324 Quantity of Seed. 



blighted, the varieties obtained by crossing, alone escaped, 

 though sown in different soils, and in very different situa- 

 tions ( 7S ). 



SECT. VIII. Quantity of Seed. 



IT is hardly to be credited, how little this branch of the 

 inquiry is attended to, or understood, in several districts. In 

 some, the quantity of seed sown is enormous, as a quarter 

 of oats or eight bushels per acre ( 76 ). In others, they sow 

 the same quantity of wheat in all seasons of the year, with- 

 out paying much regard to the time of sowing ; though two, 

 or three bushels of seed sown in August or September, are 

 equal to four bushels and upwards, sown in the latter end 

 of November, or in spring. Thick sowing must occasion a 

 great deficiency in early sown wheats, in weak and shallow 

 soils ; for though they may be in heart sufficient to push a 

 number of plants through the winter and spring, yet the vi- 

 gour of the soil is spent in the earlier stages of vegetation : 

 the straw is slender and scanty, and the ears abridged of 

 half their load. Whereas, had there been only a due pro- 

 portion of plants, the exhaustion, during winter and spring, 

 would have been less severe, and the strength of the soil 

 would have been reserved, for the more material purpose of 

 perfecting the plants in harvest ( 77 ). 



In treating of this subject, it may be proper to lay down, 

 1. The rules to be recommended respecting the quantity of 

 seed in general ; and, 2. The fittest proportions for the dif- 

 ferent crops. 



General Rules. 



1. The first point to be considered, is the Climate. In a 

 district where a crop is likely to experience favourable sea- 

 sons, a less quantity of seed will be required, than where it 

 is liable to a succession of variable weather, and occasion- 

 ally, to great storms of rain or snow, or to severe frosts. In- 

 deed where the climate is uncertain, it is necessary to em- 

 ploy a sufficiency of seed to provide against accidents. 



2. The nature of the Soil, and its state of fertility, are 

 the next points to be discussed. On light thin soils, for 

 the reasons already assigned, the quantity of seed ought to 

 be moderate ; whereas, in strong, stiff, wet, retentive soils, 

 on the other hand, as the plants seldom branch off much 



