170 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



never be sown in the same field, or so near as to hybridize oi 

 mix. Keep your variety pure, save the best seed with care, 

 and cultivate well, and your wheat crop will increase both in 

 quantity and quality. 



Smut is a great enemy of the wheat crop, and the only help 

 tor it is brining the seed. The most convenient method is the 

 following. Cut a cider barrel or oil tierce in two, in the middle, 

 or use two' large wash tubs; make a strong brine, strong 

 enough to bear an egg, and if used hot all the better; put the 

 brine into one of the tubs and turn the wheat into it; stir it 

 up two or three times and skim off the chess, chaff, and light 

 wheat which will come to the surface; then shovel it out into 

 a basket, and let it drain over the other tub ; turn it on to the 

 floor and sift slackened lime into it slowly, stirring it in with a 

 rake until it will not stick together ; sow as soon as possible. 

 Rust is another foe the wheat grower is obliged to encounter ; 

 the remedy for this disease is to supply the soil at once with 

 ashes and sand, in addition to the careful selection and preser- 

 vation of seed as before described. If the farmer continues to 

 sow his seed without this care in raising and preserving it he 

 will continue to have smutty and rusty wheat. The only reme- 

 dies for the insect enemies, the midge, the fly, the worm, and the 

 chinch bug, are careful selection and thorough tillage. "Make 

 the wheat grow so luxuriantly that the little which the insects 

 consume will not be missed," nor the growth checked. 



Rye. Much that has been said in regard to wheat is applica- 

 ble to this crop as well. Rye will grow on poorer soils and 

 with less cultivation than wheat ; it will flourish on quite sandy 

 soils, and on soils nearly destitute of clay, if given a moderate 

 dressing of compost, guano, or plaster. Still we affirm that the 

 more liberally it is supplied with fertilizers the more profitable 

 will be the crop. 



