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378 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
and gathered within the same year, should be : Plant as early 
as the soil can he properly prepared ; or, in other words, when 
the earth has been so far warmed and dried by the vernal sun 
as to insure the germination of the seed and to allow the re¬ 
quisite stirring of the soil without danger of making it sodden 
and lumpy. 
If we were to discuss the question more narrowly, we might 
suggest that the nature of the soil and of the seed are modify¬ 
ing circumstances worthy of consideration. Thus, a sandy 
soil, a sandy loam, or even one whose subsoil is gravelly, 
with a predominance of loam in the surface, could be safely 
seeded much earlier, and consequently when wetter and colder, 
than one in which there was a large proportion of clay—not 
only because the former varieties of soil would naturally dry 
and warm more rapidly than the latter, but likewise for the 
reason that they would be less injured by stirring when wet. 
Again, the nature of the seed must be taken into the account, 
since some are hardy and able to bear long continued cold and 
wet, while others would lose their power to germinate, and even 
decay entirely in a very short time when thus circumstanced. 
Wheat, for example, will suffer more moisture, without injury, 
than either rye, barley or buckwheat ; while all of these, are 
superior in this respect to the finer garden seeds. 
The practice of early planting finds further support in the 
fact, now pretty generally acknowledged, that the disease 
known as rust is less likely to attack grain crops early sown, 
and that, in case it does, it is less destructive, for the reason 
that at the time of its usual attack, the berry of the grain will 
have advanced so far in its development as to be, to some extent, 
out of its reach. The same course of reasoning also applies 
to the depredations of certain insects. 
The once grave, but now thought-to-be unimportant question 
of lunar influence (albeit there are many self-supposed very 
wise farmers who still conduct all their operations by the 
moon) we do not propose to discuss. Simply this we will say: 
Darkness is favorable to germination, but not so immensely 
