SEED. 



t>ie autTior of the Philofophy of Gardening conceives, that 

 the weight of a given meafiire of grain may alfo be a tolera- 

 bly certain method of difcovcring the quantity of huflc or 

 bran contained in it, compared with a quantity of flour : as 

 that grain which is cut too early, or which is otherwife not 

 quite ripe, as happens in wet feafons, fhrinks in the barn or 

 granary, and becomes wrinkled, and has thus a greater pro- 

 portion of fkin or bran than that which has been more 

 perfectly ripened, and weighs lighter in proportion to its 

 bulk. And another method, which he fuppofes may be had 

 recourfe to in order to diftinguifh light from heavy grain, is 

 that of winnowing, as the furfaces of light grains, from their 

 being greater in proportion to their fohd contents, may be 

 carried further by the current of air afforded in the opera- 

 tion ; of courfe in paffing them through a fcreen, the heavy 

 grams may be liable to run further out on the floor from 

 their being more propelled by their greater gravity, without 

 the refiftance of the air on their furfaces being increafed, 

 and be confequently more proper for feed-corn in general. 

 See Change of Seed. 



But lately, however, a very different notion from the above 

 has been entertained by fir Jofeph Banks, though we do not 

 find it fupported by the tell of experiment in the field. 

 The refult of a fmgle trial, made under the circumltance of 

 a hot-houfe, can never be fatisfaftory to the farmer. He 

 thinks, that although the feeds of wheat may be rendered by 

 the exhaulling power of a fungus fo lean and (hrivelled, 

 that fcarcely any flour fit for the manufacture of bread can be 

 •obtained by grinding them, thefe very feeds will, except in 

 the very worlt cafes, anlwer the purpofe of feed-corn as 

 well as the faireft and plumpeft: fample that can be obtained, 

 and in (ome refpefts better ; for as a bufliel of much blighted 

 corn will contain one-third at leaft more grains in number 

 than a bulhel of plump corn, three bufhels of fuch corn will 

 go as far in fouingiand as four bufhels of large grain. And 

 that the ufe of the flour of corn in furthering the procefs 

 of vegetation, is to nourifli the minute plant from the time 

 of its developement till its roots are able to attraft food from 

 the manured earth ; for this purpofe one-tenth of the con- 

 tents of a grain of good wheat is more than fufficient. The 

 quantity of flour in wheat has been increafed by culture and 

 management calculated to improve its qualities for the benefit 

 of mankind, in the fame proportion as the pulp of apples 

 and pears has been increafed by the fame means above what is 

 found on the wildings and crabs in the hedges. Further, that 

 though it is cuflomary to fet afide or to purchafe for feed- 

 corn the boldefl and plumpeft fampk-s that can be obtained, 

 that is, thofe that contain the molt flour, this is unneceflary 

 wafte of human fubfiftence : the fmalleft grains, fuch as are 

 fifted out before the wheat is carried to market, and either 

 confumed in the farmer's family or given to his poultry, 

 will be found by experience to anfwer the purpofe of propa- 

 gating the iort from whence they fprung as efieftuaily as 

 the largelt. Every ear of wheat is compofcd of a number 

 of cups placed alternately on each fide of the Itraw ; the 

 lower ones contain, according to circumllances, three or four 

 grains nearly equal in fize ; but towards the top of the car, 

 where the quantity of nutriment is diminifhed by the more 

 ample fupply of thofe cups that are nearer the root, the 

 third or fourth grain in a cup is frequently defrauded of its 

 proportion, and become fhrivelled and fmall. Thefe fmall 

 grains, which are rejefted by the miller becaufe they do not 

 contain flour enough for his purpofe, have ncverthelefs an 

 ample abundance for all the purpofes mf vegetation, and as 

 fully partake of the fap (or blood, as we rttould call it 

 in aninjals,) of the kind which produced them, as the faireft 



and fullefl grain that can be obtained from the bottoms of 

 the lower cups by the wafteful procefs of beating the fheaves. 

 But, however further and more numerous experiments may 

 eftablifh this dotlrine, the beft practice of the farmer is 

 probably, at prefent, to take care to have good well-ripened 

 grain, clear from all adulteration of feeds of the weed kind ; 

 without any blacknefs about the extremities of the grains, 

 being free from that dark-brown colour that indicates its 

 having been heated too much in the Hack ; and that it have 

 no figns of mouldinefs from being badly fecured, or of 

 fhrinking from being cut in too green a Hate. It has alfo 

 been lately fuggefted by Mr. Leori, who has been engaged in 

 many interefting experiments on the fubjeft, not by any 

 means to procure feed grain from a foil north of that on 

 which it is to be fovvn, but from a diftrift fouth of it ; as he 

 confiders it a general rule, that the produA of feed improves 

 in going from the fouth to the north, but decreafes in virtue 

 in paffing from the north to the fouth. 



And with refpedl to the proportion of feed that may be 

 proper to be fown pn different foils and fituations, attention 

 will not only be neceflary to their peculiar nature, and to 

 the periods of fowmg or putting the feed into the ground, 

 but alfo to the nature of the feaion, and the mode in which 

 the fowing is executed in it. For crops in general,'the ftrong, 

 wet, and ftiffer forts of land will demand a larger quantity 

 of feed than fuch as are more mellow, thin, and light ; for 

 coarfe ftrong wet loams, and fliff retentive clays, muft require 

 more feed than light mellow loams, and fandy gravelly or 

 even thin chalky lands. But where lands of the rich loamy 

 kinds have been well reduced and broken down by the ope- 

 rations of tillage, it is obferved, that if the feed be not 

 fown in too great a proportion, an opportunity is afforded 

 for the plants fpreading themfelves from the roots, many 

 ftems often iffuing from the fame root, in confequence of 

 which the crops frequently become, even when thinly 

 fown, extremely thick upon the ground ; and from the 

 great nutritive power of rich foils, or what is moftly 

 termed ftrength by the farmers, would be greatly too much 

 fo, if a large proportion of feed were at firfl put in. And 

 that in the cafe of root crops, whether fuch as are formed 

 upon or within the foil, where fuch lands are in a fufficiently 

 mellow and friable ftate for producing them, the feeds or fets 

 fliould not on the fame account be fown or put in in too 

 great a quantity, or too thickly. While in the ftrong, ftifF, 

 wet, retentive foils, from the plants feldom ftriking, or 

 branching off much from the roots, except in particularly fa-, 

 vourable circumftances of feafon, a much greater proportion 

 of feed will be neceflary, in order to fecure fuch full crops a$ 

 lands of this kind are capable of fupporting and bringing to 

 maturity in moil cafes. 



But where the foils are light and thin, a lefs quantity of 

 feed will be fufficient, according to Mr. Donaldfon and 

 others ; as, if a large proportion be put into fuch kinds of 

 ground, from their pofiefTing much lefs llrcngth the crops will 

 rarely, except in particular feafons, be well formed in the ear, 

 or have the grain plump and well fed. It is likewifea prac- 

 tice in the bell grain diftridts, on all forts of land to fow 

 fmaller proportions of feed on lands of the fame quality, 

 in the early periods of the feed time, than in thofe of the 

 latter. The rcalon of this, according to the above writer, 

 is, that grain fown early ia the feafon takes deeper root, and 

 has more time to branch out additional fhools, than that 

 which is later fown, which, when the foil is not very free a« 

 well as fertile, generally runs up into one finglo Italk, fo 

 that if a hbcral quantity of feed be not allowed, the crop, 

 however luxuriant in refpeft to the plants, muft be fcanty in 

 Z 2 the 



