Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1856-10-17

Tisss = From the American Farmer. ys.EE
QUANTITY OF SEEDS si4ER ACRE.
DISPARITY, ,sBETWEENs NUMBER
7OE SEEDS, SOWNi AND PLANTS
PERFECTED ON THE SAME
GROUND. .-%#( '1sa 4>t'..' ~
'asSre'sse Bayou LAFouRE, LA.,1 sh
aiH.ea hz& go Sept: g 1856: 5aa
.MeSsrs, Editors = The introduction of
the drill culture has been productive OF
economy 10 the quantity of seed sown,
while the decreased number of seed bush
els has not decreased, but rather aug
mented the number of bushels in Weld:
This is caused by. the better covering OF
the.seed in drill than in broad cast, and
by the air passing through, and in con
tact With the stocks Of grain much better,
thus enabling the grain to draw from the
atmosphere in a more thorough manner, !,
the peculiar nourishment, 1ammonia, nj
trogen,f DC. it should have. The ques-
ton arises in my mind, is there not yet
too much seed sown to- the acre ? and
would not a yield equally large il
not greater, result from sowing less
seeds to the acre, but sowing that seed
thoroughly. and farther apart ,.
The question suggested itself to me
some years ago and since. on; reading
the experiments of Rev. Sidney Smith, il
again presents itself, In these experiments
which were rcorroborated by several sue
cessive years sowing, Mr.. Smith procured
as much grain 70 the half acre as is ordi-
narily got from one acre in fact the
yield was larger than the, average either
in Europe or America. Single grains
sown three inches apart, in drills a foot
apart, a space of three feet being left
quite bare between each three rows, and
this was continued in alternate strips all
across the field" What caused the in
creased yield 2 The land had not been
in cultivation fer one hundred years. l
admit il had time TO receive from the at
mosphere during this long rest, suffi-
cient quantity OF nitrogen and other en-
riching agencies to give the growing crop
all the manure it needed. But would the
crop have been as large in yield. had it
been ssogn in the usual manner 2 Ithink
not. and we shall see this by another ex-
pertinent. True, we have large yields of
grain from the rich, virgin soils of our
own country, but not equal TO that pro,
duced by Mr.. Smith. with The small por>
ton of seed sown. The cultivation of
the crop which Mr.. Smith gave it was of
great benetI-he says, in the spring l
well koed and hand weeded the rows OF
wheat, and stirred the intervals with one
horse scarifer three or. four times up to
the very Towering in June" Now, had
not the wheat been soWn in drills further
apart than usual, such cultivation could
not have been given to it.. "The quanti-
tyof seed used per half acre was, little
more than peck Mr.. Smith says,
adjoining the Geld in which these expe;
riments were carried on was another field
which had four Plowings, ten tons OF ma:
nure, six or seven times as much seed.
add yet it gave quarter less to the acre
These experiments repeated from year
to year gave the same results with great
success. Did this result. proceed simply
from the mode of tilage. principally hoe
ing from the sustenauce derived from
the atmosphere { the mode, of planting
ASSURING EACH plant its due allowance oil
rUurishment from. the atmosphere) OF
from the manner in which The grain was
sewn. and the small quantity of, ,seedfgiv-
iqg each grain room to germina'e and
mature !aa s.z,aar,4 n 97Ha.aa1ags1
Let us examine, an article in the Coun-
trys Gentleman for August t4th. current
year, page IO9, entitled. "A Curious Ques-
tionf : II says, ''iL is q singular illustration
oLLhe inexactness Agricultural knowledge
that ths7 question, how many seeds are
there insa pound of our commonly cuiti-
vated field plants, should still remain to
be answered. 1t is plain that the answer
will not necessarily effect farm practice-
for the quantity of seed which it is proper
to.soW per acre, is a matter, to be detef>
mined by experience, not by argument
apart from trial; yet surely it is most de-
sirahle to compare the number Of seeds
wa ordinarily SOW with that Of the plants
we'raise. 1fin ordinary practice l zoo. .ooo
seeds are sown on every 10000 superb
cial feet, or what is more extraordinary,
fifteen to eighteen million seeds Of fax
arc scattered to the same extent, about
three TO every inch Of land, it is surely
we'll to let the farmer know it. He knows
verywelf he does not raise so many plants
as this-and struck, as hes must be, BY
thesenormous disproporti0n between the
means'he usesSa the results he gets, he
will inquire into its causes. The turnit
seeds employed per acre, numbers from
6Oo,OOcg to 1000, 900 according to the
kind and Quantity adopted: this, if the
roSsrare two feet apart, is two or three
doEenZseedsa per foot 'orsrow, where sin
gle plant alone Is torbe grown. Nold doub
nothing like SO many generally come mp
but then there is q great destruction BY
the hoe, which will explain much Of the
discrepancy in this case. What, ihowey
er becomes of the 10000 of seed'