WHEAT CULTURE. 27 



averaging 21.1 bushels per acre, at 69 cents per bushel — equal to 

 $19.11 per acre, a difference in favor of the wheat of $17.21 an 

 acre. If the 95,800 acres of oats had been sown with wheat, 

 instead, the yield of money to pay out for flour would have been 

 increased $1,639,138 — more than enough to purchase 100,000 

 barrels of flour. The relative exhaustion of soil, as well as the 

 value of wheat and oats for a seeding crop, are also considerations 

 of no mean importance, in comparing the merits of these two 

 crops. It may seem an extravagant calculation that counts nearly 

 two million dollars annual loss to the farmers of Maine, in growing 

 oats instead of wheat ; but those are the figures, and figures are 

 said not to lie. They are significantly suggestive, to say the 

 least. 



We raise but little winter wheat in Maine. The crop has been 

 frequently tried and as often abandoned, and the failure attributed 

 to the severity of the climate. But late sowing and careless 

 cultivation are more probable causes. That winter wheat can be 

 raised in Maine is demonstrated by the success of the crop in New 

 Hampshire and the Canadas. Mr. Levi Bartlett of Warner, N. 

 H., in 1862, writes the Commissioner of Agriculture, that "those 

 sowing as early as the first of September, on suitable soil, realized 

 a yield from sixteen to twenty bushels for the bushel sown," and 

 adds: — "for ten years I have grown winter wheat every year, 

 and without a single failure in raising a fair crop. On my farm 

 winter wheat has proved a surer crop than either corn, potatoes, 

 or oats. I have come to the conclusion that fall sown wheat is as 

 sure a crop in New Hampshire as it is in any other State in the 

 Union." If winter wheat is a sure crop in New Hampshire it can 

 be no less sure in Maine. If our spasmodic attempts to cultivate 

 this crop have proved failures, it is because of our inattention to 

 proper cultivation, and early sowing. Freezing and thawing in 

 spring is oftener the cause of failure, than anything else. Early 

 sowing will give the plant a strong start before winter sets in, and 

 prevent this. Situations sheltered from heavy winds, where the 

 snow neither blows on or off, are most desirable to prevent smother- 

 ing or freezing out. With these precautions observed, rich culture, 

 care in seeding and covering, we may expect reasonable success in 

 raising winter wheat in Maine. 



Spring wheat has been mostly cultivated hitherto. The club 

 variety is preferred in Somerset county. Early sowing is of the 

 utmost importance. There is hardly an instance of failure where 



