4 6 



The Seeding of Grain. 



machine- or hand- broadcasting, is neither so great, nor so 

 slow, as at first sight it appears. With any of the best 

 patterns of British, Canadian, or American drills, in fields 

 of 10 acres or more, a man and a pair of horses need 

 have no difficulty in seeding an acre per hour. If the coulters 

 are inclined to gather weeds, or clog in any way, an extra 

 person must be employed to keep them clean, but unless 

 someone is wanted for that purpose, the man in charge of the 

 horses can easily do all himself. When at work the driver 

 should sit on the drill, as he has thereby more control of his 

 horses and machine. The passage of the drill breaks up the 

 land as much as a single stroke of the harrows, and as it 

 goes at about the same speed, and takes about the same- 

 breadth, a single harrowing is saved, while at the same 

 time the seed has been sown. 



Losses in Seeding. 



As showing the loss and waste, from various causes, which 

 occur more or less by every method of seeding, it may be 

 mentioned that in a bushel of wheat of 631b. there are about 

 865,000 single grains, so that in a seeding of three bushels 

 there would be approximately two and a half millions. It is a 

 very small ear of wheat which has not eight or more rows of 

 grains on each side, while each row may contain from two to 

 four grains. Taking the minimum of rows at eight, and the 

 grains in each row at two, we get 32 grains per stalk. If each 

 grain in the three bushels sown produced only one stalk 

 with an ear of this moderate size, the produce of an acre 

 would be about 96 bushels. It is well known that most 

 wheat plants produce two or more stalks, so that, even on 

 the above very moderate calculation, it is easily seen that 

 immense loss occurs somewhere. Even under the most 

 favourable conditions of farming this loss cannot be elimin- 

 ated, but it may be considerably reduced by the use of the 

 best seed and the adoption of the most approved methods of 

 seeding. John Speir. 



Newton Farm, Glasgow. 



