212 



GENESEE FARMER 



Sept. 



Experiment in Wheat Culture. 



BY SAMUEL DAVIDSON, GREECE. 



Secretary of N. Y. State Ag. Sociehj : 



Sir — Since the organization of the State 

 Agricuhural Societ}^, (as well as county socie- 

 ties,) experiments in that profession have been 

 numerous, and I hope they will redound in much 

 practical good to the agricultural community ; 

 and as 1 have been one ofthat class of experiment- 

 alists, I will take the liberty to give you a few 

 details of one of my own on a field of wheat I 

 harvested last July. 



About the middle of June, 1844, I finished 

 breaking up a field containing nine acres, (chain- 

 ed ;) hai-rowed the same about the middle of July, 

 and about four weeks after dragging, I cross 

 plowed the same ; after plowing, I harrowed it 

 again, and on the lOfh-of September I finished 

 plowing the third and last time ; after which, I 

 divided the field into six parcels, of which the 

 following is a diagram, and treated as hereinafi;er 

 mentioned. 



1. Sowed as above prepared. 



2. 1 put on sixteen bushels of horn sha- 



No, 



No, 

 vings. 



No. 3. I put ten bushels of horn shavings and 

 and fifty bushels of leached ashes. 



No. 4. I put fifty bushels of leached ashes. 



No. 5. I put one hundred bushels of leached 

 ashes and one barrel of salt ; and on 



No. 6. I put one hundred bushels of leached 

 ashes, one Ijarrel of salt, and twenty bushels of 

 horn shavings. The above were all applied to 

 the ground before the wheat was sowed. 



On the 19th of September I sowed my wheal, 

 which was all well brined and limed, and all har- 

 rowed the day it was sowed ; and on tlie seventh 

 day of July last, I commenced harvesting the 

 above, (which was fully ripe for the sickle,) and 

 in harvesting, putting in the barn, threshing, 

 measuring, and weighing, the several parcels 

 were kept separate — and the product of each 



piece is set in its proper place in the above dia" 

 gram. 



The whole expense of salt, ashes, and horn 

 shavings, was eight dollars and forty-five cents, 

 on the ground ; two days' work with a team, in 

 spreading the ashes, three dollars — which was 

 done with a shovel, and out of the cart; one day 

 sowing the salt and horn shavings, seventy-five 

 cents. The whole amount of extra expense 

 (from the usual cour.se of fallowing without ma- 

 nure,) does not exceed twelve dollars and twenty- 

 five cents. 



The two varieties of wheat, the flint and beard- 

 ed Tuscany, as marked in the diagram, weighed 

 as follows : Flint 64 pounds to the bushel, and 

 Tuscany d6 pounds. 



As much has been said in agricultural journals 

 about gtiano, and its fertilizing properties, ascer- 

 tained from analysis, I have come to the conclu- 

 sion that every farmer may make some tons a 

 year of an equal fertilizer, and at a trifling ex- 

 pense per ton, compared to guano. 



Within the last twelve months, I have pre- 

 pared and applied several tons, with satisfactory 

 results. One instance I will here state, after tel- 

 ling the manner of preparing -the above men- 

 tioned substitute. 



To one barrel of human urine, I add si:< pounds 

 of sulphate of magnesia; after dissolving the 

 salts, I mix this with as much dry gypsum as 

 will form a mass about the consistency of leached 

 ashes ; of this I apply three bushels per acre, to 

 grass or plowed land. 



On the fi]'st of May last I commenced plaster- 

 ing with dry plaster a field of six acres, (old 

 meadow;) on the first acre I put three bushels 

 of dry plaster; the next two acres I put the 

 above preparation three bushels per acre ; on 

 the balance of the field I put dry plaster, three 

 bushels per acre ; I tlten turned the sward over 

 and prepared it with the harrow for corn, and 

 planted it. When the corn came up, I put dry 

 plaster over tlio whole alike, and tilled it all 

 alike. The last of September 1 chained off an 

 acre of that which had the compound on, and 

 another beside it of equal quality of soil, and 

 each were husked separate ; the first yield was 

 one hundred and twenty-two busliels, and the 

 other ninety. So my thirty-two bushels did not 

 cost to exceed one cent per bushel. 



Greece, Monroe co^ N. Y. 



Drouth. — The southern portion of iMonroe, 

 and a part of Livingston county have suffered 

 very severely from a lack of rain, in the months 

 of .Tuly and August. Potatoes and corn have 

 been much injured, and will not average more 

 than half crops. The dry weather has greatly 

 favored the multiplication of insects, such as 

 gras-shoppers, bugs, ants, worms, flies, &c., which 

 have eaten, and otherwise destroyed crops to a 

 vast amount. Misfortunes of this kind seem to 

 be without remedy- 



