T R I 
get their Wheat into the ground by the middle of No- 
vember, the farmers think they are in good feafon ; 
but fometimes it fo happens, from the badnefs of the 
feafon, that in many places the Wheat is notfown till 
Chriftmas or after, but this late-fown Wheat is fub- 
jett to run too much to ftraw, efpecially if thefpring 
fhould prove moift. 
The ulual allowance of feed Wheat to one acre of land 
is three bulhels, but from repeated experiments, it has 
been found, that lefs than half that quantity is more 
than fufficient •, therefore, if the farmers have regard 
to their own intereft, they fhould fave this expence of 
feed, which amounts to a confiderable article in large 
farms, efpecially when it is to be purchafed, which 
moft of the fkilful farmers do, at lead every other 
year, by way of change ; for they find that the feeds 
continued long upon the fame land will not fucceed 
fo well, as when they procure a change of feeds from 
a diftant country. And the fame is praftifed by the 
hufbandmen of the Low-Countries, who commonly 
procure frefh feeds from Sicily every fecond or third 
year ; which they find fucceed better with them, than 
the feeds of their own country. In the choice of the 
feeds, particular regard fhould be had to the land 
upon which it grew, for if it is light land, the Wheat 
which grew upon ftrong land is the bed, and fo vice 
verfa. 
There have been fome perfons in England curious 
enough to procure their feed Wheat from Sicily, which 
has fucceeded very well, but the grain of this has 
proved too hard for our Englifli mills to grind, which 
has occafioned their neglecting to procure their feeds 
from thence ; nor do I think there can be much ad- 
vantage in procuring the feeds from abroad, fince 
the lands of England are fo various, as to afford as 
much change of feeds as will be neceffary. And the 
lefs we purchafe from abroad, the greater will be the 
laving to the public-, fo that it iliould be the bufinefs 
of fkilful farmers to want as few feeds as poffible, 
fince, by exchange with each other, they may fo con- 
trive, as not to part with ready money for any feeds. 
The land which is ufually allotted for Wheat, is laid 
fallow the fummer before the Corn is fown ; during 
which time it is ploughed two or three times, to bring 
it into a tilth and the oftener and better the ground 
is ploughed, and the more it is laboured with har- 
rows between each ploughing to break and divide the 
clods, the better will be the crop, and the fewer 
weeds will be produced. But in this article moft of 
the farmers are deficient, for after they have given 
their lands one ploughing, they frequently leave it 
to produce weeds, which fometimes are permitted to 
ftand until they filed their feeds, whereby the ground 
will be plentifully ftocked with weeds ; and as an 
excufe for this, they fay that thefe weeds will lupply 
their fheep with fome feed, and the dung of the Iheep 
will mend their land but this is a very bad piece of 
hufbandry, for the weeds will draw from the land 
more than the dung of the fheep will fupply ; fo that 
it is undoubtedly the beft method to keep the ground 
as clean from weeds as poffible, and to ftir it often 
to feparate and break the clods, and render the land 
fine and where the land can enjoy a winter’s fallow, 
it will be of much greater fervice to it than the lum- 
mer ; and by thus labouring of the land, it will be 
of equal fervice to it as a dreffing of dung. There- 
fore if the farmers could be prevailed on to alter their 
method of hufbandry, they would find their advan- 
tage in it ; for the expence of dreffing in fome coun- 
ties is fo great, as to take away the whole profit of 
the crop. 
There is alfo a very abfurd method in common prac- 
tice with the farmers, which is the carrying out of their 
dreffing, and fpreading it on the land in the fummer, 
where it lies expofed till the fun has dried out all the 
goodnefs of it, before it is ploughed into the ground, 
jo that the dreffing is of little value; therefore the 
dung fhould never be laid on the land fafter than it 
can be ploughed in, for one load of dung id managed, 
is better than three in their ufual method. 
T R I 
As Wheat remains a longer time upon the ground 
than moft other lores oi Corn, it requires a greater 
ftock of nourifhment to lengthen and fill the ears : 
therefore, if the dreffing is exhaufted in winter, the 
Corn will have but fhort ears, and thofe but lean, nor 
will the grain afford much flour ; fo that it frequently 
happens, that a light dreffing of loot in the Ip ring, 
at the time the Wheat is beginning to ftalk, proves of 
greater fervice to the crop, than a dreffing "of duno- 
laid on the land before it is ploughed, efpecially if the 
dung is not very good. Deep ploughing (where the 
ftaple of the ground is deep enough to admit of it) 
will alfo' be of great fervice to the Corn, for the 
Email fibres of the roots, which are the mouths that 
fupply the nourifhment, extend themfelves very deep 
into the ground. I have traced many of them up- 
ward of three feet, and believe they fpread much 
farther where the ground is light ; therefore it is of 
great advantage to the crop to have the ground ftirred 
and loofened to a proper depth, for by fo doing the 
roots will find a fupply of pafturefor the nourifhment 
and augmentation of the ears, at the time they are 
forming, when it is moft required ; for if the ground 
is ploughed fhallow, the roots will have extended 
themfelves to that depth by the fpring, fo that when 
the nourifhment is wanted to fupply the ftaiks, the 
roots are dinted by the hardnefs of the foil, which 
they cannot penetrate ; when this is the cafe, the co- 
lour, of the blade is frequently feen to change in 
April, and feldom recovers its verdure again ; and 
when this happens, the ftaiks are always weakened in 
proportion to the decay of the blade ; for it is well 
known from long experience, that the leaves or blade 
of Corn, are neceffary to draw in nourifhment from 
the air and dews, for the increafe of the ftalk and ear ; 
but in order to afeertain this, I have made trial of it, 
by cutting off the leaves of lome roots of Wheat al- 
ternately, early in the fpring, and have conftantly 
found the ftaiks upon thofe roots much fmaller, the 
ears fhorter, and the grain thinner than thofe of the 
intermediate roots, whole blades were not cut. This 
fhews the abfurdity of that practice of feeding fheep 
upon Corn in the winter and fpring. I have frequent- 
ly feen in fome gardens, plants divefted of their low- 
er leaves, which ignorant perfons have fuppofed to 
draw away the nourifhment from the head ; but when- 
ever this has been pradtifed, I have always feen the 
plants have been greatly weakened by it ; fo that until 
thofe leaves decay naturally, they fhould never be 
taken off. 
Of late years, many compofts have been advertifed 
for the fteeping of the feeds of Corn, in order to im- 
prove their growth, fome of which have been fold at 
a dear rate ; but as fo great fuccefs was affured by the 
inventors to thofe who fhould make ufe of them, 
there were numbers of perfons who made the trial ; 
but fo far as I have been able to get information of 
their experiments, they did not fucceed fo well as to 
encourage the ufe of thefe compofitions ; and from 
feveral trials which I made myfelf with great care, I 
always found, that the Wheat which had been fteeped 
in thefe compofitions came up fooner, and grew much 
ranker in the winter, than that which had not been 
fteeped ; but in the fpring the unfteeped Wheat had a 
greater number of ftaiks to each plant, and the ears 
were better fed than thofe which had been fteeped ; 
therefore thefe forts of compofts have been found of 
no real ufe to the crop. 
My experiments were made in the following manner. 
The Wheat was fown in drills, on the fame fpot of 
ground ; the feeds which had been fteeped were fown 
in alternate rows, and the intermediate rows were 
fown with unfteeped Corn. The rows were a foot 
and a half afunder, and the grains were all taken out 
of one meafure, and fown as equally as poffible : the 
fteeped Corn appeared above ground three days be- 
fore the other, and continued to grow fafter than the 
unfteeped Corn during the winter, but in the fpring 
the blade of the fteeped Corn changed its colour, and 
their points became of a brown colour, when I gave a 
fig he 
