88 Importance of Careful Tillage and Seeding. 



and yet they were so completely filled with plants 

 that I was under the impression that this operation, the 

 necessity for which I have fully pointed out in a previous 

 chapter, had been carried out. I regard this result as 

 of great importance, for it proves conclusively that, 

 when the conditions are as perfect as they ought to be, 

 the 'quantity of seed used in the case of these fields is 

 quite sufficient ; and further, what I had hitherto 

 thought to be impossible, that land can be so perfectly 

 laid down that no blanks may occur. Careful tillage, 

 then, and the careful seeding of the land, would often 

 save the re-seeding of the land, which, as I have shown, 

 will usually cost about one shilling an acre for labour, 

 besides the value of the seed. I may add here that a 

 very trifling, or rather apparently trifling, defect in the 

 state of the land will often make a large difference in 

 the results obtained, and of this I had an instance this 

 year in the case of a field about two-thirds of which 

 was laid down with oats, and the remainder with barley. 

 The latter showed so poorly as compared with the 

 former that one would have supposed that either the 

 seed had been bad or that the crop had affected the 

 result ; but I found, on going into the matter, that the 

 oat-sown portion of the field had been ploughed much 

 earlier in the season, and that the soil had therefore 

 had time to solidify, while the soil in the barley portion 

 had been much more recently ploughed ; though the 

 whole field was smooth above, the soil in the barley 

 portion was too open below, and as there was a drought 

 many of the seeds had not sprung, or, having sprung, 

 must have perished from want of moisture. I now pro- 

 pose to offer some remarks on the quantity of seed 

 which should be used, a subject as to which there is a 

 considerable difference of opinion. 



And here the reader will remember that Arthur 

 Young said, as I have pointed out in the chapter 

 devoted to him and his opinions, that whatever system 

 of laying down land to grass is pursued a liberal 



