116 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



for making malt, a little excess of heat in the bed checks, and 

 a little more totally stops the sprouting or growth of the 

 roots. Both modes give crops superior to what are produced 

 on fallow. Farmers may well try both methods for deter- 

 mining which to prefer ; that is, as well immediate sowing, 

 on ploughing in the clover, as the method of sowing not till 

 ten or fourteen days after having ploughed in the clover : 

 suppose a half each way.' 



We believe that wheat Avould flourish better if it were 

 buried deeper than it generally is in broad-cast sowing. Our 

 opinion is founded on the following facts, relating to the 

 physiology of the wheat plant. ' A grain of wheat, when 

 put into the ground at the depth of three inches, undergoes 

 the following transformations : as soon as the farinaceous 

 matter which envelops the frame of the young plant con- 

 tained within it is softened into a milky state, a germ is 

 pushed out, and at the bottom of that germ small roots soon 

 follow. The roots are gathering strength, whilst the germ, 

 by the aid of the milky fluid, is shooting upwards ; and when 

 the milk is exhausted, the roots are in activity, and are col- 

 lecting nourishment for the plant from the soil itself. This 

 is analogous to the weaning of the young of animals, which 

 are not abandoned by the mother till they can provide for 

 themselves. But the care of nature does not end here ; when 

 the germ has fairly got above the surface, and become a 

 plant, a set of upper roots are thrown out, close to the sur- 

 face of the ground, which search all the superficial parts of 

 the soil with the same activity as the under roots search the 

 lower parts ; and that part of the germ which separates the 

 two sets of roots is now become a channel, through which 

 the lower roots supply the plant with the nourishment they 

 have collected. What an admirable contrivance to secure 

 the prosperity of the plant ! Two distinct sets of roots 

 serve, in the first place, to fix the plant firmly in the ground, 

 and to collect nourishment from every quarter. The upper 

 roots are appositely situated to receive all the nourishment 

 that comes naturally from the atmosphere, or artificially as 

 manure, to the 'surface ; and serve the farther purpose of be- 

 ing the base of new stems, which are tillered up, and so 

 greatly increase the productiveness of the plant. The ex- 

 cellence of the drill system in grain may be probably per- 

 ceived in this explanation; for in broad-cast sowing the 

 seeds lie very near to the surface, and in this situation it is 

 not only more exposed to accidents arising from birds, in- 



