CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 87 



and is more powerful when produced by human beings than 

 by animals. There are many other steeps known to our far- 

 mers, some of which are valuable and much used. 



We will here repeat, that we wish every grain grower to 

 bear constantly in mind, that wheat, after being pickled, must 

 not remain long unsown, otherwise its vegetative powers may 

 be injured or destroyed. No more should be pickled at a time 

 than can be then sown. When, from any cause, as from rain 

 intervening, it is not practicable to sow the wheat for a day or 

 two, it should be spread thinly upon the floor, but never kept 

 in sacks, in which it would soon ferment. 



The wheat, when pickled, then, is to be carried directly to 

 the field. It may be sown either by the hand or the broadcast 

 sowing-machine, in the manner already described, or in rows 

 by the drill machine. 



To guard against worms and grubs in the soil, a mixture of 

 slaked lime and ashes, at the rate of from three to eight bushels 

 to the acre, harrowed in at the time of sowing, is the best pre- 

 ventive, and will act at the same time as a valuable manure, 

 if the land has been previously exhausted by too frequent 

 cropping. 



The most experienced farmers prefer a change of seed to 

 that grown by themselves. In order that they may be enabled 

 to judge correctly of the sample by which they purchase, it 

 should be retained a minute or two in the closed hand, and 

 then passed gently through it to ascertain if the grain be plump, 

 hard, dry, and smooth, with a certain sense of mellow fulness 

 in the feel; for, if it handles rough, and does not slip readily 

 through the fingers, it will be found thick skinned, damp, and 

 unprofitable to the miller. 



The time of sowing winter wheat must depend upon the 

 state of the land as well as the season, and it is not always in 

 the farmer's power to choose the moment which he would pre- 

 fer; for if the wheat be sown after another crop, that crop must 

 first be removed; and even if it be sown upon a fallow, the 

 operations of a late harvest, or the state of the weather, may 

 interfere. 



The best period of sowing wheat, it has been said, is from 

 about the middle to the end of September. The early part of 

 October, however, is well suited to the sowing of wheat, and it 

 may be continued until the middle of November. Such is the 

 great diversity of climate and soil in this country, together with 

 the changes of weather and other circumstances, that it is im- 

 possible to designate a fixed period, or lay down any general 

 rule but, on the whole, early sowing is to be recommended. 



In regard to the time, there is a difference of opinion; many 



