Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-09-11
THICK AND THIN SEEDING OF
WHEAT.

Lane Express has a leading and in
structiYe article on thick and thin
seeding Of wheat in England. 1t say
the general practice is to allow tire,
bushels Of seed to the acre, and the
average produce does not much exceed
twenty-eight bushels per acre; say nine
OF ten for one. To adjust the quantity
of seed to the quality and preparation
of the soil, the advantages of the eli
mate, and the number Of sound seeds
in a bushel of grain, is not so simple a
matter as many suppose. Some seeds
are more than twice as large as others,
giving less than half as many plants
TO the gallon.
Few cultivated cereals are more va
riable and impressible than this bread
corn of prehistoric ages, as the fol-
lowing recent record proves. Mr.. Mil
Ter, the Curator Of the Botanical Gar
dens at Cambridge Eng inserted an
account of the experiment which he
undertook in the Philosophical Trans
actions of the Royal Society:
In the month of June, I766, sowed
some wheat, and Cd the Sth Of August
one plant was taken up and separated
into eighteen parts, and replanted.
These plants were again taken up and
divided in the months Of September
and October, and planted separately to
stand the winter, and this division pro-
duced sixty-seven plants. These were
again taken mp In March and April.
and productive hundred plants. The
number of ears thUs formed from one
grain of wheat was 2l,lO0, which gave
three pecks and three-quarters of corn,
estimated at 576,S4O grains. The land
was Of medium quality, and no manure
applied.
Without any Of the above sub-divis-
ions of wheat plants and roots, the
writer has seen three thousand seeds
produced from one at a single crop IN
Middle Tennessee. If any thing ike
such an increase is practicable. why
should educated farmers in Eng
land, Scotland, France and the United
States, mot to name other countries
be content TO raise on an average less
than ten bushels from one of seed?
English wheat growers, In the opinion
of the Mark Lane Express, throw away
every year some eight or ten million
bushels of good wheat, in extra seed,
say all above a bushel and a peck 10
the acre, sown in the United Kingdom.
To give the inhabitants their bread.
they have to import an average of
about ninety million bushels a year
10 harvest oYer twenty-eight bushels
per acre, Is twice as well as Americans
10 with this great staple.
But now much seed Of cleaned wheat
ought to be sown or planted on an acre
OF good wheat land? If twelve pecks,
as sown in England from time imme-
moral, Is too much, is one peck, or
even two pecks, enough as is contended
by many? The reduction of seed
wheat, putting it in drills, was COM
menced near the beginning Of the last
century by Jethro TuIl, a lawyer of
genius, who had 200 acres of land. and
more taste for scientific farming than
working among the thorns and briers
of the law. We have studied TuI,
and to do him Justice, remark that
mental accumen and learning placed
HIM a century in advance Of his age.
His theory was that thorough tillage
Is competent, with or without manure
to secure the profitable growth of any
given species of cultivated plant year
after year in succession"
Next TO Mr.. Tun in distinction. and
IN our oSn time, an excellent clergy
man comes to the front as an expert
mentcr with little seed, deep and
thorough communion of the ground.
by the name of Smith, Of Lois Weldon.
The Mark Lane Express says: Mr..
Smith, too, practiced this plan for
nearly twenty years, and produced on
half the land from thirty-fve to forty
bushels per half acre. The amount Of
seed sown was from one to two pccks
per acre. nc mere being ever applied.
Mr.. Smith never applied any fertil-
izer to his experimental field. The
ground was dug up deep perhaps 20
inches) IN beds three feet wide and
planted in three rows Of wheat some
nine OF ten inches apart. The three
feet space between the beds was uncul-
tivated, but gave air, vapor and sun
shine to the growing crop. Next year
the part which rests this year is early
dug, made very fine and planted. Thus
half Of his field rests every year, and
an average of less than twelve quarts