60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



FROM UEV. A. LIXCOLX. 



" Some attention has been given to the raising of wheat, within a 

 few years past, by the farmers of Gray. More is now raised than for- 

 merly ; but the uncertainty of the crop, arising from the worm, the 

 weevil, and the rust, has had a discour:iging tendency. Winter wheat, 

 sown early, in a good soil, has generally done well." 



FROM CAMU*X. 



" "Rpfnvp tlio ivooT^-U anrl the rust booame so destructive to wheat, 

 considerable was raised in this town. Some farmers raised sufhcicht 

 for their family consumption. But of late, none has been raised, till 

 last season, when a very little was sown, and it yielded well. One 

 man raised twenty-seven bushels from one bushel of seed sown on one 

 hundred rods of ground. But that was a great yield — double what is 

 commonly raised. Our farmers consider it a doubtful crop, and will 

 not cultivate it to any great extent, so long as they can buy sviperfine 

 flour for from seven to ten dollars per barrel." 



FROJI B. F. "WILEUK. 



" The cultivation of wheat, in Monson, is somewhat on the decline 

 from what it was some ten or twelve years ago. The present year, 

 however, more is sown than the last year or the year before. This 

 decline may be attributed, in part, to the depredations of the weevil, 

 and partly to the prevailing belief, that oats and other grains are more 

 surely productive. "Winter wheat is not cultivated by our farmers. 

 None was sown in town, last year, to my knowledge, excepting a piece 

 by the writer. Some five or six years ago, farmers tried the experi- 

 ment of growing it ; but they became discouraged, from its tendency 

 to winter-kill. The writer has grown it, more or less, for several years, 

 with tolerable success. Has never known it to winter-kill entirely, 

 when sown on burnt land."*'' 



FROM JOSEPH PARSONS. 



" The cultivation of wheat, in the town of Parsonsfield, appears to 

 be on the increase. The fly, or weevil, is the principal hindrance to a 

 more extended cultivation of this grain. If our varieties of wheat are 

 sow^n late, to get clear of the weevil, the rust is apt to injure the straw, 

 and prevent the grain from filling out properly. Our present prospects 

 for a crop are much better than they have been for some years past. I 

 think we may, by perseverance, a little improvement in the mode of 

 cultivation, and occasionally a shift of seed, yet be able to raise our 

 own supply of wheat." 



* AVhy has it not winterkilled nn bitriU lauil 7 Is it not because sncli land is better drained by 

 the roots of trees tliat fill the ground, and thereby the accumulation of water prevented, so that 

 the roots were not torn off by the heaving of the ground .' 



