274 



THE WHEAT CULTTJEIST. 



Thick and Thin Seeding. 



Wheat can be sowed too thick as well as too thin. 

 Of course, then, there is a correct quantity to sow per 

 acre, as there must necessarily be a medium between the 

 thick seeding and thin seeding. The quantity of seed 

 alone does not determine how much should be sown on 

 one acre, as the kernels vary in size. If the kernels be 

 very large, a much larger quantity of seed will be re- 

 quired to seed an acre, than if the kernels were very 

 small. There is more dano-er of sowins^ too much seed 

 on an acre, than there is of scattering too little. When 

 wheat is sowed too thin, provision has been made by 

 nature, to send out numerous stems, from the single 

 plants that spring from every kernel. (See this subject 

 explained under the head of the Habit of the Wheat 

 Plant.) Seed wheat is often sowed in such absurdly 

 large quantities, per acre, that the soil does not yield 

 but a little more than half the number of bushels that 

 would have been produced, had just enough been sowed 

 and no more. It is exceedingly unwise policy to sow 

 wheat, or any other grain thick, for the purpose of 

 smothering a dense growth of noxious plants. 



J. J. Mechi, of England, who has had much experi- 

 ence in growing wheat, writes, that one kernel in a hole, 

 at intervals of nine inches by four, would, under favor- 

 able circumstances, be ample, and produce much more 

 than if four times that number were sown ; but then we 

 have rooks,rrench partridges, birds, mice, and wireworms 

 to contend with." It would be a very dangerous experi- 

 ment to sow generally so small a quantity of seed as 

 one peck per acre. In highly cultivated, warm, mellow 

 soils, free from weeds and in good heart, where harvest is 



