The Farmer.

Dunstan Times, Issue 999, 10 June 1881, Page 3

The Farmer.

agricultural paragraphs.

Tho prevalent idea that shallow uloughing is sufficient tor grass seed is an erroneous one. Unlike corn, tho roots of which keep near tho surface and require heat, tho roots of grass require depth, moisture and colder soil.

“ Hodden Gray,” in tho “ Australasian,” says : -On a recent occasion I directed the attention of grain-growers to tho beneficial influence exoreised bv change of seed especially from a cool district to a warmer one, in causing an increased yield of grain. In order to secure the'best results, not only is an occasional change necessary, it is also of tho utmost importance that the seed, of its kind, should bo large, well developed, perfect. 1 am aware that “thin seed,” the produce of a rusted crop, will grow, and, under favorable conditions, yield a fair return of good grain, if the precaution is taken to sow only half tho usual quantity of perfectly-developed seed. Necessity sometimes, unfortunately, compels the farmer to uso “ thin seed,” or none, but whore it can bo avoided the practice is one that cannot be commended. The most perfect grain used as seed, and sown not too thickly on well-prepared ground, will produce the heaviest crop of the best grain. The “ pedigreed ” wheats and barleys, by their large yields of superior grain, fully illustrate tho benefit derivable from careful selection of the beat seed and early and thin sowing. To continue year after year sowing inferior seed on the same land, besides lessening the yield, results in degeneracy of the plant. Careful selection of tho best gram for seed purposes is just as unimportant to tho grower of grain as is the judicious and careful selection of sires and dams to the breeder of animals. Professor Beckman, who is a staunch advocate of large and perfectly-developed seed, mentions an experiment made with a sample of nursery wheat. A largo proportion of the grain was considered too small for seed. The large and tho small grains were separated anil drilled in equal-measured quantities in stretches aide by side. The result was “ that the large seeds yielded quite twice the crop of tho small, though probibly consisting of little more than half the number of seeds. The small seed plots were too thick by half, and so resulted iu a poor crop of small ears.” Tho conclusion ho arrives at, and it is the result of experience, it that early and thinner sowing of good seed produces tho best crop of tho finest quality of gram with the smallest quantity of “ tailings ” ; and that later and thickly-sown crops give a smaller yield, with a much larger percentage of interior grain. These important principles in connexion with selection of the finest seeds and an occassional change of seed arc worthy of serious attention, inasmuch as they exercise a wonderful influence on tho quantity and the quality of tho crop and thus add largely to tho farmers’ returns.