WHEAT BRAN AS A FERTILISER, ETC. 
61 
by increase of crop, which he attributes to the 
use of the drill. That may be ; but I will war- 
rant, had Mr. Noble stated the case to any 
Accomack farmer, he would have told, as quick 
as asked, which acre made the most profit ; and 
I would be willing to wager a year's subscrip- 
to the Agriculturist, that had three pecks been 
sown on No. 1, instead of two bushels, by a good 
seedsman, it would have beaten No. 2. Let the 
owners of the drill try it, by broad-casting and 
drilling equal quantities of seed on a given sur- 
face of equal fertility, and if all things equal, 
there is an increased yield on the drilled land, 
then it may be regarded as some evidence 
of its superiority. 
Is there economy in the use of the drill ? It 
seems to me that while you are preparing your 
land for the drill, I could sow my wheat in the 
same time, and be done with it. I have had some 
little experience on this subject, which has satis- 
fied my own mind, not of the superiority of Mr. 
Pennock's, nor Mr. Any body else's drill, but of the 
great superiority of thin over thick seeding. 
Several years since, a friend and myself wa- 
gered a trifle on the product of an acre of wheat; 
he seeded three pecks — I two bushels. His 
acre was left in the roughest possible condition ; 
while mine, manured, limed, plowed, and dragged 
several times, was like a kale bed. His wheat 
stood thin on the ground, branched well, had 
heads six inches long or more, well filled, 
and yielded 45 bushels. Had it been well har- 
vested and threshed, I thought, (and good judges 
agreed with me,) it would have made 50 bushels. 
Mine was thick and luxuriant, with heads less in 
length than my little finger, and produced 17 bush- 
els ; yet I had three times the quantity of straw. 
One October, I seeded four bushels of white- 
bearded wheat on No. 1, three acres of ordinary 
corn land, and in November, after the plow had 
been once stopped by the frost, I seeded two 
bushels and four quarts of the red-bearded 
variety on No. 2, three acres of inferior land; 
harvested the 1st of July; both lots very much 
injured by rust. Product of No. 1 was 25 bushels ; 
product of No. 2, 31 bushels. A tenant on three 
acres of land of similar quality, from 1^- bushels 
of seed, reaped 36 bushels. 
I determined at one time to grow rye, and for 
that purpose procured a bushel of seed from an 
old gentleman, who charged me, as I was a young 
beginner, not to sow more than half a bushel to 
the acre. I did so, and took 14 bushels from the 
acre. Before next seeding time, I got hold of a 
copy of Lorrain's work on husbandry, which 
informed that I ought to sow at least two bushels 
to the acre. The first time I met with my old 
" fustian jacket " friend, I told him what Lorrain 
said, and that I had followed his advice. With 
a laugh he replied, " I'll bet you a ginger cake 
that you come to me next fall for more seed." 
And so I did; for, although my rye was the 
admiration of all who saw it while growing, I 
reaped nothing but a crop of straw. And a 
certain honorable gentleman in these parts, and 
a great advocate for thick seeding, were he so 
disposed, could tell a rye story fully as bad, 
if not worse, than mine. 
Once more. The late J. H. D., decidedly the 
best farmer in Accomack, who had, by a well- 
directed industry, even under the everlasting 
system of corn and oats, brought a very poor 
farm to a high state of fertility, informed me, a 
short time before his death, that a few years 
since, he sowed two acres with the potato oat, 
which, in consequence of a severe frost, of seve- 
ral days' continuance, were nearly all killed. 
A few, however, came up, standing thin enough 
on the ground to be worked with a hoe. He 
determined, at one time, to plow the lot up, and 
put it in corn ; but, as it would have to be 
fenced, he concluded to let it stand. The two 
acres produced 80 bushels ; while not a single 
acre, seeded after the frost, with the usual quan- 
tity of seed, yielded 25 bushels. Suppose, on 
these occasions, the drill had been used, would 
not the different results have been attributed 
tO it ? NlJGATOR. 
Accomack Co., Va., Dec. 20th, 1849. 
As our correspondent has brought facts to 
substantiate his theory, his argument in favor 
of thin sowing, in his soil and climate, is incon- 
trovertible. But a different soil or climate might 
make a great difference, and demand thick sow- 
ing. A cold, moist climate, or a very stiff*, clayey 
soil, requires an additional quantity of seed ; for, 
in the former case, more or less rots before vege- 
tating, while, in the latter, it cannot be well 
covered. 
We have made repeated experiments between 
thick and thin sowing, in different soils, and find 
that four quarts of clover seed will produce as 
good a stand, in a rich, friable, limestone soil, 
as 24 to 32 quarts will, on a stiff clay. In grass 
seeds, the difference is not so great; grain 
requires about double the quantity of seed. 
The first part of our correspondent's letter is 
highly amusing ; and if our periodical were not 
so sober and matter-of-fact, we would gladly 
insert that, also. If he will inform us who he 
really is, we will take care that Mr. R. "eats salt" 
with him, at some future day ; and we have no 
doubt, if we could at the same time contrive to 
drop into the "cage," together with the " old tar" 
and the " Sargeant," we should make an improv- 
ing night of it. 
Wheat Bran as a Fertiliser. — This has been 
tried by several persons in Delaware with great 
success. It is said that a handful to the hill 
will double the corn crop. Care must be taken 
to cover the bran, before dropping the corn, or 
the fermentation will kill the seed if in direct 
contact with the bran. It is said to be equally 
valuable upon wheat. The matter is worth ex- 
perimenting upon. It is hoped that those who 
try it will give us the details, for the benefit of 
our readers. 
Clover-Sowing Machine — Vert Simple. — Much 
of the clover upon the James-River plantations, 
is sown by a very cheap, simple contrivance of 
a box, made of thin, light wood, four inches 
deep, three and three quarters wide, and thirteen 
feet long, divided into thirteen equal parts, with 
