SEED. 



thinks that, in the general feleftion of feeds, it would feem 

 that thofe arifing from the molt highly cultivated varieties 

 of plants, are fuch as give the moft vigorous produce ; but 

 that it is neceflary froin time, to time to change, and, as it 

 were, to crofs the breeds, which may eafily be done by 

 proper means. Mr. Knight has found great advantages to 

 arife from it in wheat, merely by fowing the different forts 

 together; and ftates, that " in the years 1795 and 1 796, 

 when almotl the whole crop of corn in the ifland was blight- 

 ed, the varieties obtained by crofling alone efcaped, though 

 fown in feveral forts, ar.i in very different fituations. By 

 crofling two varieties of peas, a large fine pea has alfo been 

 produced, which may probably be cultivated by the farmer 

 with great benefit." 



The feeds which are the moft perfeft and healthy in their 

 nature, are always found to fprout and grow in the beft 

 manner as crops, as may be more fully feen under their 

 proper heads. See Germination and Vegetation. 



It is concluded, from a great number of experiments 

 detailed in a paper in the thu-d volume of the Tranfac- 

 tions of the Highland Society, " On the Influence of Frolt, 

 &c. in ripening Corn," that barley and oats in every pe- 

 riod of their growth may be expofed to much variety of bad 

 weather, without being deltroyed, and that they even con- 

 tinue to acquire additional weight, although frequently ex- 

 pofed to fevere degrees of cold, and occafionally even to 

 frofl. Tliat when the laft is dry, they not only fuffer little 

 from it, but often continue to fill ; yet, where moifture pre- 

 vails with it, they are foou wholly deltroyed. But that 

 although this may be the cafe, cxpofure in this way renders 

 them very unfit for feed : as while every feed of good corn 

 will vegetate and thrive when properly placed in the foil, 

 where it is good, a great proportion of thofe which have 

 been thus expofed never appear above the furface, and the 

 plants of thofe that aftually grow are fo weak, that the 

 crop is not only fmall in quantity, but the corn of inferior 

 quality. That, though it feems in ufing well-ripened corn 

 for feed, the crop which it yields depends, in a confidcrable 

 degree, on the weight of it, yet this does not happen in any 

 evident degree with corn that has fufFered from frofl, as the 

 plants arifing from corn that has been expofed to much of 

 it are conltantly weak, and the produce fmall, even although 

 the feed be of the common weight. That frofl appears flill 

 more hurtful to pulfe crops as feed, and in other ways, than 

 to thofe of the grain kind, as well as to grades. That no 

 corn which has been tlius expofed to froil fhould ever be 

 ufed as feed ; but that which is for this purpofe, fhould 

 always be procared from fouthern fituations, where there 

 is no danger of this fort. That, on the fcore of economy, 

 the feed which has been fo expofed Ihould never be em- 

 ployed ; as nearly twice the quantity of it will be required ; 

 while the quantity as well as the quality of the produce will 

 be vallly inferior. That this fort of grain is eafily dilliii- 

 guifhed from good corn ; the latter being phimp, full, and 

 of a peculiar healthy appearance, and mollly free from chaff; 

 while the former is curled and pinched in, and never entirely 

 full, being bleached and chaffy. Where thefe marks are not 

 prefent, the mere vegetation of the feeds is, it is faid, by no 

 means fufficient, though often depended upon. That, when 

 light feed is made ufe of, the crops more readily fuffer with 

 blight and other difcafes, and it would feem that many 

 morbid affeftions of plants, efpecially fuch as give rife to 

 the generation of infeCts, are particularly apt to fpread and 

 communicate the contagion to others tliat are weak ; 

 which, like animals in a itate of debility, do not fo readily 

 refill it, or the formation of thofe vermin by which they 

 are moft liable to be dellroyed, as thofe plants which 



are found and in a vigorous ftate. That this therefor* 

 fhould be confidered as a powerful motive for ufing only 

 the bell corn for feed, a maxim that cannot be too flrongly 

 inculcated ; as the opinion which has already been hinted at 

 prevails with many, of all feeds that vegetate being nearly 

 equally fit for the produftion of crops, they frequently make 

 ufe of the weak light part of their corn for feed, and convert 

 all the beft of it into flour or meal ; and thus, for a temporary 

 advantage, continue to perpetuate the produftion of crops 

 that are both fmall in quantity and of very inferior quality. 

 That, for the prevention of thefe hurtful confequences, none 

 but the beft feeds of every kind fliould be fown. That, with 

 this view, farmers fhould not only procure feed that has been 

 well ripened, but fuch as has been well kept, and never in- 

 jured by frofts, fnows, or rains. That it would alfo be 

 much for their intereft, to wafli the whole of their feed-corn 

 in ftrong brine ; not only their wheat but their barley and 

 oats, as well as their beans, peafe, and tares ; as nothing ren- 

 ders corn fo fit for feed as this operation, when properly 

 done : as it not only carries off' all the light feeds, but alfo 

 the feeds of a great many weeds which cannot in any other 

 way be fo completely feparated from it. 



That it is thought, that the preference commonly given to 

 new corn for feed, is not well founded ; as it was found 

 that the produce of old corn was equal, both in quantity 

 and quality, to that of the beft corn newly reaped. This is 

 the cafe too with all the grafs-feeds that are commonly 

 fown. One of the beft crops of hay, which is recollefted 

 to have been feen, was produced from a mixture of red, 

 white, and yellow clover, rib-grafs, and hay-grafs, which, 

 by accident, had been negletled, and kept for fix years. An 

 acre, or thereabouts, was fown with this mixture, while the 

 reft of the field was fown with the feed of the preceding year, 

 and the crop was equally good over the whole. That it is 

 hence advifed, that in dry warm feafons, when all the grafs- 

 feeds are commonly goad, fuch farmers as have it in their 

 power fhould provide a large quantity of thofe that they 

 ufually fow, to make ufe of when they are fcarce and bad, 

 which conftantly happens after cold or wet feafons. That 

 it is on this principle, of the feeds of plants retaining their 

 power of vegetating for a long time, that we account for the 

 ludden appearance of many of the graffes, and other plants, 

 where they had not grown for a long period of time before. 

 After the great fire in London in 1666, broom and clover, 

 it is faid, appeared on the fcite of almofl every houfe in the 

 fpace of a few months, although the whole had been occu- 

 pied with ilreets for feveral centuries. We daily perceive, 

 it is faid, in Scotland and other parts, that white clover ap- 

 pears almoft as foon as the heath or other matters are dc- 

 flroyed, with which lands had been occupied before ; and 

 it is thought probable, that corn, pulfe, and grafs-feeds, 

 where they have been found and good at firft, and properly 

 kept afterwards, will be found quite fit for feed, even when 

 a good many years old. See the Paper. 



Seed.s, in Gardening, the fmall grains or other differently 

 formed bodies, which are produced by plants, trees, or 

 (hrubs of almoft all kinds after flowering, and which con- 

 tain in them the little embryo, or eflences of the future 

 plants, of eacli particular fort, which confilt of feveral dif- 

 ferent parts, but tiie principal of which are thefe : the cor- 

 culum, the little heart, the point of life, or effential point or 

 part from which the future vegetable is to be produced, and 

 which is the fmall point or fpeck that is placed in the centre 

 of each feed, between wliat are called the cotyledons or the 

 lobes of it, and which is attached thereto, being diftin£lly 

 vifiblc in moft of tiie bean kind, as well as in almoft every 

 other fort of leguminous feeds. It confifts of two parts, 



the 



