Note 89 — Chapter IV · THE POSSIBILITIES OF AGRICULTURE—(continued).

It appears from many different experiments (mentioned in Prof. Garola’s excellent work, Les Céréales, Paris, 1892) that when tested seeds (of which no more than 6 per cent. are lost on sowing) are sown broadcast, to the amount of 500 seeds per square metre (a little more than one square yard), only 148 of them give plants. Each plant gives in such case from two to four stems and from two to four ears; but nearly 360 seeds are entirely lost. When sown in rows, the loss is not so great, but it is still considerable.