FARfllERS' REGrSTER. 



555 



nothing short of ilic most imperious necessity can 

 jiistily this procechne, or tolerate such a iieparlure 

 from the correct principles ol' crop[)in<jf. Land, 

 whidi has once produced i^ood crop;? of any kind 

 ol' grain, may airain be made to proiluce ihem ; 

 and underskillul treatment lands would nevprcease 

 to yield good crops-, where their first rnliivalion 

 proved the adaptation of the soil to that particular 

 one. The worn out and exhausted soils of New- 

 England can be made to produce as good atiil as 

 |)leniifiil crops of wheat as they formerly did, biit 

 the labor and cost of restoring would be infinitely 

 more than would have been required to have kept 

 them continually feriile and productive. Crops 

 have a specific food, vvhi(;h may be more or less 

 plentiful in a soil, and without which they cannot 

 be brought to perlection. Take (or instance a worn- 

 out eastern farm. A liberal supply of fresh ma- 

 nures will give all the growth necessary for a 

 great crop of wheat; but wiil it fill the berry? will 

 it make such flour as the wheat of western New 

 York ? We know it will not. The principal 

 essential to the perfeciion of grain can only be 

 restored by time and skilful cultivation to such 

 soils; it would be wise then, where it exists, to 

 prevent its decrease or its exiiauslion. 



It is unhappily too true, that on a large portion 

 of our best cultivated wheat lands, ihe soil has be- 

 comeso infested with a variety of Ibul and nox- 

 ious plants, that a course of naked sunmier fallow, 

 thoroughly performed, has become necessary to 

 counteract them, and prevent their increase and | 

 spread. On clean soils iliis would not be required, 1 

 but some valuable crop mifr'it take its place, and 

 thus add es^eiinally to the [jroliis. while it lessens 

 the labor of the hiisbaadinan, so far as iheop<Ta- 

 tioii of suirmier ploughing was concern d. The 

 only alternative of such fallows is hoed crops, and 

 these must of nfcessily fiir the reasons before given 

 be too limited, to seriously affect the propriety of 

 fallows on weedy land. Spring crops, such as 

 barley, oats, s| ring wheat, or even peas, do not 

 allow of sufficient cultivation to check the spread 

 of weeds. The sowing of such crops on land 

 where the Canada thistle for instance abounds, is 

 precisely the treatment to make it spread and 

 flourish. The thistle, stein krout, charlock, &c. 

 will succumb only to ploughings and hoeings so 

 often repeated that the mutilated plant has no time 

 lo recover from one blow before another is civen. 

 The preparation of seed, and the quality of that 

 sown, are objects of the greatest consequence. In 

 the most favored sections of our country there are 

 but lew fields of wheat in which smut cannot be 

 detected, and in a couniry so favorable to the per- 

 fi'ction and purity of this <£rain, as the best wheat 

 disiricts in the United States are, none at all 

 should be suH'ered. In Kurope, continual care is 

 requisite to keep their wheat fiee, and in the best 

 wheat countries tfie crop is almost wholly exempt 

 from smul ; here but a trilling attention is requisite 

 and the consequence is, it is found almost every 

 where, and in some places to the serious injury of 

 the crop. Now it is well understood, that soakincr 

 or washing wheat in brine, and drying it with 

 caustic slaked lime; will effectually prevent sraui, 

 as well as benefit the crop in other respects ; to 

 sow wheat therefore, without such preparation, is 

 voluntarily to incur the lisk of smutted wheat, and 

 the inevitable consequent loss. There arc some 

 other substances that used a? a wash for wheat 



appear lo possess the power of destroying smuf, 

 such as copperas, vitriol, arsenic, &c., but as none 

 are more certain in their operation, or Ciui be used 

 vviih less trouble or danger than lime, the applica- 

 tion of that substance is undoubtedly to be pre- 

 ferred to any other. 



The kind of seed used, and its quaiiiy, are 

 things of too much consequence in thn culture of 

 wheat to be left to chance. There are many va- 

 rieties of wheat culiivaled, some very productive, 

 and some very hardy ; socne ripening la'er and 

 others earlier ; and these kinds in sowing should 

 l)e chosen vviih relerenceio the soil and location. 

 Varieties which ripen at the same period, may 

 sometimes be advantageously mixed, lorsowing in 

 the same field ; but those that ripen unequally 

 should be carefully kept separate. Some varieties 

 of wheat may stand in the field longer than othera 

 before cutting, without danger of the seed shelling 

 or wasting. Thus of the two kinds of flint wheat, 

 the white and the Canadian, (the latter a compa- 

 ratively new variety,) if the last should be allowed 

 to stand aller arriving at maturity as long as the 

 first can be permitted with impunity to do, the loss 

 by shelling would amount to no small portion of 

 the crop. The first may stand almost to suit the 

 convenience of the husbandman, while the last 

 must be cut as soon as its maturity will admit, or 

 certain loss will be incurred ; and nearly the same 

 remarks will apply to some other kinds. There, 

 are some farmers who seero lo think iliat any thing 

 that is in the shape of wheat, however imperfect 

 or defijctive the berry, if it will only jircv, may be 

 used as seed. This is veiy misinken policy, ft 

 is iaipossitile that the young plant should be as 

 viixurous and as perfect, when springing from de- 

 flective and slirunken seed, as when growino; from 

 thai in which the peculiar principles of the plant 

 are fully developed, and the germination commen- 

 ces without check or hindrance. The seed that 

 ripens first in the ear, and is separated with the 

 greatest ease, is the most proper lor seed, as these 

 circumstances show it is the niost mature. A 

 farmer in one of the northern slates, a lew years 

 since was in the habit of selling larcre quantitic-s of 

 seed wheat annuallj' and at high prices, as his 

 wheat was of a superior quality, very heavy, and 

 productive, and supposed to be a new variety. It 

 appeared, however, that he had brought his wheat 

 to that degree of perfection, by selecting some of 

 the finest ears from a field in the first place, and 

 then instead of threshing the whole crop grown 

 and using the seed promiscuously, he yenlly beat 

 the sheaves over a barrel, by which only the best 

 and most perfect grains were separated, and by 

 repeated sowings had rendered the qualities so 

 desirable permanent. The quantity of seed sown 

 differs much in dificrent parts of (his country and 

 in Europe. Perhaps the English use a greater 

 amount of seed than any other people, and their 

 crops are certainly not often excelled. From two 

 and a half to four bushels per acre are there used ; 

 while here the quantity varies from one to two 

 and a half bushels per acre. The general quantity 

 is about a bushel and a half. Where wheat la 

 sown late, more seed is required, as the wheat 

 docs not tiller or spi-ead os much as when sown 

 early ; and when the berry ts uniipuaily plump and 

 full, more is required than when 'he kernel is 

 lighter. As on soils, loo, that are not rich, a single 

 plant will not throw out as many stalks as where 



