps they would not 

 come to perlect maturity ; a circumstance easily ex- 

 plained by the short duration of the summers in the 

 mountains. l(, on the other hand, the cultivator 

 of a flat country, the climate of which is mild and 

 the soil dry and light, continually made use of his 

 own seed, it would head every year sooner, the 

 stalks would become shorter, and the heads and 

 grains smaller and smaller, and in time there would 

 result but a poor produce. In this last case the 

 cultivator brings his seed with advantage from a 

 country more cold, the soil of which is good and 

 substantial. Probably these are the circumstan- 

 ces on which rests entirely the difference between 

 the cereal plants of summer and those of winter, a 

 difference too variable to be easily determined. 



The flax without doubt, presents us with the 

 most striking example of this phenomenon. We, 

 Avith great advantage to our crops, bring our seed 

 from Riga, i. e. from a colder climate — the sow ing of 

 which causes the grain to be slowly formed, and 

 thus leaves more time for the developement of the 

 stalk/which is the principal object of its cultiva- 

 YoL 1.— 33 



tion. To judge by analogy, we would be led to be- 

 lieve that the result would be the same, were we 

 to obtain from a colder country and a colder soil 

 the grain of the clover and other plants used for fo- 

 rage, in the cultivation of which our object is 

 large stalks and a well developed foliage. Even 

 at the present day we are without experience on 

 this head. 



Generally, all plants which are principally cul- 

 tivated for their grain or fruit, need little or no 

 manure; while manure is necessary for those 

 plants from which we wish to obtain large stalks 

 and leaves.* 



Fruit trees which shoot vigorously, general- 

 ly bear little or no fruit ; and every circum- 

 stance, which on the other hand prevents the too 

 great growth of wood, favors the formation of 

 fruit. On this observation rests the cultivation of 

 dwarf fruit trees, and espaliers ; also that of the 

 vine, &c. &c. 



Field plants and plants of the kitchen garden 

 (under equal circumstances in other respects,) 

 blossom sooner in dry, warm and clear summers, 

 and their stalks as well as leaves are smaller, than 

 in raitiy and cloudy summers. 



From these and many other analogous observa- 

 tions, we can deduce a physiological law of the 

 greatest importance in the cultivation of plants, to 

 wit : Every thing which favors the disproportion- 

 ed growth of vegetables, opposes or retards their 

 propagation or formation of truit ; and vice versa, 

 the formation of fruit is hastened and forwarded at 

 all times when exterior circumstances prevent the* 

 full developement and disproportioned growth of 

 the stalk. 



Now to apply this law to the rearing of trees, I 

 ought first to remark that many of the phenome*- 

 na which I have mentioned, are equally apparent 

 in the vegetation of forest trees, although they 

 have not been so much noticed. In fact we see the 

 greater part of our forest trees bear seeds sooner, 

 more often, and in greater quantities, with a south 

 exposure, and in a dry and light soil, than with a 

 north exposure, and on a cold and stiff soil ; while 

 under the latter circumstances thej acquire great- 

 er dimensions. 



Many trees, the birch for example, vary with re- 

 gard to the time of budding and formation of seed, 

 some being forward, and others late. It is well as- • 

 certained that those which bud late, have the hard- 

 est, heaviest, and in every respect the best timber ; 

 and increase more in volume within a certain time, 

 than the more forward kind. It is not yet proved that 



* The author's meaning must be taken with refer- 

 ence to the usual rotations of his country, according to 

 which, crojDS raised for llieir seeds, are preceded or fol- 

 lowed by grass crops, or others, in which the bulk of 

 the whole plant is of far more importance than the qnan- 

 lity or the perfection of the seeds — and according to his 

 theory, crops of the latter kind would receive so much 

 more benefit from manure than the former, that econo- 

 my requires tlie farmer's limited stock of manure should 

 lie given to the one kind, and not to the other. — [Ed, 

 Farm. Reg, 



