40 OUR FARM CROPS. 



After the soil, the seed is the next point which claims 

 attention. Here the conditions of success are simpler, and 

 far better understood. In all cases care should be taken 

 that the seed be perfect (uninjured), and fully matured ; 

 and, for the reasons already given (page 21), that it be of 

 the best quality. If the seed be much bruised or injured, 

 its germinative powers may be entirely destroyed, and it 

 decays in the soil, without producing a plant at all. If it 

 be slightly injured or not fully matured, it generally pro- 

 duces a weak and sickly plant, which fails for want of 

 nourishment, before it is able to throw out roots and obtain 

 its own supply; or, if it has strength sufficient to struggle 

 through this period of its existence, its generally debili- 

 tated condition renders it liable to the attacks of those 

 fungoid and insect enemies which accompany every stage 

 of its future growth. 



Lastly, the mode of sowing requires consideration 

 whether by "broadcast," "drilling/' or "dibbling/' the 

 best results are to be obtained. By the first, time and 

 labour are economized at the expense of an increased 

 quantity of seed; by the second, the quantity of seed is 

 economized, but the cost of labour is increased ; and by 

 the last, the proportion of seed is still farther lessened, 

 while the cost of labour is still augmented. The first 

 mode renders any subsequent operations, as hoeing, weed- 

 ing, &c., impracticable; while the two latter modes give 

 every facility to them, and, at the same time, more equally 

 and regularly distribute the plants over the surface. 



The regularity of distribution over the surface is of 

 some importance to the future yield. An equal, regular 

 plant is usually more productive, both in quantity and 

 quality, than where the plant is patchy luxuriant in 

 some places and defective in others. The ordinary prac- 



frey's paper " On the Structure of Roots," in the Royal Agricultural Society's 

 Journal, vol. xlii., p. 467. 



