194 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



usefully "be made one of them. Mr. Keary has some re- 

 marks on the " risks" as well as the " advantages " of early 

 sowing, in which he adverts to what we have already 

 drawn such marked attention namely, the difficulty, or 

 rather the '* impossibility," as he puts it, of " iixing any 

 period for sowing which will suit all circumstances and all 

 seasons." If the weather is good and the land is dry and 

 works well in February, early sowing will " unquestionably 

 improve the quality of the barley ; " but Mr. Keary doubts 

 as to the yield being increased. This, as will be noticed, 

 is in direct opposition to the results of Young's experiments. 

 Mr. Keary, however, distinctly states what all will agree 

 with, " that it never can be judicious to meddle with the 

 land in the spring till it is dry and works well." On strong 

 cold land the sowing of barley should be earlier than when 

 the land is light and sandy and the subsoil warm and dry. 

 In the strong cold land there is no danger, says Mr. Keary, 

 of a " too rapid growth in the first stages, and the land 

 having sufficient staple to carry it out, the quality of the 

 grain will be improved and the period of cutting will be 

 accelerated. On the other hand, if sown before the land is 

 in proper tilth and fit to receive the seed, a rough coarse 

 sample will be produced." As to very late sowing, Mr. 

 Keary states that its "invariable" result is an "inferior 

 quality of corn." A great deal necessarily depends upon 

 the weather in the choice of the period for sowing ; but if 

 success is desiderated, it is essential that the land at the 

 time of putting in the seed must be in a favourable con- 

 dition. What that is is indicated by the saying that " in 

 sowing barley the dust must rise above the harrows ;" and 

 yet this, like many other apparently decisive sayings, must 

 be taken with reservation, for although the land should be 

 dry, it should only be so relatively, for a certain amount of 

 moisture in the soil at the time of sowing seems to be a 

 necessary condition in insuring a successful braird. If the 

 weather during the preparation of the soil has been so 

 favourable as to admit of a fine tilth being secured, then 

 the best condition in which it can be for putting the seed 



