Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-09-06
Thick versus Thin Seeding.
The Peck of wheat per Acre.

portant as q saving of SEED imam as pre-
-ventive of damage to, and ammunition of
the growing crop. [ have proved this by q
simple experiment, and every farmer can,
at small cost bring to his mind proof of
the proper quantity of seed to be sown ac-
cording to his soil, climate, and oircum-
stances,
This is the third year ] have tried the
experiment of half peck on half an acre,
in the middle of the field where my usual
quantity of four pecks is sown. The former
results have been recorded; the peck an
acre having yielded seven quarters of two
bushels per acre of fine wheat, and was
the best yield on the field.
The experiments have been perfectly fair
ones, the1wheat being all put In atone time,
and under the same circumstances in every
respect except quantity. The thin sown
was dibbled in, one kernel in hole, about
six inches by four and one half The rest
of the field was this year drilled with four
and one half pecks per acre. The expert
ments for three years have been on clover
lea, once moved for hay, and then folded
with sheep, eating cake, &c.. NOM
The thin-sown came up with single points
and looked all the winter and early spring
like bare fallow, especially at distance
on the hill side it looked as though the four
stretches had not been sown. So very wet
and unfayorable were the winter and spring,
that we thought this third year the thin
sown could not come to a crop.
But slowly and surely it advanced, and
has as yet become the best crop in the field,
undistinguishable from the rest except by
tic oc;o L ~ I'D {bo Of ffo
ears. 1t will, of course, be tested by thresh-
ing. have no doubt it will, as on former
occasions, yield more weight of straw as
we'll as more corn than the rest of the field.
I expect it will give about five quarters per
acre. This is not good yielding year On
our stiff non-caIcareous soils. 1t has as
tonished many who have watched its pro-
gress, and made many converts. Thin
sewers must be content to hear from all
who see their thin-sown crops during the
early stages of their growth that they
must prove failure. These three years
experiments have given me perfect con-
fidence in thin sowing under like circum-
stances; and shall practice it gradually
on more extended scale as safe and prof.
table Investment. think that the properterm
for thin sowing, should be sufficient sowing.
will endeavor by illustration to show
how really unreasonable and injurious our
general quantity sown must be. According
to Mr.. Card and general estimates of the
quantity Of grain sown (wheat, oats, bar
ley, &c., equals one-ninth of the pro duct,
SO that we get taking the whole kingdom)
nine. kernels for each one sown. An av-
erage ear of wheat, barley and oats would
EavA fnrfU karDo1 tboroforo or
fifth of an ear for each kernel -
Now, will defy any one who puts into
the soil g perfect kernel of grain to produce
so little as nine grains, or about the one
fifth part of an ear. The probability is,
in the case of wheat, that if
space of three to five inches intervenes be-
tween that and the next kernel, the increase
will be from 200 to 800, instead of nine
Many of mine have produced 600; how is
it, then, that we arrive at the present mis-
cradle increase of nine for one? Those
who observe natures operations will soon
receive reply. By our system of two to
four bushels per acre the kernels are crowd
ed together, the young ibres are pushed
forth, and fight with each other for the
small available portion of soil. The result
is many wounds. many deaths, plenty of
cripples among the few survivors, whose
dirninutive development gives evidence of
the severity Of the deadly struggle The
.fop that came up thick as q grass field soon
becomes thin and weakly. The reverse of
all this takes place with thin sowing, as the
roots ramify and extend without meeting
hungry and numerous competitors.
Baron Liebig justly says that the great
est enemy that wheat plant can have is
another wheat plant. This alone is suffi-
Gent explanation. Many farmers say:
's We don't like thin wheat crop; :" draw
,he crop mad become thin in consequence of
So far as my experience
goes, the grains are finer in size and quail
y, the straw more brilliant and CLASSY, and
more free from blight or mildew than the
thick sown, and there is more weight of
straw per acre.
But see what benefits the young grass or
clover plants derive from thin sowing.
They thrive, having air and light, in the
thin sown, while the thick sown and poor,
laid crop, smothers and de-
stroys them.
A neighbor of mine, who farms well, got
so angry ct losing his clover plant among
his oats that he was determinedto have a
clover crop at the cost of his oats, so he
only scWed one bushel instead of four, and
to his great surprise (but not to mine)
be had the best crop of cats he ever grew,
and an ample clover plant besides. Of
course, in speaking of thin sowing, as
sumo that the drill is used, and the seed
thus properly deposited.
I use the blower to my seed corn, so as to
have only heavy, perfect seeds-nine-tenth
Of which, at least, will vegetate.
1t is really distressing to be told, as I have
been lately, that sswe always SOW broadcast
seven bushels of wheat. Surprising forty
animals were placed in luxuriar.t pasture,
which would keep in good condition ten
animals for three months, at first all would
60 well, but long before the three months
had elapsed there would be plenty of deaths
and few cripples left. So it is with thick
sowing. j. Mechi, in Farmers Gazette.
New RULES FOR THE INSPECTION OF GRAIN.