260 



N E v\^ ENGLAND FARMER 



FEB. 17, IS4I 



For Ihe New England Farmer. 



PROPER AGE OP SEED WH'IAT. 

 Mr Editor — Sir — I saw a paragraph in the N. 

 E. Farmer of Dec. 30tli, J84U, on old wheat for 

 seed, together with a request for bettor informa- 

 tion, or reasons, on the subject, than had been 

 heretofore offered to the public. 



I have paid much attention to the growing of 

 most kinds of grains and otljer seeds, and after fif- 

 ty years experience and observation, 1 think I may 

 hazard a few remarks on the subject matter of in- 

 quiry. In the first place I will give a reason why 

 old seed should produce more and better grain than 

 new. It is well known to all agriculturists that 

 all seeds take root before they put forth the blade ; 

 and it is necessary that they should root firm in or- 

 der to produce healthy and robust stalks; there- 

 fore, to ensure a good crop, take old seed, and foi 

 this reason — it loses its germinating qualities intia 

 blade in a greater proportion than in Ihf root — hence 

 it will not come up so soon after sowing by from 

 three to five days, as new seed — the difference de- 

 pending altogether on age. During this difference 

 of time, the grain is occupied in rooting firm and 

 deep, and thus becoming able to produce a healthy 

 and robust stalk. This delay gives vigor to Ihe 

 blade, which will bo manifested by its dark green 

 color, all which shews maturity in the germinating 

 oil of the seed, which is as necessary as it is to let 

 the grain come to maturity befure it is harvesti;d. 

 Blasted or shrunk seed is preferred by miny far- 

 mers, not that they think it better, but because it 

 will go further; this is however a minor considera- 

 tion ; the true cause is that it has much of the 

 quality of old sei'd ; it loses in a very rapid man- 

 ner while ripening after it is struck with blight, 

 that portion of vegetating oil which nourishes the 

 blade or quickens vegetation, while the germina- 

 ting qualities of the root are retained without any 

 apparent loss. 



Also, the same paragraph remarks on the rava- 

 ges of the Hessian Fl^. It would appear fiom 

 those remarks, that its ravages were entirely con- 

 fined to that portion of the field that was sown with 

 new seed, and that only was attacked. There is a 

 great and grand desideratum — one of the greatest 

 importance to wheat growers (if true;) one that 

 cannot cost the farmer but liltlo more than the in- 

 terest on his seed for one or more years, which is 

 a minor consideration rompared with the preserva- 

 tion and guarantee of a good crop. 



There is a cause for all things, and especially 

 for the preference of the fly in his choice. It is 

 the tenderness and the sweetness together that suits 

 his taste much better than the touyh and bitter 

 blades of a healthy stalk ; this is the only reason 

 that induces the fly to feed e.vclusively on that por- 

 tion of the field which is planted with new seed. 

 For proof the above remarks, I will refer to all 

 grazing and ruminating animals — all Hhich prefer 

 the young and tender shoots to the tough anil 

 more mature branches, &.c. 



I would here suggest to the wheat growers, 

 whether it would not be to their interest to sow a 

 portion of new seed in strips of sufficient size to 

 feed the fly during its ravages or feeding sea.-^oii ; 

 or to mix old and new seed together, which might 

 be less trouble as well as less safe. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



TIIOS. W. LYON. 

 JVorlhboro', Ftb. 8th, 1841. 



REPORTS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AG- 

 RICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



The answers of Md Moore, oj Concord, io the 

 questions proposed by the Massachusetts Society 

 for the promotio'i of ^Agriculture. 



1. My farm contains about 130 acre=!, exclusive 

 of woodland. 



2. The soil consists of sand, gravel, peat and 

 loam. 



3. To reply in general terms, I consider the 

 best method of improving my lands to consist in an 

 interchange of soils ; that is, to carry the peat and 

 mud from the low and wetland to the light upland, 

 and in return, to carry the sandy loam onto the peal 

 land and bogs. This method I have uniformly 

 found to be beneficial. B ith lands are benefitted 

 by the exchange. Each seetns to supply what the 

 the other lacks. A few years ago, I had, in the 

 midst of a piece of mowing land, a sandy knoll, en- 

 tirely barren, containing about half an acre. This 

 1 covered with refuse peat, and sowed grass seed 

 with rye. The grass immediately took, and I have 

 had a good crop of grass on it for three years with- 

 out manure. 



4. I till about If! acres, and put from 20 to 40 

 loads of compost manure on an acre, depending 

 upon the kind of crop. 



5. My manure is usually applied in a compost, 

 but sometimes for potatoes it is applied in a green 

 state. 



6. Sometimes I spread and sometimes I manure 

 in the hill. 



7. I turn the sod over as flat as possible and roll 

 it down smooth with a heavy roller, then harrow it, 

 spread on the manure, and harrow or plough it in 

 lightly. 



8. I mow from 5 to (5 acres of upland, which 

 yields about two tons of hay to an acre. The 

 great bulk of mv English hay grows upon reclaim- 

 ed peat or meadow land, which I do not call up- 

 land. 



9. None. 



10. I manure all my English mowing about once 

 in three years. I put about 2.5 cart loads of com- 

 post manure to an acre. I seldom make use of any 

 except compost manure, and for the last four 

 years I have purchased none, but made it all on the 

 place. 



11. I mow from 25 to 30 acres of low meadow 

 land, part of which is situated on Concord river. 

 The quality of the hay cut on this land is nearly 

 one half of it swail hay, which is very good ami 

 spends well ; the remainder is common meadow 

 hay, some of which is of an ordinary quality. The 

 quantity of this kind of hay is about forty tons. 

 The greater part of this swail hay grows on the 

 meadows that 1 have partially reclaimed, but do not 

 manure. 



1 •>. The better to explain my answer to this 

 question, I must be permitted to say a word with 

 reference to the situation and former condition of 

 my farm. It is situated about half a mile east of 

 the (Concord meeting house, on the great road lead- 

 ing to Boston. Its extent on the road is perhaps a 

 quarter of a mile. On the north side of the road it 

 runs back over the hill from three quarters of a 

 mile to a mile. On the south side, with the ex- 

 ception of about two acres, it embraces all the 

 piece of flat land lying between the great road and 

 the turnpike, and perhaps 25 acres on the south 

 side of the turnpike. The greater part of this land 

 I purchased in 1825 — 6. A'ter I had purchased, I 



found that I had on my hands a large quantity of 

 unproductive land, part of which would produce 

 nothing, because it was so wet and marshy, and the 

 rest would produce nothing because it was so dry 

 and sandy. 'Che land back of the hill, where I now 

 have some 30 acres or more occasionally under 

 cultivation, was so much run out, that it was hardly 

 considered worth cultivating, and a neighbor, who 

 had the use of it one year, paid me no rent, be- 

 cause it was not considered worth any. It is true, 

 that it sometimes produced blackberries, but if the 

 season happened to be dry, even these could not 

 be relied upon. The flats in front of the house, 

 where 1 now cut my English grass, were composed 

 of swamps covered with bushes, miry bogs, and 

 pond holes, full of lily pads and flags, where the 

 muskrats and bull frogs seemed to hold undisputed 

 possession, — while on the higher land, the wood- 

 chucks made their burrows unmolested. This is 

 not mere funcj'. I once set an Irishman to clear 

 up siuue bushes and briars there, and he was actu- 

 ally driven off by one or these animals. Between 

 these bogs and the hill, there was a little suip of 

 upland, which might have produced hay enough to 

 keep a horse and cow, (I do not think it did more,) 

 and this I verily believe constituted the most valu- 

 able production of the Prescott Farm,a!i it was then 

 called. 



My first object was to render this land produc- 

 tive : but how to do it was the question. I had no 

 works on the subject, and all the information I 

 could get was what I could occasionally glean 

 from the New England Farmer. One thing was 

 evident, that the land must first bo drained. There 

 was a grist mill in the centre of the town, supplied 

 by a stream that run through the land. I exerted 

 myself to get this mill discontinued and it finally 

 was discontinued. This however was insuflicient 

 t ) drain the land. In 1827 1 commenced ditching it, 

 ;ind cut my ditches so low that the water would flow 

 back to the head of them, that is, I commenced 

 digging at the lowest part, and dug so low that the 

 water would follow along after. I take especial 

 cate to level and slope down the banks of my 

 ditches, so that now the grass grows do«n to the 

 water's edge. This effected the object so far as 

 draining was concerned, but it did not bring it into 

 English grass. This was the next tiling to be 

 effected, and to do it I have tried various methods. 

 I thought that I might plant a crop of corn and po- 

 tatoes, and then lay it down to grass ; but this did 

 not work well, as most of it was too miry to be 

 ploughed, and the ground even after bearing a 

 crop would not become firm. I tried burning, but 

 this did but little good except to rid me of the 

 bushes. Indeed, 1 once felt fearful that the fire 

 would communicate to the peat below and burn up 

 the whole meadow. 



Convenient to this meadow there is a liill com- 

 posed of sandy loam. I carted on some ol this, 

 manured it, and sowed grass seed. This answered 

 the purpose. The ground veiy soon became firm, 

 the grass seed took, and the yield was altogether 

 beyor4d my expectations. This plan I have pur- 

 sued ever since, and it lias now grown lut.i a sys- 

 tem with me. My whole method consists in this. 

 I first ditch and drain the lai:d, cut off the bushes, 

 and if they are large, pull them up by the roots, 

 and level it down, then spread on about 4t(0 cart 

 loads of sandy loam upon an acre, and 20 cart loads 

 of compost manure, harrow it well, and (usmilly in 

 the month of September,) sow half a bii.-liel of 

 herds grass and a half a bushel of red top, liarrow 



