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substantial motive for the universal adoption of drilling, asthe saving in this way cannot be very material; but on landthat is much infested by annual weeds, there cannot be aquestion that drilling is a very important improvement; asby this means the farmer is enabled to have his crop hand-hoed between the drills, and to destroy one crop of annualweeds at least, before sowing clover and rye grass.
§ 4. The quantity of seed _This must be regulated by the
judgment and experience of the husbandman, in the inverseproportion of the fertility of his soil and the earliness of sow-ing, jointly considered; the richer the soil and the earlier it issown, so much the less seed being required, and vice versa.Upon well prepared lands, in high condition, and perfectlyadapted for wheat, the seed can hardly be sown too thin af-ter fallow, if equably distributed. In such cases, two bushelsof seed per acre is generally quite sufficient. On such soils,though the crop may appear thin during the winter, theseedling plants have time and vigour enough to fill up thefield, by means of suckers or lateral plants, which branch outfrom the principal root, called tillering or planting out, andproduce a full crop in autumn. When sown too thick,rich fields are apt to become overstocked with more plantsthan can come to perfection, which accordingly grow upweak, slender, and unproductive, not being able to nourishand bring to perfection the over-abundance, which crowdsthe field. Bean stubbles require more seed than sum-mer fallows, and clover ley ought to have even more seedthan bean stubbles. Turnip land sown in spring, must havea still more ample allowance of seed, as the shorter time ofgrowth does not leave a sufficient interval for tillering, andmany of the suckers that are produced never come to matu-rity. In these cases, from three bushels, up to rather lessthan four, may be necessary, per acre.
§ 5. Pickling , or preparation of the seed ,—Before wheatis sown, it is almost universally pickled or steeped, and this