AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBUSHED BY JOSEl'H URKCK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET SI'KEET, (Agbicultubal Wabeholse.) 



\OL. AVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 25, 1^38. 



Jiv.ii. 



Further Extracts from the ConimisBioner s Report. 



ISTORY OF CULTIVATION OF SPRING 

 WHEAT. 



S|>iiiij; Wlii'ut is of un.settled origin. It was 

 ■ou<;lit.(Voiii the Island of Sicily into Greiit Brit- 

 11 in the year 1773 ; and was then denominated 

 iberian Wlieat. The desif;natioii under wliich it 

 lis known in Sieily was inmenin, or three months 

 heat. There are at least l:rty dilTerent species 



spring wheat known in England. Tliey are 

 oliahly all of them slightly marked varieties of 

 e same original. The grain is generally smaller 

 an that of winter grain ; its flour is of a darker 

 lor, and nhounds more in gluten ; and its nii- 

 tive ipialities compared with winter wheat are 



94 to 95 1-2. In weight It is not usually so 

 savy as winter wheat, the latter sometimes vveigh- 

 g 65 Ihs. to the hiishel, the former weighing 

 lout 60. The Black Sea wheat, however, a 

 (ring wheat, has weigheil 65 Ihs. to the bushel. 

 Ii taste it is sweeter, hut the bread made from it 

 neither so white nor light as that from winter 

 heat. Spring wheat is a most valuable grain, 

 pecially for its early maturity. Remaining on 

 e ground so short n lirne, it escapes many of the 

 rils from frost, insects, and other circumstance.- 



which winter wheat, leqniring nearly a year 



come to maturity, is exposed. The different 

 lids of wheat are, like all other plants, modified 



cirrumstaiices of climate, soil, and cultivation; 

 d winter wlieat, by being planted in the spring, 

 )ni a suit of instinctive tendency in plants to ac- 

 miuodate themselves to their situation, will after 

 e or more plantii:gs become suminer wheat, at>d 

 leii the snuic season in which it is sown. The 

 incijial distiiiclions among wheals are into red 

 d white kinds, and into thin or woolly chaffed, 



otherwise bald or bearded. The white and 

 in-skinned are preferred for bread, the flour be- 

 g more delicate, and commandinga higher price 



the market ; but the red is more hardy ; and 

 e hald is deemed less liable to mildew than the 

 arded. In respect to diseases there is no kind 

 lich has not in some cases escaped disease, 

 lien other kinds have suffered ; and there is 

 ine which has not in its turn suffiered when otli- 



kinds have escaped. As far as the diseases of 

 lieat and the accidents to which it is liable are 

 traneous to the plant itself, whether arising from 

 niospheric influences, (rom insects, or from par- 

 itioal fungi or plants, the seeds of which may 

 ive been conveyed from other plants in the 

 ligliborhood, all or any of the different kinds of 

 lieat may be alike aflfected. Tlie diseases of 

 lieat may likewise be hereditary ; and, as in ani- 

 »ls, they may become aggravated in successive 

 Derations when propagated continually from the 

 me stock in the same situation. The same kind 



wheat planted year after year on the same farm 



vicini'y is liable to degenerate, or to become 



subject to disease ; and therefoijf the best cultiva- 

 tors reiuimiiiend an occasional change of sei'd ; and 

 care should he taken to obtain that which is 

 healthy. That very extraordinary care in select- 

 ing the finest, plumpest, and most healthy product 

 for seed iniglit as in other cases prevent the de- 

 terioration of the plant is scarcely to l>e ques- 

 tioned. 



Cdltivation in IMassachusetts. — Complaints 

 have been made for years that wheat could not be 

 raised in Rlassachiisetts ; but it has continued to 

 he raised to some extent throughout New Eng- 

 land. On newly cleared and burnt lands it has 

 always succeeded ; and one of the best farmers in 

 N«w England asserts, that it is ordinarily as suc- 

 cessful as other crops, under good cultivation 



This farmer's vvheat crops, for amount to an acre, 

 have rarely been exceeded in any part of the 

 country. 



It may be an encouragement to refer to crops 

 which have been raised in Massactiusetts. 



In 1814, Bezaleel Taft of Worcester County, 

 states, that he bad been accustomed to grow spring 

 wheat for fifteen years ; and his crop.s averaged 

 from 12 to 22 hiislicls. For three years preceding, 

 the town in which he resided produced a thou- 

 sand bushels per year. 



In the same year Jno. Lowell produced 22 1-2 

 bushels to the acre; Josiah Quincy 15 bushels ; 

 P. C. Brooks, 14 bushels. The average yield in 

 the town of Shrewsbury was 12 liusbels to the 

 acre John Jeiiks, in Salem, obtaininl more than 

 44 bushels on two acres ; and in West Newbury 

 the amount of wheat sown was 178 bushels — the 

 extent of land 89 acres ; the produce 1956 bushels, 

 or nearly 22 bushels to the acre. 



In 1815, ill Danvcrs, the yield of wlieat was at 

 the rate of 26 bushels to the acre, 



George Osgood, of Andover, speaks of having 

 raiseil wheat for the fifteen years preceding, and 

 of his crops having averaged 20 bushels to the 

 acre. 



In 1816, Silas Pepoon, of Stockbridge, raised 

 great crops of spring wheat on light soils, and ob- 

 tained 25 bushels on seven-eights of an acre 



Four bushels sown gave 82 bushels 12 fps. of an 

 excellent grain weighing 64 lbs. to the bushel. — 

 iMuch of the soil o( this region is of a itutestiiiK; 

 formation. The crops of vvheat, in the remarka- 

 bly cold season of 1S16, were every where prw- 

 diidive. 



In 1817, Jacob Rice, of Slirewsbiiry, produced 

 36 1-4 bushels on one acre and 4 rods of land — 

 35 bushels to the acre. Jona. Allen, of Piltsfidd, 

 raised 34 bushels to llie acre. Accounts were re- 

 ceived this year from all parts of the state of laige 

 crops of spring wheat, |iarticularly from Berkshire 

 and Worcester counties. In V\'est Newbury 58 

 acres of land produced 1325 bushels, or 22 bush- 

 els to the acre. Moses Emery, of tlie same town, 

 raised 33 1-2 bushels to an acre. 



In 1819, William Jackson, of Plymouth, says 

 he is as successful in raising wheat as any other 

 crop, and obtains 18 to 25 bushels to the acre ; 



and that any land which is suitable for upland 

 mowing is adapted to this crop. In 1822 he ob- 

 tained 22 bushels to an acre. In 1823 from 1 acre 

 and 146 riids, 50 bushels. 



In 1821, R. Green, of Mansfield, obtained 16 

 bushels to the acre weighing 55 lbs. 4 oz. to the 

 bushel. 



In 1818, I. Simpkins, in Brewster, Cape Cod, 

 obtained 22 bushels to the acre ; sowed 25th 

 April, and reapt 1st of August. 



In 1819, Payson Williams, of Fitchbiirg, from 

 1 1-8 acre obtained 28 bushels, 30 qis. In 1825 

 this same farmer obtained 37 bushels to the acre, 

 weighing 65 lbs. to the bushel. 



In 1830,Tristam and Henry Little, of Newbury, 

 obtained 34 1-2 bushels to the acre. 



In 1828 or 9, in Lynn, twenty-five bushels were 

 obtained to the acre. 



In 1834, George Dickenson, of Do^rfield, ob- 

 tained 19 1-2 bushels to the acre. William Thur- 

 low, of West Newbury, obtained 30 bushels to the 

 acre. Payson Williams, of Fitchburg, who has 

 so distinguished himself by his productive cultiva- 

 tion, 55 bushels to the acre. 



The past year, 1837, F. Knight, of West New- 

 bury, obtained 32 bushels to the acre; Joseph P. 

 Leland, of Sherburne, 32 bushels, 14 quarts to an 

 acre. Payson Williams, of Fitchburg, 38 1-2 

 bushels; t^ldad Post, of Lenox, 40 bu-ih;^ls. 



The above statements show how constantly and 

 successfully spring wheat has been cultivated 

 within the state. They Bright be much extended. 



Selection or seed. — I have suggested the im- 

 portr.nce of an occasional change of seed. With- 

 out a careful selection of early, well-formed, and 

 healthy plants, all crops have a tendency to de- 

 generate in the same soiL A change of soil ap. 

 pears to produf* a change in the habits or consti- 

 tution of the plant, and impart to it new vigor. 

 Besides this, diseases are propagated and aggra- 

 vated by the conlittued. cultivation of the same 

 plants on the same land. From well known ex- 

 periments it is settled that the condition of plants 

 may be kept iipand their vigor and productiveness 

 improved by extraordinary care in the selection of 

 seeds ; but as this extraordinary care is not likely 

 to he bestowed by the great mass of ciilii\alors, 

 we reccnimend as the best substitute an occasional 

 change of seed. 



The small round black seed of the tares often 

 foiinii in wlnat, resembling in size- an onion seed, 

 and which are a great pest both to the crop and 

 to the land, cannot be floated off in water, nor 

 separated by any common wire riddle. A farmer 

 in Edgartown, states that he has a sieve made of 

 parchment pierced wiih small holes, by which 

 these seeds are easily separated ; and a farmer in 

 Northam|iton is stated to have invented a machine 

 by which all these impurities, tares, chess, &c. 

 are efl'eciually removed. This, if true, will prove 

 highly vahialile, as the seed cannot be made too 

 clean, as well on account of the growing crop as 

 of the flour. Garlic within niy knowledge, does 

 not prevail in New England. 



