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question. Most of the reports of experiments 
which have been published, and which have 
given rise to much keen discussion, whether 
those which favour thin sowing or those which 
favour thick sowing, throw little or no real light 
on the general question, and are useful prin- 
cipally in pointing out certain combinations of 
circumstances in which respectively thin sowing 
and thick sowing have been found most advan- 
tageous. One of the most judicious of the ex- 
perimenters who brings out results in favour of 
thin sowing, and who tried both barley and 
wheat in different quantities in the drill method, 
is candid and comprehensive enough to say, 
“Thin sowing should be early sowing on heavy 
land. It would be a dangerous experiment to 
sow thinly unless the land were drained, sub- 
soiled, and kept free from weeds by the horse- 
hoe. Some allowance should be made for game 
near preserves. On reclaimed bog, or deep rich 
vegetable soil, I find it imperative to sow thin, 
or the crop would be mostly straw. Thin sowing 
somewhat delays the ripening of a crop, espe- 
cially of wheat sown on heavy land so late as 
November or December. In cold or elevated 
districts, thin sowing, to succeed, must be very 
early. In my experiments, anything beyond one 
bushel of wheat seed per acre has not had the 
effect of increasing the yield, the extra seed 
being lost. It is a singular fact that the one 
bushel per acre never changed yellow in the 
spring, but went on with a healthy green cast 
without a check ; the two bushels turned yellow, 
and the three bushels yellower, and was decidedly 
the worst stetch in the field. I would venture to 
suggest that each farmer should satisfy his own 
mind by trying part of an acre on each field. 
We seldom hear complaints of the losses from 
thick sowing in rich soil; they are, however, 
very serious in moist luxuriant summers. Two 
friends of mine sowed 4 bushels per acre, and 
only got 4 quarters of grinding barley, which 
sold at 27s. 6d.,—they had an abundance of 
crowded weakly straw, which was laid early; 
mine, dibbled at 3 pecks per acre in not near so 
good a soil, produced 6 quarters, which sold for 
33s. 6d., with strong straws and ears containing 
17 to 19 kernels on each side.” A writer on the 
opposite side of the question, and who at first 
seems almost red hot against thin sowing, also 
makes concessions and modifications which show 
that the whole question is one of an aggregate 
of circumstances, and ought to be decided by 
each farmer for himself according to soil, crop, 
season, and culture. ‘“ No harm,” remarks this 
writer, “can eventually result from testing the 
thin-sowing plan of farming, although I expect 
many a poor farmer will be induced to try it, 
and pay for the trial by the loss of half of one 
year’s crop. We all know that, if the land be 
sown with too much seed, the crop is injured— 
and if carried to a great extent, would be en- 
tirely lost,—the truth of which every one can 
SOWING. 
testify from his own observation. On the other 
hand, too little seed will have the effect of de- 
priving the farmer of a full crop. The question 
then is, what is a fair amount of seed to sow? I 
take it that that entirely depends upon the 
quality and situation of the land. If a person 
were to sow two pecks of wheat to the acre upon 
the Surrey hills, he would have room enough at 
harvest to drive a coach and four between the 
plants, because although it seems a paradox to 
say that the poorest land requires the most seed, 
it certainly is so, and for the following reasons: 
—first, because the land being cold and poor, 
and perhaps stiff, a very great proportion of the 
seed will not vegetate at all; and secondly, be- 
cause upon poor land the plants do not tiller as 
they do upon good land. The only justification 
for sowing a small quantity of seed upon poor 
land would be drilling it in; but this operation 
could not well be performed upon the flinty hills 
of Surrey; and if it could, the seed should be 
deposited very close, for the reason given above, 
namely,—because the plants do not tiller or 
branch out,—also because horse-hoeing, so neces- 
sary when the crop stands thin upon the ground, 
cannot be performed satisfactorily, if at all, upon 
ground which contains so many flints as the 
Surrey hills do. It is another thing upon good 
rich fertile land, where every grain deposited 
will vegetate, and which, when up, will, in the 
spring tiller and increase its number of plants, 
and not only so, but will bring them all to per- 
fection. The land also, being kind, can be horse- 
hoed, and nourishment added by the operation.” 
Two main things which claim attention in 
connexion with sowing — things on which the 
economising of the seed, the success and vigour 
of germination, and the regularity, strength, and 
luxuriance of the crop, very largely depend—are 
the proper mechanical condition of the soil, and 
the proper and uniform depth at which the 
seed is deposited; and these are so admirably 
stated in a lecture of Dr. Madden, which was 
read to a meeting of agriculturists at the great 
annual show of the Highland Society in Kdin- 
burgh, in August 1842, and afterwards published 
in the 14th volume of the Society’s Transactions, 
that we cannot do better than present an abstract 
of that lecture to our readers :— 
“The most careful examination has proved, 
that the process of germination consists essen- 
tially of various chemical changes, which re- 
quire for their development the presence of air, 
moisture, and a certain degree of warmth. Now, 
it is obviously unnecessary for our present pur- 
pose, that we should have the least idea of the 
nature of these processes: all we require to do, 
is to ascertain the conditions under which they 
take place; having detected these, we know at 
once what is required to make a seed grow. 
Viewing matters in this light, it appears that 
soil does not act chemically in the process of 
germination,—that its sole action is confined to 
