( 105 ) 
in this process is to roll the seed in pulverised gyp- 
sum. se jd 
3d. Of the time of sowing wheat. 
On this head there is a diversity both in practice 
and opinion. Some prefer early, others late sowing ; 
some ‘sow in°the full, others in the wane of the 
moon, &c. | | 
Theory is certainly.on the side of onal y sowing— 
because it gives time forthe roots of ithe grain to es- 
tablish themselves before winter, and experience 
proves, that grain early sown, throws up more late- 
ral stems, than that which is sown late. : 
- Of lunar influences we know very little, excepting 
that they extend to the waves of the ocean; which 
has probably first begotten the opinion, (held by M, 
Toaldo and other scavans,) that the atmosphere 
(which is only another and more fluid ocean, and 
which has much to do withithe health and diseases 
of animals and vegetables) is also subject to these in- 
fluences, But the calculations of sM. de Place 
prove, that the effect of these on the atmosphere, 
will not make a difference of one line and a half on 
the barometer, and are wholly insufficient to account 
for those great agitations of the atmosphere, which 
have been supposed most to affect vegetation. 
4th. Of the different modes of sowing wheat. 
These are two, the one executed with the hand, 
the other with a sowing machine of which we have 
already spoken. ‘The latter has been adyocaied on 
x 
wash your seed grain thoroughly in lime water, roll it in plaster of paris and sow it 
in the fall, before the cold and wet weather begins, or in the spring after it, has 
ended. 
14 
