162 



FARMERS' REGISTEli— SPELT AND CHEAT, &c. 



our oats by ttiree to one. They have produced 

 two crops in England within twelve months; fit 

 for tlie blade in three months alter seeding. 



He sent over to a gentleman of New York a 

 few bushels as an experiment the last spring, and 

 aathey will show theiTiselves this season, I shtdl 

 be enabled to hear their result m a lew days. II 

 they succeed in our climate, ol' which I have no 

 reason to doubt, they will be a great acquisition 

 to tlie Virginia agriculturist. brooicville. 



P. S. Since penning the above, I have received 

 a bill of lading for one bushel sent me, which I 

 shall leave at the apothecary store of Messrs. 

 Grubby & Dudley for inspection, as also a pack- 

 age for yourself at the dry good store of Colton & 

 Clarke, Richmond, 



IRISH POTATOES AS FOOD FOR SHEEP. 



For the Fanners' Register. 



In conversation with a gentleman (who has 

 travelled about a good deal) some weeks since, 

 about managing and raising stock, &c,, lie told 

 me in travelling in the western part of this state, 

 or in Ohio, some years since, he stopped at an old 

 Quaker's house to stay all night; and while there, 

 he saw some one about the establishment chop- 

 ping up Irish potatoes, to about the size of par- 

 trido-e eggs. He enquired what the chopped mass 

 wasMntemled for: the Quaker replied, "It is lor my 

 eheep: wilh chopped potatoes and a small quantity 

 of hay, I can keep a flock of sheep fatter, and in 

 better health, than any other wayJhave ever tried 

 or seen tried." 



The gentleman says he saw the flock of sheep 

 before he left, and fhier fatter looking sheep he 

 never saw. philip. 



CAUSES OF SPELT AND CHEAT IN WHEAT. 



To tlie Editor of tlic Farmers' Register. 



I observe in diffevei>t Nos. of your Register 

 that a considerable difference of opinion appears 

 to exist in the minds of different correspondents 

 with regard to the cause of spelt and cheat appearing 

 in wheat. An experiment reported to have been 

 made by Mr. Thomas Cocke and yourself, goes far 

 to prove that neither spelt nor cheat is the neces- 

 sary production of degenerate w^heat: whilst others 

 are as firmly of opinion that spelt and cheat are the 

 production of, not only degenerate, but perfectly 

 formed wheat, to which latter opinion, I myself in- 

 cline, and do not think that the small grains of wheat 

 are more apt to produce either spelt or cheat, than 

 those which are perfectly formed and filled. In both 

 of the instances cited by your correspondents,ofspelt 

 having been produced from wheat, the covering 

 was either very slight or none at all; the wheat 

 having been deposited by chance and left in the 

 Bituation in which it was placed — ^vhich want of, 

 or slightness of covering, I think was the cause of 

 the production of the spelt fi-om pure seed. AYc 

 have not until late years heard or known much of 

 these pests of our wheat crops, and I think the 

 reason is obvious: our fathers were in the habit of 

 turning hogs, horses, and cows into tfieir wheat 

 fields as soon as their wheat was taken off, by 

 which means all, or by fiir the greater part of the 

 wheat left after harvest, Avas destroyed, and none 

 Icfl, to take root, with almost, or quite no covering, 

 and thus produce these noxious plants. I hope 

 it will not DO understood from these remarkfs, that 



I am an advocate for grazing our cultivated lands: 

 lor I believe very few persons are more opposed 

 to close grazing than I am, but I see no alterna- 

 tive between turning our hogs on our wheat fields 

 which are intended lor fallow, and having the spelt 

 eternally annoying us. We could put rings into 

 the noses of these animals and thus prevent their 

 rooting 



Another way in which I think pure wheat de- 

 generates into spelt or cheat is, the manner in 

 which some, if not most, of our good farmers are 

 in the habit of getting in their wheat— which is^, 

 ];)loughing in the wheat after a crop of corn, and^ 

 clrao-.ring after this ploughing, by Vi'hich, much of 

 thc°vheat is brought near or quite to the surface, 

 and thus has not sufficient depth to prevent the 

 wheat turning to spelt. I have known one gen- 

 tleman in this neighborhood pursue the plan hereira 

 objected to with pure, unmixed smooth-headed 

 golden-chaff wheat (the prettiest wheat I ever 

 saw) and the fir.^it crop produced from this seed 

 was smartly mixed with spelt — the second hati 

 more than double what was in tlie first crop, and 

 the third (the same seed having been used all 

 three years*) had, I really believe, more grains of 

 spelt than of wheatv 



I have several times observed in fields which 

 had been hi Avheat the previous year and the 

 fields not grazed, and not being cultivated the next 

 year, a great deal of cheat and some spelt — and 

 but in few instances (wliere I suppose some acci- 

 dent had given the seed left a deeper covering than 

 the most of it had,) wheat the next year. Now, 

 you know that I am a slovenly, as well as as-mall 

 farmei', and I feel some backwardness in palm- 

 ing my own opinions upon others; but I reaily think 

 it the duty of every individual to contribute his 

 mite to the general stock of infonuation, expe- 

 rience or observation, to that community of which 

 he is a member — and hope my brother farmers 

 will excuse what may be deemed by some, my 

 temerity in ofiering to the public my plan of get- 

 ting in wheat — by which, neither spelt nor cheat 

 has ever increased upon me. I have alwaj's sown 

 wheat on corn land, except one yeur, and plough- 

 ed it in about three or three and a half inchest 

 deep, never using the drag afterwards, which I 

 think, would tend to expose the wheat too near 

 the surface — though I believe that the land being 

 fallowed first, and the wheat sown on this fiillow 

 and well dragged in, might obviate this difficulty. 



The last fall I obtained my seed-wheat from 

 two different sources: in one parcel there was some 

 spelt: in the product of tliat part, there was still 

 some. In the other, there was none that I could 

 perceive, and in the product of that, there was not 

 (I think) one head of spelt. In the experiment 

 made by Mr. Cocke and yourself, the grains of 

 wheat though extremely faulty, were deposited at 

 a sufficient depth, and thereby the production of 

 spelt or cheat avoided.* 



ROBERT BATTS. 



Prince George, July 2d, 1834. 



* Our correspondent is mistaken as to this part of the 

 experiment, which he refers to. The grains of wheat 

 were placed in lines slightly traced on the hard sur- 

 face, and barely covered by sprinkling a little earth 

 over them. The covering was no where more than 

 half an inch deep-^generally less. 



