•^m"M 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BREGK &. CO., NO. 52, NORTH MARKET S5TREET, (Ageicultural Wakehodse.) 



VOL. XVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 20, 1838. 



NO. 50. 



• 



(From the Uominissioner's Report on Easex County.) 



WHEAT, RYE, &c. 



Wheal has sometimes been raised in this county 

 Yith success. Until within the last two years, 

 he town of West Newluiry has always raiseH a 

 iufficiency tor its own wants; and some for sale. 

 Sood cro|is have been produced in some places in 

 he county this year. In Newbury, two acres 

 produced fifty-seven bushels of sound grain. — 

 rhis was the Bl.ijk Sea wheat. In another in- 

 stance, 32 bushels and 14 quarts were obtained 

 Torn an acre. In Lynn, a good crop of 20 bush- 

 3ls to the acre was obtained. In Haverhill a crop 

 3[ 25 bushels to the acr-e. In Ipswich likewise 

 here have been good crops. In Gloucester, a 

 small piece of land yielded at the rate of 24 bush- 

 sis to the acre. 



The crop can hai-dly be considered as an es- 

 ;ablislied product of the county; and the amount 

 raised at any time bears an inconsiderable propor- 

 tion to the wants of the population. There are 

 parts of the county, especially the northeastern, 

 where the soil is clayey ; and where, by proper 

 nanageinent, it may be cultivated to advantage. 

 \ farmer in Newbury states, that "he has raised 

 .vheat iJtd rye on his farm since the year 1812, 

 md has found no difficulty except in 1836." This 

 ("ear his crop was excellent, yielding more than 

 26 bushels to the acre. He adds, " I have always 

 iown wheat on ground in good condition ; anil, 

 It the same time, have laid the land down to 

 Trass ; and I have thought the roots of wheat de- 

 ornposed soon, enriched the ground, and were 

 better for the grass than full sowing without the 

 wheat. I have always sown S))ring wheat ; and 

 n 1836, sowed Black Sea Wheat. It came up 

 nixed as to kinds, but of a good quality. I sowed 

 he wheat 1 raised last year in 1837, and it was 

 ^ood in quantity and quality." 



1. Wheat is still, however, regarded as an un- 

 certain crop. Some portion of hme in the soil is 

 ieemed essential to its success. Soils, containing 

 3nly one hundredth per centage of lime, are found 

 capable of bearing wheat. In this county, this 

 :an be procureil only at considerable expense. — 

 riie value of lime to corn is almost as great as to 

 wheat, though to the latter crop, some measure of 

 It is indispensable. The prospect that the cost of 

 lime will be considerably reduced, by cheaper 

 methods of buruing it being employed in the great 

 ime depositories in fliaine, leads to the hope that 

 t may be more accessible to the Essex farmers, 

 rhe use of ground bones, which will soon be ex- 

 ended, will, in some measure, supply its place. 

 3reat quantities of clam and muscle shells, which 

 »re furnished by the fisheries in the town of Es- 

 lex, could they be reduced by fire, would prove 

 )f considerable service. As yet the use of lime 

 IS manure in the county is very little understood ; 

 md further experiments are important to deter- 

 nine at what rate a farmer can afford to purchase 



it. A considerable deposit of shell (narl is re- 

 ported to have been discovered on the route ol 

 the railroad, now in progress between Boston 

 and Salem. The discovery has been so recently 

 reported, that no examiiiation has been made 

 of it. 



2. A second cause of failure is supposed to be 

 connected with oui- climate. The blights or shriv- 

 elling of the kernel, which sometimes occur, are 

 in some cases occasioned by the want of lime in 

 the soil, in order to perfect the grain. Where 

 these blights are directly connected with atmos- 

 pherical influences, they can be but partially 

 guarded against by any human skill ; but in this 

 respect they are not so frequent as to discom-age 

 the cultivation. There has not been a general 

 blight of the wheat cro|) in Great Britain since 

 the year 1806. 



Of two contiguous fields of wheat, similar in 

 aspect, condition of soil, and kind of seed, which 

 I visited this season, one was severely blighted ; 

 the other sound and perfect. The only difference 

 ascertainable in the management of the two fields, 

 was that one of the farmers, during the continu- 

 ance of the heavy ilews, and damp foggy weather 

 which occurred while the wheat was in flower, 

 was careful every morning to sweep the dew from 

 his wheat by passing a rope over it. Another 

 farmer in Manchester reports his having pursued 

 this practice in former years with his wheat, and 

 with success. 



3. A third cause of the f^iilure of the wheat 

 crop in several places in the county, is the grain 

 worm. The Hessian fly, which formerly infested 

 the wheat, has, in a great measure, disappeared. 

 The grain worm, whose habits are not yet well 

 understood, threatens great injury throughout the 

 country. The fly, from which the worm origin- 

 ates, deposits his egg at the time the wheat is in 

 blossom. This small black fly is seen at that 

 time hovering over the fields of wheat in infinite 

 numbers. Some remarkable experiments have 

 been made by a free dressing of newly slacked 

 lime upon the plant, while it is in a wet state, to 

 destroy his deposit or prevent his approach. — 

 There is some reason to hope, that if seasonably 

 and properly applied, this may prove an effectual 

 remedy. A farmer in West Newbury states, that 

 he this year niEOe the experiment of liming his 

 wheat field, having applied at least one bushel of 

 newly slacked lime to an acre ; and that his grain 

 was comparatively iVee from the insect, while the 

 adjoining fields of his neighbors were severely in- 

 jured. The subject of the worm is of such great 

 importance as to deserve the most anxious inquiry 

 and exact and repeated experiments. In some 

 parts of the country, late planting seems to have 

 carried the season of flowering beyond the period 

 of the insect, and his ravages have been prevent- 

 ed. This insect has been known in Great Britain 

 since the year 1828, but the cultivation has not 

 for that reason been abandoned or lessened. 



The expense of cultivating an acre of wheat 

 may be thus stated. Ploughing, $2,50 ; 2 busheU 



of seed, $4; sowing and harrowing, SJU.oO; har- 

 vesting, $2,50 ; incidentals, $1 ; total, §11. No 

 'charge is her' made for maiuire, which is applied 

 to the preceding crop, but half of which certainly 

 belongs to this crop ; nor for lime, where any is 

 used. 'I'he straw will fully jiay fur threshing and 

 cleaning. This is custonjarily given, where there 

 is a threshing machine ; but it is a bad bargain 

 for the farmer. The crop may be estimated at 

 18 bushels ; and when flour is at $8 per barrel 

 the wheat may bj valued at $1,50 ; the jiroduce, 

 $27; the expenses, $11; profit, $16. 



The average product of wheat in Great Britain, 

 is 18 bushels to the acre ; of New York, 23 ; of 

 Virginia, 7 to 9 bushels. New England has no 

 fixed average, as for several years past, excepting 

 the last, the crop has been to a considerable de- 

 gree abandoned. Wheat is much valued, as a crop 

 with which to sow grass seed, by all who have 

 practised this mode of laying down land to 

 grass. 



The farmers on Long Island, have been accus- 

 tomed to send to towns on our sea-shore, to Mar- 

 blehead for example, to purchase for their wheat 

 fields, our leeched ashes, at 10 cents per bushel ; 

 these contain a good deal of lime, which had 

 been used by the soap boilers. They ascertained 

 that there was an advantage in it. It is known 

 likewise, that foreign agents are visiting different 

 towns and places on the sea board, to purchase 

 the refuse bones, and the animal carbon, after it 

 has been used by the sugar refineries, in order to 

 enrich the wheat fields in Europe, which have 

 been for the last two years, to a considerable ex- 

 tent, and to our great disgrace, the granaries of 

 the United States. 



Rye can scarcely be said to be cultivated in Es- 

 sex County. In Salisbury, on poor land, 7 bush- 

 els are given as the produce of an acre. In Wen- 

 ham, 15 and 16 bushels. In Manchester, 12 hush- 

 els. In Saugns, 18 to 25 bushels. A small far- 

 mer in Gloucester, whom I induced to measure 

 and report exactly the produce of a small rye field, 

 returns 9 1-2 bushels rye this year on 37 rods of 

 land. A considerable amount of rye was formerly 

 raised in the upper parish of Beverly, but the cul- 

 tivation was (or a time discontinued. It has been 

 revived, and it is calculated 1000 bushels have 

 been raised there this year. In Amesbury, and 

 the northern parts of the county, it is represented 

 as subject to blight. The cost of cultivating rye 

 difi'ers little from that of wheat, excepting in the 

 price of the seed ; of which only half the quantity 

 is sowed to an acre, and that of half the value of 

 wheat. The general impression is, that as much 

 wheat can be grown to an acre as of rye ; and the 

 chance of success is as great for the wneat as the 

 rye. In such case, the crop would of course be 

 of double the value. Justice is seldom done to 

 this crop. Laud, which is considered too jioor 

 for any other crop, is consigned to rye without 

 favor or afi'ection. Under good cultivation in 

 Gloucester, 31 bushels weighing 62 pounds to the 



