THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
811 
have the means of applying to the original source of their pro- 
duction, and thus of commencing a new generation. 
They teach us, too, the necessity of avoiding the growth of 
the oat crop in some situations, and which in the case before 
us is not the result of the “ pigheadedness ” with which the 
farmer is often so thoughtlessly accused, but a conclusion 
founded on reason ; and if we consider how robust is the growth 
of the wild oat, and that its support is secured by robbing the 
grain crop with which it occurs as a weed, the difficulty of 
separating it from a cro|i where it has gained a footing, and 
above all that its succession is secured by its seeds universally 
ripening a few days before that of the crop with which it is 
mixed, and the moment they are ripe they fall and become 
self-sown ; we can see abundant reason for wholesome fear as 
to the introduction of cereal oats in districts liable to their 
degeneracy. 
Under cultivation, which supposes the selection, saving up, 
and sowing in a prepared bed of our seed, the wild oat seed 
gradually becomes smooth externally and its awn less coarse, 
while internally the grain becomes larger and heavier, so that 
while the seed of the wild oat would weigh about fifteen pounds 
per bushel, that of the fine sample of white cultivated oat 
sown on our own farm this year weighed as much as forty- 
eight pounds per bushel ; now the proof of this theory consists 
in the facts — 
1st. That heavy oats degenerate by being cultivated in poor 
soil. 
2nd. By being let go wild they sink still lower, and gradu- 
ally assume the external hairs, stiff awns, and poor grain of the 
wild oat. 
Cultivation of the Oat Crop. — Inasmuch as in our every day 
operations on the farm all the circumstances and the results 
of our different crops are daily tabulated and noted upon, each 
crop, as it were, becomes the object of a series of experiments ; 
thus as regards oats we should never sow any seed without 
first ascertaining the weight per bushel , and germinating 
power pet cent., of a fair sample. The reasons for the first 
will be explained presently, and for the second will be readily 
understood when it is stated that in samples which have come 
under our notice there have been the enormous differences 
between every seed germinating regularly and evenly , and 95 
per cent, not being capable of germination at all. 
. Now, as regards the weight of the seed to be sown : if oats 
be sown on very good land it sometimes follows that a light 
seed from a poorer soil will produce a heavier sample, but as 
