WHEAT ITS DISEASES, &.C. 157 



WHEAT— ITS DISEASES, &c. &c. 



Mr. Editor : I feel impelled by a sense of duty to resjwnd to the call you 

 have made on me to communicate an article on the subject of wheat; but lot 

 me say to you candidly, that you have placed too high an estimate on my ability 

 to discharge such a duty. In truth, I had meditated throwing out something to 

 elicit information I'roin other sources, as to what is best for wheat growers to do 

 in this part of the country, where wheat is the staple. Clouds and darkness rest 

 upon our vocation ; the cultivation of wheat has become a most uncertain thing ; 

 the disasters of the present year will not soon be forgotten. We possess a soil, 

 as you have stated, heretofore celebrated for producing " White Wheat ;" but 

 the failure of all the smooth varieties is deplorable — and there are many of them 

 cultivated here. So far as my inquiries have extended, there cannot be more 

 than a third of a crop, and that, too, of very inferior quality. Fortunately, uiany 

 have seeded a portion of Mediterranean or German wheat, and some few have 

 grown an entire crop; but there are numbers who have placed their reliance 

 exclusively on white wheats, possessing soils particularly adapted to their 

 growth : among these your correspondent happens to be a suiferer. The Medi- 

 terranean has been exempt from the disasters which assailed other varieties, and 

 will make a fair crop, though not a great crop. It has also improved much in 

 quality since its introduction here, having become whiter and the rind thinner. 

 It is a remarkable fact that this wheat will bear early seeding and escape the 

 ravages of the Uy, or, if assailed, possesses some recuperative energy, to make 

 a crop. I have always had a prejudice against bearded wheat, but have almost 

 made up my mmd to try the Mediterranean in part, for my next crop. Facts are 

 wanted, and tiie first question for consideration is — What is the best variety of 

 wheat to grow when the seasons are so frequently unfavorable for the produc- 

 tion of a fair crop. Unhappily for the community of farmers, much humbug is 

 practiced about seed, and many puffs are put forth about this or that new variety, 

 claiming an exemption from the ills to which the plant is subject. That excel- 

 lent man, old John Singleton, told me, nearly thirty years ago, that he once col- 

 lected and seeded twelve varieties of wheat the same season ; that among the 

 number, one had a solid stalk, of which he expected much, but the whole twelve 

 were attacked with fly, and he held the doctrine that none was exempt. 



This conversation was the result of an inquiry addressed to him on my part, 

 whether he intended to procure any oi' (his new variety of ivheat, which claimed 

 exemption from the ravages of the fly ? No sir ; you young men may try it ; I 

 want faith in such reports. It may be here remarked, that he was, or rather 

 had been, a great experimental farmer. This is an apt illustration of some of 

 the humbugs perpetrated in these our days. Perhaps the wheat alluded to was 

 the " Lawler," which had its day, and afterward reappeared under a new name — 

 not as old books do sometimes, '• 7iuilto emendatior ct correctior " — but quite a 

 new variety ; and, as you well know, Mr. Editor, there is much in a name, it 

 was christened " Talavera," a place rendered illustrious as the theatre of a great 

 battle. But does any body hear of it now, as possessing claims to preeminence, 

 under either name ? 



All the varieties of wheat are proper subjects for discussion, and many farm- 

 ers, old as well as young, may be saved much mortification and loss. The first 

 great desideratum is, early maturity, thereby diminishing the chances of disas- 

 ter. There are many varieties of smooth white wheat, possessing the qualifica- 

 tions for making the best family flour, and also of being very productive, wheii 

 the season suits ; but they are too late. The old Washington or Virginia White, 

 for many, many years almost exclusively grown on the salt water lands of the 

 Eastern Shore, gave a character to our country for producing the best white 

 wheat. The Point lands having a fine friable inould, intermixed with shells, 

 and whose substratum is a rich, unctuous yellow clay, (about the color of an old- 

 fashioned gold watch,) produced this wheat in its greatest perfection ; and al- 



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