194 



If thej cultivate chess for ever so many years, they will find that 

 wheat cannot be produced from it. It is much better to turn our atten- 

 tion to the subject of procuring good seed, and eradicating weeds of 

 every kind. I have had more than twenty-five years experience in the 

 cultivation of wheat, and I have never seen an instance of transmuta- 

 tion. I am fully convinced that a thorough attention to cleaning of 

 seed, and the destruction of weeds, will go very far towards upsetting 

 the chess theory. 



The year 1855 will long be remembered by American farmers, as a 

 proof of the uncertainty of earthly things — an abundant crop of wheat 

 had arrived at maturity ; the fields were " white already unto harvest,"' 

 and some of them had fallen before the reaper ; when a change came ; 

 torrents of rain poured down for many days, and the hopes of the far- 

 mer were "laid" with his crop. 



Good sometimes arises out of evil; and although in this case, much 

 loss has been sustained by the farmer, and much injury to the commu- 

 nity has resulted from damaged flour, &c., people Avill be led to study 

 the best method of harvesting wheat in a wet season — the management 

 of sprouted grain, and the most aj^proved plans of making bread from, 

 damaged flour. 



A considerable portion of wheat had been cut before the rain, and 

 much of this sprouted, because it was left in the fields unsecured. 



In Europe, where the climate is much more variable than in Amer- 

 ica, the farmer takes care to secure his crops from rain, as fast as he cuts 

 them — wheat is bound immediately and made into "shocks" or "stucks," 

 which are carefully capped. It is sometimes made into small field 

 stacks, of about five bushels each, and this is an excellent way of secur- 

 ing it, as the butts of the sheaves are all exposed to the influence of the 

 sun and wind. 



If wheat has been cut down and overtaken by rain before it is secured 

 and there is no prospect of fine weather, it should be bound into small 

 sheaves and set up in uncapped shocks, and these should be frequently 

 "re-made;''^ this latter process often prevents grain from sprouting, as 

 the frequent stirring and changing disturbs that repose which encour- 

 ages vegetation. 



Some parts of every field are more sheltered than others ; and as 

 wheat is liable to sprout in such places, it should be removed, and made 



