SOWING. 



dried in a ftove, heated to 60 decrees of M. de Reaumur's 

 thermometer, had loft its faculty of growing. From 

 thence he conjeftured, that wheat which fliould undergo a 

 heat, for example, of 30 degrees during a longer time, 

 would be equally parched up, and rendered incapable of 

 vegetating. He confidered the earth, when hot and dry, 

 as a kind of itove, in which the feed, if it remain too long 

 without receiving any moifture, may become fo dry, that 

 the greatell part of it will never be able to fprout. This 

 reafoning is juft, and he therefore determined to have re- 

 courfe to that trutty guide, experience. 



He was fure that the wheat which he fowed wds perfeftly 

 found, and in every refpeft capable of growing-. It war;, 

 therefore, qaite clear, that fo great a number of grains out 

 of the whole, which did not fprout at all, loft the faculty 

 of growing, by their being parched up by the heat and 

 drynefs of the earth. To be ftill more certain of this, three 

 weeks after he had fowed thefe grains, he watered half of 

 them feveral times, but to no purpofe ; not one of them 

 rofe, and he found feveral of them quite whole in the earth 

 where he had fown them. 



Upon the whole he concludes, from his own repeated 

 praftice, that the beft time for fowing, in fuch a climate as 

 Geneva, (which diifers very little from our's, ) is from the 

 20th of Auguft to the end of September ; and thinks that 

 even the firft fortnight in Oftober may be taken in, if the 

 land cannot poflibly be lowed fooner. But he allows of 

 this only in a cafe of neceflity, and judges that, rather than 

 fow later, it is beft to rtay till fpring. Thus, fays he, it is 

 that experience and obfervation teach us to leave off bad 

 cuitoms, or fuch as are not founded on principles with 

 which a man of fenfe may reft fatisfied. 



In the northern trafts of the ifland, where the fummer 

 feafon is not of much length, but ftormy and extremely 

 variable in the ftate of the weather, early fowing is faid to 

 have been lately found to be attended with many advan- 

 tages ; and that the prejudices in favour of a late performance 

 of this fort of bufinefs is faft wearing off ; as the good 

 eff^efts of putting feed into the ground as early as the feafon 

 will admit, are fo evident, in fuch a climate, and the benefit 

 of the praftice fo great and manifeft, that the moft pre- 

 judiced are beginning to fufpeft their late fowings to be 

 bad, and that the praftice of thofe who eagerly catch and 

 embrace the very firft opportunities which the ftate of the 

 weather will allow, of fowing their grain crops, bids the 

 faireft for faving them, at the latter end of the feafon. 

 The hazard to be dreaded from it with forae forts of grain, 

 as oats, is very little, while the benefit to be derived is very 

 great. The advantages of it are very important, in having 

 the beft part of the fummer feafon for bringing the crops 

 to full perfeftion, which increafes the value of the grain, 

 and in having long days and a favourable feafon for cutting, 

 coUefting, and fecuring the produce in perfeft condition : 

 while late fowing, on the contrary, occafions the rifl< of 

 having the crops expoled, after being cut, for weeks toge- 

 ther, in the fields, under rottmg rains, until the ftieaves be- 

 come each a mafs of vegetation. Inftead of fixing upon 

 any exaft period for commencing the bufinefs of fowing, 

 which is extremely abfurd, efpecially in fuch a climate, the 

 prudent cultivator will regulate his conduft in this refpedl 

 by the ftate of the weather, ar.d the appearances which 

 have been fuggefted above. And as the gardener forms an 

 annual calendar of the weather for himfclf, by what he 

 fees coming on in his garde!i ; fo fhould the farmer, by the 

 courfe of experience and information, learn to diftinguifh 

 the proper times for performing 'he particular operations 

 of his art ; not, however, by havin<^ recourfe to any precife 



or fee period of the feafon, but by reference to certain 

 natural appearances, which may indicate the mildnefs or 

 clemency of particular feafons, or the contrary. This may 

 be particularly ufeful in the bufinefs of fowing different 

 kinds of crops. 



In many diftridls towards the fouthern extremity of the 

 kingdom, the utility and benefits of early fowing have beer 

 likewife noticed and experienced, as the carlieft fown crops, 

 efpecially of the wheat kind, have been almoft invariably 

 found the beft. This opinion, which is of fome ftanding, 

 is, in fome meafure, confirmed by the afiurance, that nearly 

 the whole of the famous crops which have been produced 

 and talked of by the farmers in thefe diftrifts, were raifed 

 from early fowings. Now and then a crop may contraditt 

 this conclufion, but they are very rare, and moftly arife from 

 fome unobferved circumftance in the land which produced 

 them. There c?.n, therefore, be no reafon for doubting 

 that more early fowing than is at prefent praftifed, in many 

 cafes and circuujftances of land, may be highly advantageous 

 and beneficial to the farmer, not only in the quantity of 

 produce, but in feveral other ways. 



It is of the greateft confequence to the farmer, that 

 feed in fowing be placed in the earth at a proper depth, 

 and in the beft manner ; but experience is yet wanting to 

 determine with due exaftnefs, what is the depth which beft 

 fuits each kind of grain in different foils. In the fpring 

 fowings, when there is moftly much moifture in the foil, 

 from the wetnefs of the previous feafons, lefs depth may be 

 required than in the fummer, where the land is rendered 

 more dry and parched. From half an inch to an inch and 

 a half, may be fully fufficient for the feeds of the grain, 

 turnip, and carrot kinds, fo as that they may be fully pro- 

 tected from birds and infefts. And for root-fcts, fuch a» 

 potatoes, from two to four inches, in proportion to the 

 ftate of the foil, may be quite fufficient. 



But, in the very early autumnal fowings, as from the ex- 

 ceflive drying heats of the fummer feafon, th.re muft in 

 common be a deficiency of moifture in the earth, it may be 

 better to have the feed put in fomewhat deeper, a^ from two 

 inches to three or more, in order that their vegetation may 

 not only proceed more fpeedily, but their roots be more fully 

 guarded from the effefts of the frofty nights, which ufually 

 take place foon after fuch fowings. And in this way they 

 are more effeftually protefted from the attacks of birds and 

 other vermin, which are generally more eager and dtftruAive 

 in their attacks, from the diminiflicd quantity of food at 

 fuch periods of the year. 



However, in general, as the procefs of fprouting or early 

 vegetating is found to be greatly promoted by the feed 

 being fully fupplied with oxygen air, it may be the moft 

 beneficial praftice to have them put into the foil, in rather 

 a fuperficial manner, or but lightly covered, as by fuch 

 means they may be the moft fully fupplied with atmo- 

 fpherical air. And for this reafon, too, it may be the moft 

 advantageous method to have the feeds or roots di-pofited 

 in the foil as foon as pofiible after it has been turned up by 

 the plough or fpade, as, in Inch circumftauces, it luuft con- 

 tain the largeft proportion of atmofpherical air among its 

 conftituent particles ; which, it is obtervcd by Dr. Darwin, 

 may be neccllary to ftimulate into elevation the plume of 

 the embryo plant, as the moifture of the earth is nccellary 

 to llimulate the root into its elongation downwards. 



The particular ftate of the feafon and climate in which 

 the fowings or plantings are performed, may likewife have 

 fome influence on the crops. It has been commonly lup- 

 pofed that the beft praiJlicc is that of fowing in dry feafons, 

 and letting out plants in fuch as are moilt ; but it is obvious, 

 3 G 2 .1 Lite 



