The Injury these Hay-crops do to the St. Foin is best seen where some Parts of the same Field have them, and the other Parts are without them.
If Barley, Oats, or other Corn sown with St. Foin, do lodge, it will kill[166] the young St. Foin that is under it: But then so great a Crop of Corn will certainly answer the very little Expence of drilling the St. Foin again, either the next Year, or as soon as the Corn is off the Ground.
[166]When Barley, among which the St. Foin is planted in a dry Summer, is great, there are few Farmers that know till the next Spring, whether the St. Foin succeeds or not; because the young Plants are not then visible; unless it be to those who are accustomed to observe them in all the Degrees of their Growth. I have seen a Field of Ten Acres of such, wherein, after the Barley was carried off, nothing appeared like St. Foin; but when by the Print of the Chanels I searched diligently, I found the small St. Foin Plants thick enough in the Rows; they had no Leaves, they being cut off by the Scythe; no Part of them that was left had any Green Colour; but from the Plants there came out many Sprigs like Hog’s Bristles, or like the Beard of Barley: This whole Piece of St. Foin succeeded so well, that the Third Year its Crop was worth Three Pounds per Acre, the Land being good.
St. Foin drill’d betwixt Rows of Barley or Oats, always is stronger than when drill’d amongst Corn that is sown at random; and therefore is in less Danger of being kill’d by the Lodging of the Corn; neither is the Corn in Rows so liable to fall as the other.
The Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre will depend, in great Measure, upon the Goodness of it; for in some bad Seed, not more than One in Ten will grow; and in good Seed, not One in Twenty will miss; which is best known by stripping off the Husks of a certain Number of Seeds, and planting the Kernels in Earth, in the manner directed for finding the proper Depth to plant at, which, in this Case, let be half an Inch: This being done, the Quality of the Seed will be known. But until frequent Trials have furnish’d Experience enough to the Planter to know the Difference, let him observe, that the following are good Signs; viz. The Husk of a bright Colour, the Kernel plump, of a light-grey or blue Colour, or sometimes of a shining black; yet the Seed may be good, tho’ the Husk is of a dark Colour, if that is caused by its receiving Rain in the Field, and not by heating in a Heap, or in the Mow; and if you cut the Kernel off in the Middle, cross-ways, and find the Inside of a Greenish fresh Colour, it’s surely good; but if of a yellowish Colour, and friable about the Navel, and thin, or pitted, these are Marks of bad Seed.
The Quantity, or rather Number of Seeds convenient to drill, ought to be computed by the Number of Plants[167] we propose to have for making the best Crop, allowing for Casualties[168].
[167]Not that we need to be so exact as to the Number of Plants, whether they be Two, Three, or Four hundred upon a square Perch. Neither is it possible to know beforehand the precise Number of Plants that may live; for sometimes the Grub kills many, by eating off the first Two Leaves.
[168]Many even of the best of Seeds, both sown and drill’d, are liable to Casualties, but not equally; for about Twenty-eight Years ago, my Servants (being prime Seedsmen) had a Fancy in my Absence to try an Experiment of the Difference betwixt sowing and drilling of St. Foin; and in the Middle of a large Field of my best Land they sow’d a square Piece of Three Acres, at the Rate of One Bushel to an Acre, not doubting but, by their skill in sowing even, it would succeed as well as if drill’d; but it succeeded so much against their Expectation, that the Land all round it, which was drill’d at the same Time, with the same Proportion of the same Seed, brought extraordinary good Crops of St. Foin; but the sow’d Part was so very thin, that tho’ it lay still with the rest for Eight Years, it never was a Crop, there not being above Three or Four upon a square Perch, taking the Three Acres all together: Not that it can be supposed, that the sown would always meet with so many Casualties as this did; for then Eight Bushels sown to an Acre might have been too thin, and much thinner than all the rest of the Field was, tho’ drill’d with only One Bushel to an Acre: And ’tis often seen, that when an Acre is sown with seven Bushels of Seed, the St. Foin is as much too thick, as that sown with One Bushel was too thin.
I do not know, that of the many hundred Acres of St. Foin, that have been drill’d for me, ever one Acre was too thin, except when planted with Wheat: The young Plants were kill’d by the Frost.
In drilling St. Foin not to be ho’d, and before the Ploughs of my Drill were so perfect in making narrow Chanels as they are now (for, when the Chanels were open, they had Six times the Breadth, wherein Part of the Seed was wasted), then my Quantity was One Bushel to an Acre, sometimes Six Gallons.