S72

ON THE ARABLE LAND

SECT. VIII.

OF CHANGING SEED.

Jt 1 rom experience, every attentive husbandman is convincedthat it is of the most essential importance, frequently to change' the seed of such grains as are cultivated on arable land. Thevarious kinds of grain, even selected varieties, altered or im-proved by means of judicious culture, are all liable either torevert to the wild species or varieties, or to degenerate par-tially into other varieties, becoming what is termed blunderedor blended, unless they are carefully kept up to their properstandard, by means similar to those by which they had beenoriginally procured. AH our cereal gramina, or culmiferousgrains, were originally natural grasses, selected in ancienttimes by ingenious benefactors of mankind, and have beenimproved by cultivation and farther selection to their presentstandards of perfection. There can be no doubt that all ofthese, if negligently cultivated, would again degenerate, orreturn to their originally wild state. Thus, when the seeds ofthe best varieties of cultivated turnips happen to fall on anuncultivated corner of a field, they only produce leaves andflowering stems, without swelling into fleshy bulbs, their onlyvaluable part in regard to husbandry. Oats, likewise, underslovenly management, and when frequently sown on the sameland, gradually acquire long tails or awns, thick husks, anddegenerate so much as to resemble wild oats.

The attention of husbandmen to the preservation of se-lected varieties of established character, is principally confin-ed to the simple expedient of procuring changes of seed, ofthe best quality, from different soils and distant farms or dis-