76 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



WHEAT. 



ON THE SOIL SUITED FOR— PREPARATION OF SEED, AND SOWING— ITS DISEASES, &c. 



The number of persons and amount of capital employed in the cultivation of 

 this grain, and its great value, being in that respect the second, and in the num- 

 ber of bushels third only on the list of our staples — and the time, moreover, be- 

 ing nearly at hand for sow^ing — all make it proper now to submit any observa- 

 tions by which we may hope to benefit American wheat growers. 



Few subjects have, it is true, undergone more ample discussion ; and though 

 It may be difficult to reflect a single ray of new light upon it, it may be useful 

 to bring to one focus, some of the best of such as have been shed by the many 

 who have favored us with the results of their observation and experience. 



For various expositions of the wheat trade of the United States, over and 

 above the full commercial statistics to be found in Hunt's Merchants' Maga- 

 zine, the public has again been brought in debt, lately, through the National 

 Magazine, to Mr. Edwin Williams, of New- York, for interesting and clear- 

 ly arranged data on the subject. We have ourselves been favored by him 

 with valuable statistical details, which we are obliged to reserve for a more 

 convenient season, not having room now for more than such "■field notes " 

 as must be attended to " now or never " — until another season rolls round. 

 And this is one of the peculiarities in the position and pursuits of the agri- 

 culturist ! Few of any other class have so much occasion for foresight as 

 he. Others may hope to supply the omissions of to-day by the performances of 

 tc-morrow. Not so with the farmer. By him measures must be taken at once 

 which many months, and even a whole year may be required to consummate ; 

 and this, by every young farmer who takes a right view of it, will be esteemed 

 as one of the boasts and beauties of his profession, inasmuch as it implies thought, 

 forecast, intellectual attention, judgment ! 



Though, as we have said, statistical and commercial views and calculations as 

 to the probable production of wheat in our own and foreign countries as forming a 

 topic of interesting general inquiry, maybe postponed until after seeding time, it 

 will be well for the farmer to think of these now, so far as to form an opinion of 

 its probable price in comparison with other grain crops, that he may the better 

 decide whether he may not even now more profitably devote to some other grain 

 or other object, land which had been laid aside for wheat — to barley, for instance 

 — of which we may treat elsewhere and separately, even in this number, if we 

 can find room. 



And here, again, opportunity offers to remind, and even to congratulate the 

 young farmer on the many occasions for the exercise of his mental facul- 

 ties and the display of his judgment in the practice of his profession. It 

 may, for example, seem highly expedient, at first view, to sow or plant a par- 

 ticular crop, for the reason that the immediate result will be far the most prof- 

 itable ; and yet if he looks ahead so far as to see the effect of the crop in ex- 

 hausting the land so much more than others with which it may be compared 

 in his calculation, he may discover, before he finishes the investigation, that he 

 is playing the foolish part of the man in the fable of tlie Goose and the Golden 

 Eggs. 



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