Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1868-09-25
8ieIS arh 8arnfn.
Preparation Of Seed wheat,

writes
But few cultivators, comparatively, |
recognize the value Of due prepsra-
tioa OF seeds by sleeping in tertiliSing
substances. There seems to be on re-
cord hardly enough Of reliable testimo-
my to justify a dependence upon any
particular mode or Of any particular
substance, ia thus fer'iliEiug our seeds,
bat quite enough to call for and to jus
tify the most painstakiug experiments
to determine how or with what the diff
feTent seeds may be prepared to give |
them that impulse in their earliest |
growth which seems to influence all |
their after progress We know how es- |
pecially necessary to our great staple, |
wheat, is such an early impulse, that,
under our practice of lace fall sowing, |
it NAV be SO rooted in the fall az to en-
able it ia the spriRg to bear its burden
of seed 1t may be doubted whether
the marvellous effect of mere busting
of Peruvian guano we're not due rather
TO this effect upon its earliest growth
than to any other influence. When the
drill came into use, intelligent farmers
testified that fifty pounds put III contact
with the seed, through the tubes of the
drill, we're equivalent to two hundred
sown broadcast and less than half this
quantity was said to give an equal APP
parent Improvement in some cases, where
the grain was brined first aud busted
with as much guauo as would adhere to
it.
DR.. David Stewart, well known as an
agricultural chemist, and who has given
great deal of experimental invcotiga-
TO questions of the sort, says, IN an ar
ticle published some years ago in the
American Farmer "Any soil properly
constituted with regard to conslstence,
and in organic elements, will produce
double the crop with good cultivation.
if we ensure prompt aud vigorous
growth of the young plant"
"The most important influence he
says, further, ''exorted by concentrated
manure, appears to be their tendency to
develop more promptly and perfectly
the germs of the cereals. How 1t is
possible that the embryo should antici-
pate its future wants, and recognize the
supply, we cannot divine; but it appears
pretty well established that seeds may
be dormant for years, until certain ex-
cess of the elements necessary TO their
full development accumulates around
them, and thus, or by peculiar cultiva-
ton, they obtain the ascendency over
other plants.
"Multiplied experiments have proved
that 1.-THE of this quantity, placed
near the seed, will produce the same eff
feet, although twothirds of the manure
arc composed of volatile elements which
do not contain one fifth of their weight
of nitrogen; and what is still more re-
,markable, the heterogeneous or ammOnia>
cal manures, not only and more than
ten times their weight of nitrogen to
the plants, but those grains that con.
tain the most nitrogen are least benefit
ted by heterogeneous manures. Have we
derived no hints on this subject from
the poor Indian, who to this day pres
ses out few drops of blood from his
slaughtered foe upon his hills of maize
Blood is highly azotizcd substance,
exceedingly liable to change, and during
the state of activity or change it is APP
to set up fermentation in grains of corn
and those metamorphoses which precedC
and accompany termination"
A number of carefully made expert
ments are also found recorded in the
American Farmer, as made by Hon. L
G.. Clemson, Commissioner of Agricul'
ture under President Buchanan, Oh biz
farm near Washington.
1.-The practice of preparing seed," he
remarks, " is by no means new. The
Egyptians and other nations practiced th'
at, and have reason for believing tina
it made a neeessa y part of their system
of husbandry. After multiplied obser
yations and varied experiments, hay,
come to the conclusion that prope
preparation vastly increases production
/ also believe that the same cause rem
ders the plant less liable to the casual
ties Of disease and the destructive &C
ton of insects, and in small grain, oil
which | have chiefly experimental, in
creases the quantity and quality of tn
grim, as well as adding greatly to In
size, healthiness, and amount of straw
"These observations have been re
pcatedly corroboraied by those VIII
have had OCCASION and have taken sufi
cient interest in the matter, to compar
and examine into the subject,
"As the experiments were institutes
for my own personal satisfaction, hav
not found it necessary to be exact as {
measurement Of ground aud product
varied paintings, side by side, afTorde,
the means Of comparison for my purpo
SEES. At the instance Of u friend,
carefully measured the ground plante,
last year in rye and wheat. No ma
nure of any kind was used.
1.-The ground seeded amounted t
nine and half acres-seven and hal
in rye and two in wheat Tho top O
the hill which thought the poorest
was sowed with rye, the seed havin
been previously prepared; through IT,
entire length and in the centre a stri
of about two lands was sowed with Tia
same seed in its normal state. Tn
ground sowed with the prepared see
N assured three acres, There was
manifest difference in the heads, straw
aud grain, between the prepared aud M
prepared. The crop from the prepare
seed was even, tall and heavy; tn
a, /. and h,p1