170 WHEAT. 



the other hand, thin sowing yields a larger i umber of times the 

 quantity of seed put into the ground. The reasons which should 

 guide us in determining the dose of seed are numerous and extreme- 

 ly complex ; they must evidently be taken in connection with the 

 value of the ground and of cnhivation, the price of wheat and of 

 straw, the cost of labor and of manure. Thus in countries where 

 the rent of land is extremely low it may be a good practice to scat- 

 ter but a moderate quantity of seed over a large extent of surface. 

 I remember a field in the neighborhood of Pampeluna, where the 

 wheat was growing in isolated tufts, all extremely vigorous and very 

 heavy in the ear : the ground had had but very little preparation ; 

 nevertheless, they expected to gather from sixty to eiglity times the 

 seed. This, without doubt, was a profitable crop ; nevertheless, I 

 am satisfied that it could not have yielded more than from 6^ to 7| 

 bushels per acre. 



For the same reasons the first settlers of the United States must 

 have followed a somewhat similar mode of cultivation. " An English 

 farmer," says Washington, in a letter addressed to Arthur Young, 

 " must have a very indifferent opinion of our soil when he hears that 

 with us an acre produces no more than from 8 to 10 bushels of wheat ; 

 but he must not forget that in all countries where land is cheap and 

 labor is dear, the people prefer cultivating much to cultivating well." 



In Alsace we do not reckon any crop profitable which yields less 

 than from 19| to about 23 bushels per acre ; and in these circum- 

 stances we do not receive back more than from 9 to 10 times the seed. 



Nevertheless, it must be allowed, even in these extreme cases in 

 which the value of ground is so different, inasmuch as ii may vary 

 in the ratio of from 1 to 1000, that there are certain limits with ref- 

 erence to the seed which must not be passed ; and there is without 

 doubt an opportunity of making a series of curious and useful exper- 

 iments, with the view of ascertaining the true ratios which exist 

 between the produce and the seed. I am well aware that the results 

 of experiments of this kind have already been made public ; but I 

 know also that these data have not been deduced from a sufficient 

 number of facts perfectly comparable with one another, and noted 

 under a varirty of climatic influences ; in a word, that they are not 

 such as they ought to be, to put an end to the uncertainty which still 

 exists in the minds of the best-informed farmers and rural economists 

 upon the subject. 



In Europe, the wheat that is sown in autumn generally stands 

 upon the ground for from nine to ten months. The time, however, 

 varies considerably with the climate ; in the Andes, it is in propor- 

 tion to the proper temperature of each place. 



Wheat, which is now an important article of agricultural produce 

 in America, was introduced from Europe very shortly after the Con- 

 quest The first particles of wheat sown in Mexico before 1530, are 

 said to have been found by a negro belonging to Fernando Cortez 

 among the rice destined for provision to the army.* Wheat 



• Hamboldt's Essay on New Spain, vol. lU 



