192 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



at the same market. The produce per acre, also, was, as 

 nearly as could be ascertained, very much greater on 

 farm No. 1." 



5. So much for the question of the change of seed, upon 

 which little further need be said than this, that if the 

 trouble and slight expense involved by following the plan 

 here recommended by Mr. Keary, and so emphatically 

 endorsed by other authorities, be grudged by the farmer, 

 it is all the more imperative upon him to see that the seed 

 which he does use of his own or his immediate neighbour's 

 growth be of thoroughly good quality, clear in colour, with 

 the ends in no way blackened, full, and plump in shape. 

 "We have already passed a stricture or two upon the ab- 

 surdity of using bad wheat for seed purposes ; it is no less 

 patent, nor, we regret to say it, less frequently done in the 

 case of barley. Indeed, it is altogether surprising, when 

 we think of the " natural fitness of things," to see how 

 careless many farmers are on this point of " seed." Anything 

 with some seems good enough for seeding ; nor need the 

 poorness of some crops, which a walk through almost any 

 district in the kingdom will too readily show, be at all 

 wondered at, when we come to enquire into the nature and 

 quality of the seed which has been used. It is worth 

 while to remember, what is unfortunately too often for- 

 gotten, that as the seed, so the crop, and that a vast deal 

 of the cost and labour of the preparation of the land may 

 be absolutely thrown away by the carelessness we may dis- 

 play in the choice of the seed which we commit to its 

 bosom. With reference to the change or choice of seed, 

 Mr. Fife remarks " As the foreign names of many of our 

 barleys imply, the best change is considered to be from a 

 distant and very different soil; and whether from an early 

 to a late, or vice versa, this sort of change is of vital im- 

 portance. But it should be observed, that the change of 

 seed from an early to a late district is found to be the 

 means of hastening the period of ripening and of affording 

 the chance of a finer quality of produce ; whilst the change 

 from a late to an early district will retard the time of ripen- 



