CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 297 



rich in carbonaceous matter, wbicli the farm-yard supphes, 

 are certainly better made use of for the growth of a larg'e 

 bulky crop, such as turnips or mang-el-vvurzel, than for the 

 growth of wheat, where the chief object is not straw, but 

 g-rnin. This, we are sure, will be agreed to by all except 

 those whose soils, by the repeated robbery to which we 

 have above alluded, are always at the lowest pitch of 

 poverty. 



In reference to the question of seed, it is impossible to give 

 any rule upon a subject which is so manifestly dependent on 

 circumstances. All will agree that a certain loss of seed 

 occurs every year from destruction by birds, water, and frost, 

 wire-worm, &c. ; and it will also be agreed that these causes 

 must be much more influential in some localities than in 

 others ; add to this the fact that some soils will cause a seed 

 to throw out twenty heads, while others fail of producing- 

 five ; and we can easily see how it is that some farmers, 

 speaking from experience, recommend 3 bushels per 

 acre, whilst others, on equally imanswerable grounds, have 

 asserted 3 pecks to be more than enough. Our general 

 practice is to sow about 1 ^ bushels per acre, drilled in rows 

 9 inches apart ; but we have grown the crop from less than 

 2 pecks per acre with very fair results. It is obviously of 

 importance that each should in this matter determine for 

 himself what, under his circumstances, it is best to do ; for^ 

 while the evils of thick sowing involve a serious waste of 

 valuable food, those of fhiib (using the term as being on the 

 other side of what is right) equally tend to our loss by 

 inducing a late harvest, a tendency to mildew, not to speak 

 of a want of plant. 



As regards the preparation of the land for this crop, the 

 wheat plant likes a firm seed-bed ; it prefers a stitf soil, and 

 is tlius best sown on a stale furrow when the land is wettish, 

 and it should be sown by drill or dibble, not broadcast. As 

 regards the choice of varieties, this doxdjtless must be left to 

 circumstances, and our advertising columns publish many 

 sorts of unquestionable abmidance, as well as quality of 

 produce ; but wheats difter in their straw, as well as in their 

 grain, and this should have some influence on our choice. 

 Short-strawed wheats should be chosen for rich soils. 



Agrlctdtural Gazette, Oct. 10, 184G. 



