PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 335 



no feed so good to make hens lay as wheat ; the lime in it 

 furnishes substance for the shells. Every farmer should raise 

 enough for this purpose. 



South Abington, Sept. 7, 1850. 



Morrill Allen's Statement. 



The land on which my wheat grew, produced a heavy crop 

 of Indian corn in 1849. The corn was harvested, and the 

 wheat sowed late in the month of October. This was not 

 from choice, but necessity. It was the only situation in 

 which I could conveniently sow wheat, and the corn was 

 planted too thick to risk sowiug the wheat among it, at the 

 proper season. The claim to premium was not made on ac- 

 count of any special care in the cultivation, but rather to direct 

 attention to an article, with which without such care I have 

 had fair success five successive years. For the same purpose 

 this communication is made, for the crop this year was not 

 enough to entitle me to the premium. In 1845, Mr. Cole, edi- 

 tor of the N. E. Farmer, sent me a small sample of winter 

 wheat, which I sowed without much expectation of success, 

 as spring wheat had often been tried and almost invariably with 

 loss. But this, without any more care in the culture than is 

 given rye, yielded better; has been every year entirely free of 

 smut, and no rust has been noticed on the straw till the present 

 year, when about ten days before the time of harvest, rust ap- 

 peared, and increased till the wheat was cut. Whether late 

 sowing had any connection with this result or not, is uncer- 

 tain ; the state of the atmosphere, I believe, produced rust in 

 many fields where the sowing was seasonable. My land was 

 in a good condition, a light loam favorable for grain crops. 

 The wheat was sowed on the corn stubble, ploughed in, the 

 land then harrowed and rolled. 



Some of the wheat plants, I supposed, were winter-killed ; 

 but it was nearly as thick as desired, and looked finely till 

 struck by the rust, which no doubt prevented to some extent the 

 kernels from filling. It is however fair grain, and we obtained 

 a fraction over eighteen bushels on an acre. This is some- 

 thing more than we ordinarily get of rye, and no more labor 



