Quantity of Seeds Required 



157 



tained in this way before the main crop occupies the 

 land, but this is only an accidental gain. 



The cost of seed is ordinarily a trifling matter in 

 comparison with the expense of the season^ s labor and 

 the value of the crop. Therefore, seeds should be sown 

 very freely in order to avoid the risk of failure. Even 

 if five or ten times more seeds are sown than plants 

 are required, the extra expenditure may be justified 

 by the lessening of the risk. Another great value of 

 thick seeding is that it allows of more extensive thin- 

 ning of the plants ; and thinning is a process of selec- 

 tion, and the best are allowed to remain. It is evident 

 that the chances of securing the best are greater when 

 the gardener leaves one plant out of ten rather than one 

 plant out of three. The selection in the seed-bed or 

 the seed -row is one of the means by which cultivated 

 plants have been so greatly ameliorated or improved. 



Nearly all the recommendations of writers as to 

 the amount of seed for a given length of row are 

 in excess of the number of plants actually required. 

 It may be that some of these recommendations are 

 higher than even the risks will warrant ; but, as a 

 general rule, it may be assumed that it is much safer 

 to sow even the most excessive amounts than to sow 

 just as many seeds as there are plants needed. 



The following tests were made by the writer in 1888 (Bull. 

 40, Mich. Exp. Sta.). It will be seen that in some cases the 

 recommendations seem to be extravagant ; but in the common 

 run of soils and conditions, and with variable seeds and sea- 

 sons, they may not be excessive after all. 



Quantity of Seed Required for Given Lengths of 

 Drill. — Careful records of the quantity of seed used in those 



