382 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



drouths, should not be over three or four inches, and for later varieties 

 from five to six inches." 



The potatoes experimented with were all of the Mercer variety. 



HOW JIUCH SEED TO THE ACRE. 



This, one of the questions of the day, was called up, and Robert L. 

 Pell, who is a very large farmer in Ulster county. New York, read a very 

 interesting and valuable paper, detailing his method of seeding various 

 crops, which we commend to an attentive perusal. It is as follows : 



" To answer this question understandingly, we require to know the num- 

 ber of seed contained in a pound, and the nuniber of pounds in a bushel : 



Seeds per lb. lbs. per bus. 



Italian rye grass contains 270,000 13 



Red clover, 250,000 60 



White clover, 687,000 61 



Sweet vernal grass, 925,000 10 



Drumhead cabbage, 112,000 52 



Scotch drumhead, 127,000 55 



Swedish turnip, 154,000 54 



Buckwheat, 26,000 54 



Rye, 22,000 56 



Barley, 15,000 60 



Wheat, 11,000 60 



Oats, 21,000 32 



The amazing number of seeds which many plants produce much facili- 

 tates their reproduction and wonderful multiplication. A single capsule 

 of the common poppy contains no less than 7,500 seeds, a single stalk of 

 corn 2,100, a single spike of the eat's-tail, typha major, 11,000, a single 



tobacco plant, 370,000, and a single stalk of spleenwort, 1,100,000. If, by 

 any accident, all these seeds were placed where they could develop them- 

 selves, under circumstances favorable to their growth, the twelfth genera- 

 tion of any of them would seed the world. The structure of nearly all 

 seeds is similar, every one is provided by nature with an external covering 

 suited to its nature, which protects it from the excesses of moisture or dry- 

 ness, and there is no seed with which I am acquainted that is devoid of 

 this covering, usually called pericarp. " A sear will always be found on 

 the pericarp, which marks the spot where nourishment entered while it was 

 in the pod, through the umbilical cord. Nature has supplied every seed 

 with the means of disseminating itself; with some the external covering 

 opens with a quick spring, and ejects the seed to a great distance from the 

 parent plant. The dandelion, thistle, and numerous others, are supplied 

 with a feathei-y arrangement, which enables them to rise in the atmois- 

 phere, and diffuse themselves over creation. An important condition to 

 the healthy germination of all seeds is, that they should have become per- 

 fectly ripened before being collected, as unripe seeds are not chemically 

 combined, and therefore cannot germinate. 



