538 
Experiments in Ttiin Sowing. 
The quality of the wheat was good, weighing 63 and 64 lbs. per 
bushel. The straw strong and bright. The straw was larger 
and longer, and the ears largest, where thin-sown. My harvest 
commenced on the 14th July, and was completed on the 14th of 
August. I had only half an acre of wheat laid on 80 acres ; 
about 20 acres more were dibbled on my light land with 4 and 
5 pecks per acre. 
No exact result is known, but they are estimated to produce 
from 40 to 44 bushels per acre, with abundance of straw. The 
land was very free from weeds; principally hoed by Garrett's 
horse-hoe, 
Experiments in 1845. 
1 peck of barley, dibbled 27lh April, by Newberry's dibbler, 
on one-third of an acre of light soil, naturally poor, but fairly 
manured, produced 2 quarters, or at the rate of 6 quarters per 
acre. 
Two fields of wheat were drilled, half with 1 bushel, 12 inches 
apart, half with 2 bushels, 6 inches apart. 
In both cases the produce was as nearly as possible equal, 
athough the thickest sown appeared rather the best. 
Thin sowing should he earl]/ sowing on heavy land. I consider 
I have been later in sowing than I oufflit to have been. It would 
be a dangerous experiment to sow thinly, unless the land were 
drained, subsoil ed, and kept quite free from weeds by the horse- 
hoe. Some allowance should be made for game near preserves. 
On njy light land and bog, my wheat plants would have been 
destro3ed by wire-worm, had I not rolled them twice over in the 
spring with Crosskill's roller. On reclaimed bog, or deep rich 
vegetable soil, 1 find it imperative to sow thin, say 3 to 4 pecks 
per acre, or the crop would bo mostly straw. Even with this 
quantity I had to flag my wheat three times on the bog, and then 
it was partially laid, especially so where 5 pecks per acre were 
used. Thin sowing somewhat delays the ripening of a crop, 
especially if sown on heavy land so late as November or December, 
In cold or elevated districts, thin sowing, to succeed, must be 
very early. In my experiments, anything beyond 1 bushel of 
seed per acre has not had the effect of increasing the yield, the 
extra seed being lost. It is a singular fact, that the 1 bushel per 
acre never changed yellow in the spring, but went on with a 
healthy green cast without a check. The 2 bushels turned 
yellow, and the 3 bushels yellower, and was decidedly the worst 
stetch in the field. I would venture to suggest that each farmer 
should satisfy his own mind, by tryina: part of an acre on each 
field. 
We seldom he;u- complaints of the losses from thick sowing in 
