808 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



4981. Salt, nitre, and other manures have been already treated of in Part II. at sufficient 

 length. It is clear that both salt and nitre may be advantageously used in many cases. 

 Nitre continues to be a good deal used in Hertfordshire, on which it is sown at the rate 

 of 1^ cwt. per acre. It has been tried at this rate in Scotland to wheat and to grass, 

 and the effect is said to have been wonderful. Salt has been extensively used with almost 

 every crop at different rates, from 20 to 40 bushels per acre ; and it appears in many, if 

 not in most, cases to have proved useful. (Quar. Jour. Agr, vol. i. p. 208., and Higkl. 

 Soc. Trans, vol. i. p. 147.) 



Chap. II. 



Culture of the Cereal Grasses. 



4982. The corn crops cultivated in Britain are, wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Other 

 culmiferous plants, as the maize, millet, and rice, have been tried with partial success in 

 warm districts, but they have no chance of ever becoming general in our climate. The 

 best description of the different species and varieties of Cerealia cultivated in Europe 

 will be found in Metzger's Europemsche Cerealien in Botanischer und LanduirthschaftUcher 

 liinslcht, c^c. Heidelberg, 1 824. Folio, 20 plates. The plates are exceedingly well exe- 

 cuted ; and there are popular as well as scientific descriptions, with synonyms in all the 

 European languages. 



4983. On the culture of culmiferous plants, a few general remarks may be of use to the 

 young farmer. Culmiferous plants, particularly wheat and rye, like most others, have two 

 sets of roots. The first originate with the germination of the grain, are always under 

 the soil, and are called the seminal roots ; the second spring from the first joint which is 

 formed near the surface of the soil, and from that joint strike down into the soil ; these 

 are called the coronal roots. The coronal roots appear chiefly intended for drawing 

 nourishment from the soil; and, as Professor Martyn has observed, are judiciously placed 

 for this purpose, the richest part of all soils being on or near the surface. These fibres 

 are of larger diameter, more succulent, and never so long as the seminal. From these 

 facts, as to the roots of culmiferous plants, some important hints may be derived regarding 

 their culture. The use of stirring the surface in spring to facilitate the extension of the 

 coronal roots, is obvious ; the immediate effect of a top-dressing is also apparent, and 

 also that manures may be ploughed in too deep to give the full amount of their bene- 

 ficial effects to corn crops or grasses. Sageret, a scientific French agriculturist, proved 

 experimentally, that where any of the grains or grasses are etiolated immediately after 

 germination, by growing too rapidly, or by being sown too thick or in too warm a sea- 

 son, the first joint from which the coronal or nourishing roots spring is raised above the 

 ground, and in consequence either throws out no roots at all, or so few as to nourish it 

 imperfectly ; in which case it either dies before it comes into flower, or before the seed is 

 matured. {Mem. de la Soc. Ag. de Seine, torn, ii.) 



4984. Whether com ought to be sown broadcast or in drills, is a question which has 

 given rise to considerable discussion. The cultivation in rows of such plants as admit 

 of intertillage during the summer months,, is known to supersede the use of a summer 

 fallow on lighter soils. " In truth, the row culture of certain green crops is one of 

 the greatest improvements of modern agriculture, and should be extended by every 

 effort of instruction and example. By no other means yet known to us can so large 

 a produce be raised from land under constant tillage, so beneficial a rotation of crops 

 be adopted, or so great an economy be practised in the application of manures. But, 

 while the advantages are thus apparent with regard to the application of this species 

 of culture to our preparatory green crops, it does in no degree follow that advantages 

 equally great will result from its application to our crops of white corn. The analogy, 

 as it regards the nature of the plants which form the subject of cultivation, does not hold. 

 The cereal grains send forth numerous shoots or suckers, and the goodness of the crop 

 mainly depends on the vigour and number of the shoots which they send forth. The 

 other kind of crops do not, generally speaking, tiller like wheat, barley, or oats, but rise 

 from one stem. Reasoning from these principles, we should infer that the former class 

 of plants should be cultivated in that manner in which they are best suited to summer 

 tillage ; that is, in rows : the latter in that manner in which the seed is most equally de- 

 posited in the upper stratum of the soil, which is in broadcast. The opinions, however, 

 of intelligent agriculturists are not agreed as to the superiority in practice of the broad- 

 cast over the row system, even as it relates to the cereal grains. The farmer of Nor- 

 folk, or of the light soils of Sussex, will contend as strenuously for the superiority of the 

 row system as the farmer of East Lothian for the broadcast system ; and each may be 

 right as it regards the application of the principle to the circumstances of his own 

 situation. The question which is to be settled, howevei', is, Which of the^wo systems 



