On Cropping and Cultivating Light Land. 91 



the quantity of wheat planted per acre. The numerous reasons 

 for and against thick and thin sowing have been advocated often 

 enough to be very well known. It would be v/ell for those who 

 contend upon this question to remember that no universal law 

 can be laid down upon the matter. The time and mode of 

 planting the wheat, the crop after which it is planted, the kind 

 and quality of wheat used, the natural fertility or poverty of 

 the soil, its tenacity and aspect, and the artificial power given 

 it, all exercise an important influence upon the quantity of seed 

 required. Still, that wheat is planted considerably thinner 

 within the last few years is certain, and is perhaps mainly 

 attributable to its improved quality obtained by much earlier 

 housing, to its more perfect planting by means of the lever-drill 

 and dibbler, and to its being better supplied with manure, which 

 gives it more power to branch and thicken. 



The quantity planted upon the kind of land and in the dis- 

 trict here spoken of, is from 4 to 6 pecks per acre when dibbled, 

 from 6 to 8 pecks when drilled, and from 8 to 12 pecks when 

 sown broadcast. If every farmer who plants 100 acres of wheat 

 each year can plant it as well with 6 or 8 pecks as it was planted 

 some years back with 8 or 10 pecks, 50 bushels are saved from 

 every 100 acres planted, and it is some consolation to know that 

 cleanness and high farming tend to diminish the quantity of seed 

 necessary, as well as to increase the crop grown. At the same 

 time too little seed may be used, as well as too much ; the 

 soundest economy is to use that quantity which produces the 

 best crop in an average of years. 



Within the last few years artificial manures have risen into 

 great and increasing importance, and if the supply from the 

 farm-yard is less than is required, or if the wheat looks in the 

 spring as though it would bear an additional stimulus, some 

 extraneous help may be given, either in the form of guano, 

 nitrate of soda, or perhaps common salt. The fact that these 

 manures, applied as top-dressings in the spring, are more in use 

 than they were, is good evidence of their salutary effect. Com- 

 mon salt is used principally upon the lighter loams and sands, 

 at the rate of 2 to 4 cvv^t. per acre. Its general effect is to stiffen 

 the straw without increasing its bulk, and to assist in the perfect 

 filling of the ear. 



The most remarkable case of the effect of salt alone upon the 

 actual yield of corn that ever came under the writer's own observ- 

 ation was upon the farm of Mr. John Ellis, of Artington, near 

 Guildford. The following are extracts from a letter received by 

 the author from Mr. Ellis : — 



" I will, in the first place, give you the results of the particular experiment, 

 to which you have referred, made by me with common salt, in the summer of 



