IMPROVEMENT OF WHEAT. 



VT7HE degeneracy of our soil and the best strength and 

 fertility of our seed should admonish every farmer that 

 something, should be done to strengthen OUR SEED AND 

 IMPROVE OUR LAND! 



If I shall succeed in arousing the energies of the far- 

 mer to act on this subject, the importance of which is desi- 

 rable, I shall feel that I have done something for the bene- 

 fit of the tillers of the soil and for amelioration of the con- 

 dition of our race, while I am called upon to pay the debt 

 of nature. 



In Western New York, formerly one of the best wheat 

 growing sections in the United States, when the soil was 

 rich and the seed strong, Gen. Mills, of Mt. Morris, Living- 

 ston Co., raised 47 11-60 bushels of wheat per acre on 80 

 acres of land ; Simon McKinzie, of Caledonia, same coun- 

 ty, raised 50 bushels per acre ; Capt. Scott, of Covington, 

 Wyoming Co., raised 50 bushels per acre. True, these 

 were extreme cases, but 30, 35 and 40 bushels per acre 

 were not uncommon. Even at a later day, about 1850, 

 Wm. Hotchkiss, of Lewiston, Niagara Co., raised 63J bush- 

 els per acre on 6f acres of land ; Samuel L. Thompson, of 

 Setauket. L. I., raised 42 bushels and 10 quarts by measure, 

 or 44 bushels and 24 quarts by weight per acre; Justus 

 White, of Parrnelia, Jeff. Co., N. Y., raised 40 bushels and 

 2 pecks per acre. These were premium crops, but even 

 much better crops were raised then than we get now. The 



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