THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



lar ihe bushel) a crop (he from all impurity ought 

 to be worth ten cents more ; and tlie Ibulesl that 

 would be considered " merchantable," wouUl be 

 worth ten cents less— making a difference ol' 

 nventy cents between the best and worst quality. 

 Ifprices were always proportioned to these values, 

 the ditlerence would be a 6uffii:ient premium for 

 the care necessary to keep crops clean. But un- 

 Jbrlunately such is not the case. The purchaser 

 will readily admit that there is this great diH'er- 

 ence in the intrinsic worth cf the best and worst 

 wheat; but his prices must be regulated by his 

 expected sales — and he cannot aiibrd to add to 

 the average price above five cenis lor the best, 

 nor need he deduct more than the same amount 

 from the worst. Thus the average quality ol 

 wheat in any certain market, serves in a great 

 measure to fix, or to approximate to it, the prices 

 ol' both the best and worst crops. Theielore, ihe 

 most slovenly farmer gets lor his wheat five cents 

 more than its intrinsic value, and he who sells 

 perlectly clean wheat gets five cents less. This 

 state oC things atnounts to a bounty being offered 

 lor ioul crops. 



A remedy tor this evil, and a great and rapid 

 improvement in the general quality and cleanness 

 of our wheat, might probably be eli'ected by 

 something like the ibllovving plan. Suppose the 

 millers of some considerable wheat market, toge- 

 ther with some of the principal liirmers who usu- 

 ally supply them, to consult and agree upon the 

 full value of the injury that would be caused to 

 clean wheat, by admixtures ol either cockle, 

 garlic, cheat, darnel, &.c. For example, it might 

 be agreed that, in a sample of one pound of wheat, 

 it should be considered that ten grains of wheat 

 should be deducted as a fair equivalent for the 

 presence of one grain of darnel, or for two ol 

 gairlic, three of cheat or cockle, or for ten of oats 

 or rye, besides all the impurities so (bund ; and 

 that a proportional deduction shall bo made from 

 the price offered for pure or clean wheat. The 

 selection of fair samples, and the trial of them, 

 would be troublesome, it is true ; but much less 

 Bo than the usual chaffering, and the Irequeni 

 diseatisfaction caused by the want of fixed and 

 certain rules. 



Let us now suppose some such tariff of filth to 

 be in operation, and observe its probable effect. 

 Suppose that, without such regulations, the de- 

 mand for flour would have fixed the price of 

 wheat of middling or average quality at one dol- 

 lar; and that the amount of impurities in the 

 sample, rated as proposed, would take off ten 

 cents from the bushel. It maybe considered by 

 many that this would reduce the market price to 

 ninety cents. Not so : the effect would be to raise 

 the market price to one dollar and ten cents, which 

 would be obtained by the few who could offer 

 clean wheat — and from which the seller of ave- 

 rage wheat would still obtain one dollar, after 

 having ten cents deducted— and the foulest crops 

 might suffer a deduction of twenty to thirty cents. 

 The average of all the prices would remain the 

 same, but would be equitably proportioned to the 

 value of each crop — and thus hold out the strong- 

 est inducements to every farmer to aid in improv- 

 ing the quality and character of the wheat of the 

 country at large. 



Unless most of the farmers of a partictilar dis- 

 trict unite in the endeavor to root out cheat and 

 Vol. X.— 2 



darnel, it will scarcely be; possible for any one to 

 succeed in the attempt. Persons who have al- 

 ways sown clean wheat, (or at least supposed 

 so,) cannot conceive how the seed of cheat or 

 darnel could get upon their fields, and therefbre 

 attribute their appearance to a transformation (i'om 

 wheat. But, without resorting to this mode of 

 explaining the fact, there are abundant means by 

 which a farm may be supplied with these pests, 

 if they are abundant in the adjacent country. 

 From various reasons, most farmers frequently 

 procure seed wheat by purchase — and it is already 

 almost impossible to obtain any near this county, 

 entirely free from both cheat and darnel. It is 

 true that there are plenty of crops that are called 

 clean — and lew will deny them that character if 

 they contain only one grain of cheat in a handful 

 of wheat ; yet that small proportion would furnish 

 a flourishing plant of cheat for every cast of the 

 sower, and insure a much greater proportion in 

 the next crop. Being subject to none of the many 

 disasters that destroy so large a proportion of the 

 [)lants ol wheat, the hardy cheat and darnel show 

 an increase of quantity in every successive crop, 

 tliough much the greater part of their seeds are 

 lanned and screened from the seed wheat. But 

 this is not all. The grains of cheat and darnel 

 lelt by the fanner in the chaff, and tail-ends wheat, 

 are given in feed to hogs and other stock; and 

 (rom iheir hard and firm covering, they frequently, 

 if not generally, pass ihroughthe animals uninjur- 

 ed, to. grow wherever dropped. This perhaps 

 prevents darnel being as poisonous to beasts as it is 

 toman. Many of both these seeds are also left 

 in the straw, and carried out with the manure 

 made from it. If the manure is well heated by 

 being heaped to ferment, only all the seeds in the 

 outer parts of the heap will germinate — or the 

 whole will, ii' carried out in unrotted manure. If 

 it is ploughed in a good depth, the seeds of darnel 

 and cheat will remain without sprouting a year, 

 (as I have experienced,) and perhaps much longer, 

 and grow when afierwards brought near enough 

 to the surface. Thus, when manure containing 

 those seeds is ploughed in fbr corn, the best tillage 

 and weeding may not prevent their springing 

 plentifully among the succeeding crops of' wheaf. 

 For these and other reasons, if cheat and darnel 

 get on any- part of a farm, they will soon spread 

 to every acre, if great care is not used to arrest 

 their progress. 



But suppose a farmer by extraordinary care and 

 labor to eradicate these pests, and to avoid every 

 act by which he may introduce them again. Still 

 by various means he will be in danger of receiv- 

 ing other supplies. He cannot avoid visits from 

 his neighbors' horses, oxen, and sometimes stray 

 hogs, carrying the seed in their bowels, and be- 

 stowing them wherever they go. Nor can he 

 avoid lending his wheat bags, and his fanner, all 

 of which are likely, and the last is sure, to be re- 

 turned with cheat or darnel, unless the contents 

 are sown over his farm, as they are jolted home- 

 ward. Your regular borrowers of fan- mills are 

 generally vvoii stocked with cheat and darnel. 

 These chances lor a supply are greatly increased 

 if a private road, for neighborhood use, passes 

 through a farm ; and still more, if a stream, sub- 

 ject to overflow low grounds, and which has tra- 

 versed o!her (arms above. E. R. 



