The small thick Plants are so far from equalling the Product of the single, by their Excess of Number, that the more they are, the smaller, shorter, and weaker they become; less Nourishment they have, and the less Crop they produce; and are soon starv’d, decay, and die, unless reliev’d by the Expence of frequent Manure, or that the Soil be very rich. Single Plants exceed the other by a Multitude of Degrees, more than a Giant does a Dwarf, in Strength, as well as Stature; and therefore when natural Grass happens to come, are so much the better able to shift amongst it. The single Plants seem also to exceed the other in their Longevity; for ’tis observ’d, that all St. Foin that has continu’d great for a good Number of Years without Manure, has been so single, that the Owners have determined to plow it up at the Beginning, for the Thinness of it. How long this may last by Culture, I can’t tell; but undoubtedly much longer than without it; and I can say, that I never knew a Plant of St. Foin die a natural Death; the most common End of it is Starving. And when an hundred thick Plants have not the Nourishment which One single Plant has, ’tis no Wonder that these (in a Croud[173] thus besieg’d with Hunger) should be starv’d before it. [173] Sown Plants, when too thick, are crouded on every Side; but those that are drill’d, have always Room enough on Two Sides of them; unless the Rows are too near together. Another Advantage the single have, in respect of Moisture: These reach to a Depth where that is never wanting, even when the upper _Stratum_ or Staple is parch’d up, as appears by the Experiment of the Mints, that if any Root of a Plant has Moisture, that Root will communicate a Share to all the rest. Hence it is, that, in the driest Summer, these single Plants make a great Crop, when the other yield next to nothing. I remember I once saw a Farmer coming out of a Ground with a Load of St. Foin Hay, which he assured me was all he could find worth cutting, out of Forty Acres of this thick sort, in full Perfection, Three Years after sowing: He valued his Load at Three Pounds; but withal said it came off so much Ground, that the Expence of Mowing, Raking, _&c._ was more than the Value; when, in the very same dry Summer, there was Three Tun of St. Foin to an Acre in a Field[174], where it was drill’d single and regularly. [174] This was on rich deep Land in _Oxfordshire_; and the other St. Foin, which was so poor, was on thin Slate Land near _Causham_ in _Wiltshire_ in the _Bath Road_. It is now about Forty Years since. And I have often observ’d, that where the Plants are thin, the Second Crop of them springs again immediately after cutting; when Plants that stand thick in the same Ground, spring not till Rain comes; and I have seen the thin grown high enough to cut the Second time, before the other began to spring.