SECRETARY'S REPORT. 179 



of autumn, and not to the severity of the winters. If dry weather 

 followed the sowing of winter wheat, the seed was slow in vege- 

 tating, in which case it obtained but a feeble root, and of course 

 must be a failure. If sowed early in fall, and with a usually moist 

 autumn, so as to allow the wheat to get a good growth before the 

 coming on of winter, this variety of wheat may, even now, be 

 raised in the county with the average success of most crops. 

 Shall its culture be wholly given up by our farmers ? 



A single word on the culture of spring wheat in the county, as 

 it is at present. In the new settlements on Dead river, and also 

 in some of the northern towns in the county, wheat is now grown 

 with good success, the average yield per acre being fourteen bush- 

 els. In this section it is sown earlj' — sometimes when drifts of 

 snow are upon the ground when it is being harrowed — and the rust 

 seldom injures it, while the weevil is unknown. It is also raised 

 in Concord, Athens, New Portland and Lexington. The present 

 season has been a favorable one for early sown wheat, and many 

 farmers in the county are encouraged to hope that the time may 

 come when this grain can be raised with the average success of 

 previous years. A farmer in New Portland writes me that wheat 

 in that section has been good the present year, the average yield, 

 per acre, being about twelve bushels, and in some cases fifteen or 

 twenty has been obtained. An intelligent cultivator residing in 

 one of the river towns, who has a farm composed of a hard rocky 

 soil, recently stated to me that during the forty years which he has 

 resided upon it, and having raised wheat every year, he has the 

 present season raised the best wheat grown during the entire period. 



In view of these facts, it is advisable for the farmers of the 

 county once more to give increased attention to the culture of 

 wheat. Prcparethe ground in the fall, and sow as early in spring 

 as possible. The locations most favorable for a wheat crop, are 

 upon elevated lands, and with a western or northern exposure. 

 From an article in the Maine Farmer, of September 27, 1860, I 

 copy the sentence which follows, as being appropriate in this place, 

 and conveying some useful suggestions : — " The grain mufit he 

 soivn early and have passed the blossoming state, usually, by the 

 middle of July, to avoid the weevil and the rust of wet sultry 

 weather that sometimes occurs before late sown wheat is sufScient- 

 ly matured not to be affected by it. One week's time in hastening 

 maturity, will uniformily be gained by leaving the top soil hard 

 and compressed, both before and immediately after sowing, either 



