260 



as white flour, and has a thuiner skin than ihe White 

 bearded — gives a better yield, and commands a few cents 

 more than ordinary prices for other varieties. There is be- 

 sides another kind of wheat recently introduced into this 

 county, called the Blue Stem, which so far speaks well for 

 extensive culture. It has eight rows of full grain, producing 

 from fifty to sixty grains on a stalk, and is said to ripen as 

 early as the White-chafF bearded. Its qualities not being 

 fully tested, we omit further notice for the present. 



One of the many modes of preparing the ground for seed- 

 ing with wheat, is to break up the fallow or stubble early 

 after harvest, and harrow lengthwise with the furrows — then 

 haul barn-yard manure aud spread even over the surface; 

 plow a second time about two-thirds the depth as before, ta- 

 king wide furrows so as to leave the ground in niches formed 

 by the plow some three inches deep ; sow the seed and harrow 

 length-wise the furrows. This method covers the grain deep 

 and somewhat similar to drilled wheat. It comes up and 

 grows more vigorously, and stands the winter better than 

 when sown upon an evenly harrowed surface, which is apt 

 to leave one-fourth of the grains to perish for the want of 

 depth of covering. The only preparation given to seed is 

 cleansing it of cheat, &c. The general time of seeding is 

 from the 10th to the last of September. The Wabash as 

 early as tho 10th. The quantity of seed used per acre is 

 about one and a-half bushels. The average yield for a series 

 of five years, in this county, is about fifteen bushels per acre. 

 The time of harvesting, is from the 26th day of June to the 

 6th of July. The wheat when cradled or reaped, (which has 

 heretofore been generally practised) is put up in shocks. The 

 shocks are permitted to remain in the field for ten days or 

 two weeks, if designed to be placed in the barn or stack. If 

 threshed in the field, then it remains often three or four 

 weeks, awaiting the convenience of the thresher. Seven- 

 eighths of all the wheat grown is bought up and floured in 

 the county. Fifty cents per bushel may be set down as the 



