Among the common Irish farmers, indifference to the quality of all seeds
is still remarkable. Even in respect to wheat, that most valuable grain,
stupidity and carelessness are observable, though the loss sustained in
consequence, both in the quantity and quality of the produce, is very
great. It is no doubt principally owing to the superiority of climate
that wheat and other corn crops grown in the midland counties of England
are so far superior to our grain productions; but much of the excellence
which we perceive is attributable to the care taken in changing seed, and
using that only which is really good. An English farmer will send his
waggon a considerable distance for the seed which will best answer for
his land, and he is willing to pay an advanced price for it, as he knows
that his advantage will be proportional.
We do not import from the principal wheat counties of England a
sufficient quantity of seed: degeneracy rapidly takes place in the
quality of that which we do sow of imported grain, and on that account
a regular and frequent change is necessary, and by the more economical
distribution of this, the difference between the prices of home-grown and
imported seed would be scarcely felt. Not that I would recommend, except
in some of our most calcareous inland counties, those _white_ varieties
which flourish in Kent, or Suffolk, or Buckinghamshire, but the hardier
red Lammas kinds which succeed with us in general, but which require
frequent renewal, else they become thick skinned and dark coloured, and
consequently of inferior value to the miller. By substituting the drill
system for the broad-cast in fit seasons, and on land perfectly suited to
it, one part in four, certainly one in five, is saved, even by those who
sow in the narrowest possible drills, and thickly.
I shall detail the mode by which the land is prepared for sowing, and
the process of sowing, in Buckinghamshire, on clover ley, the most
troublesome for the purpose:--
Farm-yard manure being spread upon the surface, wheel ploughs drawn by
three powerful horses are set to work to plough the land in the usual
British way. In wide lands or stitches, after the sod has been turned and
laid at an angle of forty-five degrees, the seed is sometimes then sown
and harrowed down. But the neatest farmers, instead of sowing at this
stage of the work, employ a compressing implement formed of two parallel
metal wheels at one end of an axle, and very close to each other, and
a guide wheel of the same diameter at the other end. The interior rims
of the compressing wheels (or rollers) are four inches wide, and nearly
touch each other; the exterior surfaces are narrowed to two inches; these
wheels sink into the earth at the junctions of the furrow slices, and
by pressing down the grassy edges, and forming perfect grooves at the
intervals of seven or nine inches, the seed may be sown with extreme
exactness, and without the loss of a single grain, and at a uniform
depth. But though the seed is frequently sown with the preparation just
stated, the practice of the neatest and most judicious farmers is to
harrow down these drills after the rollers have formed and completed
them, and then to sow with the Suffolk drill-machine in the free and
pulverized surface. This implement forms and sows several shallow drills
at each bouting, and with perfect precision; the experienced eye of the
man who follows in the rear, enabling him in an instant to perceive any
possible irregularity in the movement of the hoppers and distribution of
the seed.
The great advantage derived from the action of these compressing wheels
is, that the grassy edges of the furrow slices are prevented altogether
from vegetating by the depth to which they are removed from the surface,
and that the pressure of the portions into which the rollers sink, is
far more effective and consolidating than if an ordinary broad roller
were to pass over the entire area. In preparing any loose fallow land for
vetches, these compressing rollers are very serviceable. By following two
ploughs, and in the same tracks, the ploughing and the perfect formation
of the drills by pressure are accomplished in the same space of time, the
two wheels obviously describing double the number of furrows described by
each plough in the same period.
In heavy clay soils this compression is at least unnecessary, and in
stony land drilling is difficult and unadvisable, but in light open
soils the advantages of this system are considerable. The proper season
for sowing is also a point of great consideration, both as regards the
economy of seed of any kind, and the productiveness of the crop.
Some people labour to effect their seed-sowing on a particular day or
week without other calculations, and are quite satisfied that all is
well if the seed is in the ground at the precise time which they have
appointed for the purpose. Now, any rule as to _time_ alone is especially
absurd in our variable climate; even in the midland counties of
England, where extreme vicissitudes of weather are less frequent, it is
injudicious to fix any certain rule as to the exact time for committing
the various sorts of corn to the ground. Experience has taught those who
have considered the subject, that it is unwise to _force a season_. For
example, the middle of October is considered in Buckinghamshire to be
the best time for sowing wheat; but the earth at that time may be so dry
(and actually was so in the past year) as to be more fit for barley than
wheat; or it may then be so wet as to be equally unfit for the reception
of the seed. In either case the judicious farmer waits for the correct
season, which experience has taught will have a corresponding harvest.
After a wet cold summer the light dry soils of that county being firm and
consolidated, it is perhaps desirable to sow wheat at a very early period
of the autumn; and after a hot dry summer, when the land is in a contrary
condition, it would be better to wait for the autumnal rains to obtain a
firm seed bed. Again, with barley on the same soil, the first of April
is considered a good time; but the farmer who should persist in sowing
just then in spite of the weather or the unprepared state of the land,
would be a fool indeed, and would discover the effect of his blunder
in the shortness of his crop. It is true that the superstitions of the
ancients which so ridiculously influenced the affairs of husbandry, have
long since ceased to be regarded. No one in these days would think it
expedient to steep his seed in the juice of wild cucumbers; nor to bring
it into contact with the horns of an ox, for luck; nor to cover the seed
basket with the skin of a hyæna, to keep off by its odour the attacks of
vermin; nor to sprinkle corn before sowing with water in which stags’
horns or crabs had been immersed; nor to mix powdered cypress leaves
through the seed--though pickles and solutions for destroying insects
are not to be despised. Neither are the planetary influences now much
respected; yet there are many foolish old farmers who attach no little
importance to the state of the moon, the dark nights in November being a
favourite season, without the really important considerations that the
earth and the weather are in an appropriate and congenial state.
I have stated that the drills formed by the Suffolk drill-machine are
very shallow; they are merely sufficient to afford about an inch of
covering to the grain; but I have been assured by the best judges that
the natural tendency of the cereal grains to strike their fibres is such
that a heavy covering is unnecessary. _Our_ national opinion is in favour
of a heavy covering, and our wheat especially is actually imbedded deeply
in the ground with a plough.
The practice in Great Britain universally is to _harrow in_ the grain.
The same practice is universally prevalent in France, where the land is
left roughly harrowed (in the case of winter wheat), in order that the
mouldering of the clods in spring may afford a kind of earthing to the
plants, and prevent the running together of the earth in the wet winter
months, as is too frequent on tenacious soils too finely harrowed.
It is not very long since the advantage of compressing the soil, for
wheat in particular, was discovered in Buckinghamshire, by the accidental
circumstance of a roller (which had been used for some different purpose)
having been drawn in a zig-zag direction across a wheat field. The
plants tillered better, looked far more vigorous during their advance to
maturity, and yielded a far better return on the part of the field so
distinguished by the course of the rollers, which soon after became a
favourite implement in the culture of grain crops.
There is no doubt that all seeds are frequently sown with wasteful
prodigality, because they are cheap or indifferent in quality. How much
better then is it to have those of superior quality, though at a higher
price, and to encourage the distribution of them in the soil by a careful
_mode_ of sowing!
Grains of corn of superior excellence are frequently selected with great
care, as by Colonel le Couteur, in Jersey, and then sown with a dibble
in seedling beds. The plants thus carefully treated tiller surprisingly,
and produce accordingly; after two or three seasons, a fine variety, or
a _renovation_ of some previously established one, is obtained, and the
seed is anxiously sought for.
Do any of our farmers ever dream of going through their corn fields in
harvest, and thus obtain choice seeds? And yet what is there to prevent
success in this respect? A poor farmer who cannot afford to purchase
celebrated varieties at a high cost, may become his own seedsman, by care
and assiduity, in an incredibly short time. Let some of our readers make
the desired experiments for their own sakes.