818 FARMERS' REGISTER— IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEED WHEAT, &c. 



ris) was carefully cleaned ^ ])laced in rain water^ 

 and kept a week, during the day time in one ves- 

 sel, and durinij; the night in another, being; well 

 wiped at each transfer. In both the fluids there 

 were evident marks of excretion i'rom the roots, 

 but that in which the roots were immersed during 

 the night contained a very notable excess of the 

 transpired matter. Numerous other experiments 

 gave the same result. As it is well known that 

 the light of day causes the roots to absorb their 

 juices, it is natural to suppose that during the night 

 absorption ceases and excretion lakes place. 



The author gives a few interesting details of ex- 

 periments on some particular iiimilies of plants. 



Gramineous plants. Wheat, rye, and barley, 

 were examined. They do not grow well in rain 

 water, probably from the notable quantity of mi- 

 neral substances, especially silex, which they con- 

 tain, and which they cannot derive from pure wa- 

 ter.. The water in which they have vegetated is 

 clear, transparent, without color, smell, or taste. 

 It contains some salts alkaline, and earthy muriates 

 and carbonates, and only a very small portion of 

 gummy matter. He thinks these plants reject 

 scarcely any thing but the saline matters foreign to 

 vegetation. 



The inferences which the author deduces from 

 his experiments (acknowledging, however, that 

 more extended trials on a greater number of fami- 

 lies and individuals are desirable,) are, first, that 

 the greater of vegetables exude by their roots sub- 

 stances unfit for their vegetation. 2d. That the 

 nature of these substances varies according to the 

 families of plants which produce them. 3d. That 

 some being acrid and resinous, may be injurious, 

 and others being mild and gummy, may assist in 

 the nourishment of other plants. 4th. That these 

 facts tend to confirm the theory of rotation due to 

 M. De Candolie. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEEI> WHEAT. 



From ihe New England Farmer. 



It is an opinion prevalent in many parts of the 

 country, that blighted wheat is equally good for 

 seed as the fair and perfect grain. Indeed, I have 

 been informed that some farmers have actually 

 changed their sound and full seed for that which 

 was blighted, as the latter was cheaper, and from 

 the greater number of grains to the bushel would 

 go farther. Tiiis practice has been sanctioned and 

 encouraged by as high an authority as that of Sir 

 Joseph Banks; but both reason and experiment 

 loudly condemn the practice. Who expects to get 

 as good a prochict from smail and half ripened po- 

 tatoes as from those which are fair and fully grown .' 

 and so in respect to other seeds .^ Who would take 

 his mostdiminutive, halfgrown, stimted, and defor- 

 med animals, for the purpose of raising from them an 

 improved stock ; and who does"not know that by 

 such a choice the race must inevitably become de- 

 teriorated ? W hy docs not the analogy apply 

 equally to wheat.'' The matter, however, has been 

 put beyond a question by a most valuable experi- 

 ment on record. 



" The late Benjamin Bell, Escj. in October 1783, 

 sowed a field of twelve acres at Hunetrillin, Rox- 

 burghshire, with 54 Inishels of wheat, of which 12 

 bushels were the best that could be procured in 

 the London market of crop 1783, 30 bushels were 



from East Lothian of crop 1783, 6 bushels the 

 best wheat in the London Market of crop 1782, 

 and 6 bushels |)roduced near Edinburgh in the 

 year 1782. It must be remembered that 1782 wa9 

 a season generally unfavorable to raising wheat in 

 perfiiction • but that in 1783 the grain was sound 

 and of good quality. The field on which these 

 parcels of wheat were sown had been well fal- 

 lowed, was equally manured with dung, and the 

 whole of these seeds were sown in the beginning 

 of Octolier, all of them having been washed in 

 strong brine and afterwards dried with powdered 

 quicklime. The English seed of crop 1783 was 

 sown on one side of the field ; three bushels of the 

 Mid-Lothian seed of crop 1782 were sown in the 

 next three ridges ; to this succeeded the English 

 seed crop of 1782; then the East Lothian wheat 

 of crop 1783 ; and lastly, the remaining three 

 bushels of Mid-Lothian seed crop 1782. 



" The field being all in good condition, the 

 wheat appeared early above ground ; and the shoots 

 were every where strong except on those ridges 

 which were sown with the Mid-Lothian seed crop 

 of 1782, on which the plants were weak and not 

 very numerous; neither did they spread or <;7Zer 

 like the others ; so that during the winter and 

 spring months, the wheat on these ridges had a 

 weak appearance; on harvesting, the straw was 

 thin and short; and the ears were short snd small, 

 the grain likewise being not so large nor heavy as 

 on the other parts of the field. On bein^ threshed 

 and measured, the produce of the 12 bushels of 

 seed, crop 1782. both the London and Mid-Lothian 

 taken together, was only 66 bushels, or 5.} after 

 one. The produce of the rest of the field was 

 fully 15 bushels for every bushel of seed. The 

 difference in value was also considerable, as the 

 produce of the seed from 1782 sold almost a shil- 

 ling the bushel lower than the other. On the whole, 

 it seems the safest plan, to use none but good 

 seed, and to avoid as much as possible the seed of 

 wheat that has been infected with any disorder."* 



H. C. 



3Ieadowbanks, Deerfield, 2Qth Au^. 1833. 



NUMBER OF PLANTS TO AN ACRE. 



From the American Ploughboy. 



The following is a very useful table. It is, how- 

 ever, much more convenient for farmers to be fa- 

 miliar with the rule or principle of calculation than 

 to be at the inconvenience of referring to the ta- 

 ble. The 160 square rods to an acre give 4840 

 yards, because the 5^ yards in length, to a rod, 

 multiplied by itself, makes 30;^, the number of 

 square yards in a rod ; this last number, multipli- 

 ed by 160, gives 4840. There are three feet in a 

 yard ; this number squared produces 9, with which 

 you multiply 4840, and obtain 43,560, the number 

 of square feet in an acre. All that the farmer need 

 remember is the number of feet in an acre, which 

 he will divide by the square of the distance of his 

 plants. For example, if he plants 4 feet apart, 4 

 multi[)lied by 4, gives 16, the number of square 

 feet allotted to each plant or hill. Divide 43,560 

 by 16, the quotient is 2,722, the number of plants 

 or hills to the acre. • 



* Sinclair's General Report, Vol. 1, p. 479. 



