382 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
How much allowance is made in England for poor seed, bad 
sowing, and after-thinning we are not aware; but the quanti¬ 
ties of seed recommended by their authorities are certainly 
greater than is necessary with us, provided the seed, the sow¬ 
ing and the cultivation are what they ought to be. And, on 
the other hand, we are acquainted with many farmers in this 
country who—with their bad system of cultivation or rather 
their total neglect to cultivate—use asynuch too little seed as 
others use more than is necessary. 
But whatever the theories maintained by the advocates of 
the lesser and greater quantity of seed, it cannot be denied and 
must not be forgotten, that the decision, in any given case, 
must have direct reference to the goodness of the seed, the skill 
and carefulness of the sower, the favorableness of the soil, as 
to texture, temperature, moisture and fertility, and to the ear¬ 
liness or lateness of the season. Therefore it is, that we insist 
upon attention to these important conditions and deprecate any 
blind adherence to arbitrary rules. 
now DEEP SHOULD WE PLANT? 
Several years ago a number of scientific gentlemen of Edin¬ 
burgh instituted a series of experiments, with a view to deter¬ 
mine the best depth for covering a variety of the seeds of 
grasses; the conclusion from which was, that much of the seed 
of all sorts is lost, by placing it so deep in the soil that it can¬ 
not germinate. Thus red clover, timothy, and a good many 
other varieties of grass-seed, would not sprout at all if buried 
two inches deep; white clover, rough-stalked meadow grass, if 
buried but an inch and a half deep, and a few if but one inch. 
This series of experiments further proved, that of thirty-three 
varieties only two— beach grass and sainfoin —should be cov¬ 
ered as deep as one inch , and that a large proportion of the re¬ 
mainder germinated best at the depth of but one-fourth of an 
inch! 
Such being the case, we submit it to our readers whether 
many of them do not actually kill a considerable proportion of 
their seed by covering too deep. 
