830 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R, 



APRir. 25, 1818. 



Preceding crops.— Goo. I crcis of wliej.t ii.ive 

 been olit;nii(;il after com, potatoes, and riita biig.i. 

 Ill England wheat ci-o|)S, or wheat are tt-nned 

 white crops. Wheal, oat.«, barley, &c. usually 

 follow turni|rs, and in these cases the manure is 

 applied to the preceding or green crops. Turnips, 

 Swedish turnips, cahhagcs, and all the Brassica 

 tribes, arc great exhausters of the soil ; hut in 

 Great Britain they are usually eaten on the land 

 hy sheep, and the laii.l is enriched hy the deposits 

 of the sheep. The best crops of s|,ring wheat 

 with us have been obtained after potatoes highly 

 maiinred. Fine crops liUevvi-ie have followed In- 

 dian corn and brootn corn. In such cases, some- 

 times, the land is simply harroweil, and ihe wheat 

 put in with a harrow; but lliis is slovenly culti- 

 vation ; and, though respectable crops are in this 

 way occasionally obtained, it cannot be recom- 

 meniled. 



M.INURK3 FOR WHEAT. — Anew theory of vege- 

 tation has been suggested by some dislinguished 

 European philosophers, which professes to ap- 

 proach nearer to a solution of this great mystery 

 than has yet been re.u bed. 



"A new substance has been discovered in all soils 

 and manures, which is denouiinate<l hnmin or 

 g-et/ie. It has been found likewise in all barks; 

 in saw-dust, starch, aiul sugar. Hnmin is a sub 

 stance not unlike carbon, for which it has hitherto 

 been ii.istaken. it combines with the salts and 

 forms the bumic acid. There is a strong analogy 

 between liumin and other nutritive subsiances, 

 such as gum or fecnla. It forms a huunite with 

 an alkali, which is very soluble in water. All 

 s distances, which contain carbon are dissolved in 

 the water of vegetation llirougb the means of bu- 

 min ; and the dissolved mass is taken up by plant.s 

 as food. Humin in combination with lime, am- 

 monia or potass also becoim s soluble in soils or 

 dung. Ilumic acid and corltonic aciil gas, mixed 

 with water, according to ibis discovery, constitute 

 the chief food of plants. Ev(^ry description of 

 manure is only valuable in proportion as it con- 

 tains these substances. 



Such is the modern theory fif vegetation ; which 

 is in itself ])lansible, but which will be farlher 

 tested by the lights of chemical science; from 

 which examination the best results to agriculture 

 are to be expected. Lime causes the evoluticm or 

 extraction of this matter from various substances. 

 Potash leads to similar results, and with more 

 power than lime and hone manure ; and night 

 soil and all animal manures are supposed to fiar- 

 iiish humin or geine in abundance. In respect 

 to night soil or luiinan excrement, n discovery 

 has been recently made in France, which \)miu\- 

 ses valuable results. The charcoal procured from- 

 burning wood, peat, or coal in close vessels has 

 been inixed with it in the form of a fine powd-r, 

 which operates to disinfect it of all offensive odor; 

 and reduce it to a powder, which is portable and 

 may he easily distributed. 1 have seen this pro- 

 cess perfectly effected in the course of an hour. 

 ManunNs in a decomposeil and fermented state are 

 said to supply this bumic acid much more abun- 

 dantly than in a crude or fresh state. In what 

 precise condition they are best applied must be 

 mutter of farther inquiry and experiment ; and de- 

 pend somewhat on the niorle of their applicati(Ui. 

 If designed to be spread broad-cast and ploughed 

 in, exi°erience seems decidedly in favor of apply- 

 in" them in a green and unfermented state ; hut 

 it s as well deeided that green and unfermented 



manure should never be brought in iuunediate con- 

 tact with the roots of a growing pi int. 



Limes are found of various f|ualities from their 

 different measures of combiualion with si'iccous, 

 argillaceous, or maguesian earth. Magnesia is 

 found c<uid)iued with some of our lime-stones in 

 considerable quantities, and when in great amount 

 is deemed prejudicial to vegelalion. The quality 

 of our various lime-sK/iies is of great import.ince ; 

 and this will soon be furnished to us by the high- 

 est authority. 



The Grain Worm. — There is another rircum- 

 stauce deserving of particular attention. In many 

 parts of the country the wheat crops have been 

 ilestroyed by what is called the Grain Worm ; 

 (the Cecidomyia tritici.) A small black fly, in 

 immense swarms, is seen hovering over the wheat 

 fields, in the season of flowermg, anil deposiis her 

 eggs upon the plant, which presently ))roduce 

 small orange-coloied maggots, which are found in 

 the grain and entirely destroy it. This wtu-in is 

 first spoken of as appearing in England, in 1796, 

 and afterwards prevailing to a great extent in 1828. 

 and producing the most severe lossfs in the crops. 

 No certain preventive has yet been discovered. 

 The worm appears in the season when the wheat 

 is in flower ; and some farmers have professe<l to 

 find a perfect security by sprinkling their wheat 

 fields at this time, when wet with dew or rain, 

 with finely powdered liiue, «t the rate of a peck, 

 and in some eases a bushel, to the acre. Olbe'r 

 farmers have failed in this application ; but 

 whether the applicaliou was riade at a proper 

 siason, and undir proper circumstances, is not dc- 

 leniiined. An intelligent farmer in West New- 

 bury, the present season, iissuies me, that be ap- 

 plieil'it to his field.-, which escaped the ravages 

 (d'the insi'ct, While the fields of his neighbors ad- 

 joining bis, siifleri-d severely. Fads are far more 

 valuable than mere hypolhesis ; and though enough 

 may not have been as yet accumulated lo decide 

 this matter, yet what has already taken place is 

 sufficient to eucinirage farther trials. A perfect 

 preventive against this alarming depredator would 

 l)e worth millions to the counlry and the word. 

 The thorough liming of the st il has, without doubt, 

 a beneficial infinence in destroying the germs of 

 insect life. 



In several remarkable cases, where wheat has 

 been .sown very early or vei7 late, it has either 

 passed beyond the season of liability to injury 

 from the fly before his arrival, or his season of 

 doiii" injury has passed away before the wheat 

 has come into a condilion to be injured by bis 

 attacks. The season of injury is at the time of 

 the flowering of the wheat. The wheat crop 

 above referred to, planted late in lAIay, escaped to 

 a iircat de;;ree ; the crop sown in June entirely 

 escaped his depredalious ; though other crops in 

 the vicinity, in a <lifferent state of forwardness, 

 severely suffered. I ay the case fairly before 

 the fanners, and must leave the decision to them- 

 selves. 



Diseases. — Of other evils to which the wheat 

 crop is exposed, I shall add little to what I have 

 alrearly Slated. If the rust and mildew ale paia- 

 sitical plants like the smiil, the seeds of which, 

 by means which no sagacity has as yet discovered 

 attach themselves to the wheat plant, it is certain, 

 liom the fullest experience, that their developmeni 

 is parlicularly favored hy certain conditions (d 

 the weather ; and that they seem, in most cases, 

 contemporaneous with the presence of heavy dews 



nii 



and hot, steaming, sultry fogs. Sure preventives 

 ill this case are not known ; but I recur again to 

 an important fact, stated in relation to this sn'ijecl 

 in my First Report on the Agriculture of Massa. 

 chusetts: I mean the case of two farmers in ilit 

 vicinity of each other, whose wheat fields, in re- 

 spect 10 soil, aspect, seed, preparation and cultiva* 

 lion, seemed precisely alike. The field of oni 

 was severely blighted ; the field of llie other yield 

 ed a fine, healthy, plump grain ; and the only cir 

 cnmstance of difference of treatment in the twi 

 cases, which 1 cnuhl ascertain, was, that the ow 

 er of the latter field, for several mornings dnrinj 

 the continuance of llie damp and foggy weaihei 

 and when his grain was coveri^l willi a heav; 

 honey dew, cau.sed it to be swept and the mo\» 

 ture shaken off hy drawing a rope over the stand 

 ing grain. 



Harvesting. In respect to harvesting tli 



grain, experience and observation are best able t 

 <leciile the proper time of cutting. It is better t 

 gather it early rather than late. Wl en snffere 

 to stand until dead ripe, much of the grain wi 

 be lost in the field. When gathered early ihi 

 loss is prevented, and the grain be heavier an 

 fairer. An eminent English farmer states his sai 



ing by cutting his grain early as, in his opinio 

 equal" to one fifth. The general rule to be give 

 is, to cut the grain when the culm or sudk undi 

 the ear appears to be dead ; but in this case it wi 

 iieeil some "making" in the field. 



Of the mode of gathering, crailling, as it 

 termed, is preferable to reaping, where the gra 

 is not b)dged ; but what is called a Scotch bo» 

 of which some account is given in the N. E. Fa 

 mer of 2d August last, has been found as efliciei' 

 and useliil in a careful hand as the best formf< 

 cradle. It is simply a hoop bent in an elliptic 

 Ibrm, and firmly attached to the snaith, by whit 

 the grain is received after it is cut, and dejiositf 

 by the mower as re(;iilarly as with a ciadle. TI 

 advantages, which it presents over the craille, ax 

 that the expense of it is trifling, as any farmer ci 

 make it ; it is very light ; and it can be used wi 

 ease by any one who understands ihe proper u 

 of a common scythe. It was introduced in 

 Maine by one of the most intelligent and iiiibl 

 spirited farmers in that state ; and has been sp 

 ken of the jiast season with the strongest appr 

 bation. 



Sowing clover with wheat. — I add, in co 

 elusion, to every farmer, who proposes lo so 

 wheat, my advice to sow with his wheat a fe 

 pounds of southern clover. It will not injure t 

 growth of the wheat. It will protect the lai 

 from the effects of drought after the wheat crop 

 taken off; anil should be choose to coniinue I 

 cultivation of the field, the land will he cnrichi 

 by the |doughiug in of this green crop wilh t 

 stubble, to un amount vastly exceeding the cost 

 the seed and the ex| euse of the sowing. On su 

 a clover ley gypsum may be ordinarily applied 

 great advantage; and I have known hinds tl. 

 managed gradually made better, even allei a 

 peated succession of grain crops, without a 

 other manuring than the gyiisum applied to I 

 clover and the ploughing in of the clover and I 

 stubble. Some experimenls in lierksbiie Ciiiii 

 induce the conclusion that the clover should i 

 he turned under in a state of great hixiiriai 

 or succulence ; but rather in a decayed or mat 

 ed state. This point deserves observation e 

 experiment. 



