SOWING. 



April 



fituation. And he further adds, thut another tabular view 

 of the climates where plants grow naturally, and of their 

 native fitnations, in refpeft to moifture or drynefs, hill or 

 valley, with the kind of foil where they were originally 

 found, might alfo contribute to their fuccefsful cultivation. 



The following is the order of leafing of a few tree"; and 

 (hrubs, which Mr. Stillingfleet has put down, as noticed by 

 himfelf, in the county of Norfolk, in the year 1755. 



Plants. Seafuns. 



1. Honey fuckle - - . 



2. Goofeberry - - . 



3. Currant . . . - 



4. Elder .... 



5. Birch - - . - 



6. Weeping willow 



7. Rafpberry ... 



8. Bramble .... 



9. Briar .... 



10. Plum .... 



11. Apricot .... 



12. Peach .... 



13. Filbert . - . - . 



14. Sallow - - ^ - 



15. Alder - - ' - 



16. Sycamore . - . . . 



17. Elm 



18. Quince ..... 



19. Marfli elder .... 



20. Wych elm .... 



21. Quicken-tree .... 



22. Hornbeam .... 

 2'3. Apple-tree .... 



24. Abelc . . - . . 



25. Chefnut ..... 



26. Willow 



27. Oak ..... 



28. Lime 



29. Maple ..... 



30. Walnut . - 



31. Plane . . 



32. Black poplar .... 



33. Beech ..... 



34. Acacia robinia .... 



35- A(h 



36. Caroline poplar .... 



Alfo, the conformity between vegetation and the arrival 

 of certain birds of palfage is, he fays, extraordiiyry. Of 

 this he gives an inltance, marked down by himfelf, in the 

 above-mentioned county, in his diary of the fame year. 



April 16th, young figs appear. 

 17th, the cuckoo fings. 



And he notices, that the word mxxi/J fignifies a cuckoo, 

 and likewife a young fig ; and that the reai'on for it is, that 

 in Greece they appeared together. He alfo itates, that the 

 fame year he firll found the cuckoo-flower to blow the 19th 

 of April. He likewife further adds, that, according to 

 Linnxus, the wood anemone blows from the arrival of the 

 fwallow. In his diary for the year 1755, he finds the fwal- 

 low appeared April the 6th, and the wood anemone was 

 in blow the loth of the fame month. He adds alfo, that 

 the marfh-marigold blows when the cuckoo fines ; and ac- 

 cording to his diary, the marfh-marigold was in blow April 

 the 7th, and the fame day the cuckoo fung. 



It has alfo been remarked, that a due temperature of the 

 feafon, with refpeft to heat or cold, drought or wet, (for 

 all thefe greatly influence the Hate of the earth,) is eflentially 



- January 15 



- Ma,rch 1 1 



1 1 

 II 

 I 

 1 



3 



3 



4 



6 



6 



6 



7 



7 



7 



9 



10 



10 



10 



12 



•3 



'3 



14 



16 



16 



17 

 18 

 18 



19 

 21 

 21 

 21 



21 

 21 

 22 



22 



neceffary, and Ihould be carefully attended to by the culti. 

 vator, when he fows ; but the precife time moll proper for 

 thij work cannot, by any means, be invariably fixed, be- 

 caufe it will always depend on the concurrence of a variety 

 of circumftances. The feafons are more or lels forward, 

 and the ground is more or lefs dry, in fome years than in 

 others. A proper feries of well-made obfervations would 

 furnilh the bell rules in this refpedt, but certainly would not 

 fix the time of lowing to any particular day or week, for 

 years to come. Linnaeus's method, of carefully obferving 

 the foliation of trees, &c. would determine the proper time 

 for fpring fowing. And Pliny, after mentioning the feveral 

 conftellations by which farmers were guided in his time, in- 

 flrufts the farmer with regard to autumnal fowing, upon a 

 principle fimilar to that of the great modern naturalill. 

 Why, fays he, does the hufbandman look up to the Itars, 

 of which he is ignorant, whilll every hedge and tree point 

 out the feafon by the fall of their leaves ? This circum. 

 llancc will indicate the temperature of the air in every cli- 

 mate, and (hew whether the feafon be early or late. This 

 conllitutes an univerfal rule for the whole world; becaufe 

 trees ihed their leaves in every country, according to the 

 difference of the feafons. This gives a general fignal for 

 fowing ; nature declaring that (he has then covered the earth 

 againfl the inclemency of the winter, and enriched it with 

 this manure. 



It can, therefore, only be obferved in general, that it is 

 better, as has been fuggeded, to fow early in autumn than 

 too late, provided the feafon will admit of it ; becaufe the 

 plants are better able to refill the feverity of the winter, after 

 they have acquired a certain degree of ftrength ; and their 

 roots being then longer, and confcquently better fixed in 

 the earth, they will be lels liable to be thrown out by the 

 frolt. For this reafon, in particular, perhaps the colder 

 the climate is, the earlier the wheat (hould be fown. 

 Some lands are of fuch a nature, that they fwell greatly in 

 hard frods ; and fubfiding again upon a thaw, leave the roots 

 of plants quite bare upon their furface. There have indeed 

 been years, in which fields fown very late, for inftance in 

 December, have done extremely well ; but that ought not, 

 on any account, to be made a rule, experience Ihewing that 

 fuch late fowings very feldom aiifwer. On the other hand, 

 tlie corn is likewife expofed to many dangers, when fown 

 too early ; for the ftalks, which flioot up before winter, 

 cannot well bear hard froll ; though wheat would not be 

 hurt bv them, when only in the blade. M. de Chateauvieux 

 is clearly of opinion, that though the proper time of the 

 year for fowing be come, the corn (hould not be put into 

 the ground, if the temperature of the feafon be not favour- 

 able ; and that, on the contrary, the fowing of it ought to 

 be deferred, in hopes of a change. If, fays he, the weather 

 is very hot, and the earth extremely dry, it will be abfo- 

 lutely neceffary to wait till fome rain has fallen ; for other- 

 wife the feed will rife but very imperfetlly. This he is fure 

 of, by which he contradicts the common faying of fome 

 farmers, that the earth is the bed granary to keep the corn 

 in. Full of this notion, whenever the Hated time? come 

 round, they fow, without didinclion, in wet Lnd or in dry. 

 Even heat does not hinder them : they think their feed will 

 certainly fprout well after the firll rain ; but he has always 

 experienced that the plants have come' up thin. But to 

 fatisfy himfelf Hill farther on this point, he tried an experi- 

 ment purpofely to know whether corn can be lown, with 

 any reafonable expectation of fuccefs, when the weather ia 

 very hot, and the earth very dry. Upon reading M. Du- 

 hamel's Treatife on the Prefervation of Corn, he has ob- 

 ferved that he had found, by his experiments, that wheat 



dried 



