NEW ENGIiiiNU FARMER. 



PUBLISHED I'.V GEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 32, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 4, 1833. 



NO. 8. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



THE Cl'LTIIRE OF WHEAT NO. III. 



The culture of wheat in New England is a sub 

 ject of so much importance, that I sliitll bo excus- 

 ed ifl dwell longer ii[ion it; certainly not with 

 any view to instruct my brother farmers, most ol 

 whom are better acquainted with the subject than 

 myself; but with a view to furnish some facts 

 which have come undejr my own observation, aucl 

 excite such inquiries with others as may in the 

 end lead to valuable and practical results ; results, 

 which in agriculture must always be practical in 

 order to be valuable. 



We have no reason to despair of the successful 

 cultivation ol' wheat in Now England ; and, if pro- 

 per means are used, of obtaining an ample supply 

 for our own consumption. Whether it would lie 

 ad-visable to attempt this as long as the fine rich 

 soils of western Now York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 

 the eastern shores of Maryland, and Virginia, so 

 well adapted to this cultivation, at so cheap a rate, 

 pour out their rich treasures directly at our doors, 

 and in such abundance that even the poorest ma'i 

 among us, is not without his wheaten loaf, and 

 Yankee industry and invention in its eoiintless, 

 . Protean forms supplies to those, who will use 

 them, the ample means of competence; yet it is 

 certainly desirable to understand the capacity of 

 our soil and climate, to know that we have such 

 resources within our possession; and perh 

 where our soils are capable of being cultivated, 

 without too great an expense of labor and manure, 

 wheat may be found to yield the best return of any 

 arable crop to the labor of the industrious and en- 

 terprising farmer. 



The crops of wheat, both summer and winter, 

 have been in this vicinity good and abundant. 

 The crops of wheat in England, where the cultiva- 

 tion is supposed to be as fine as the present im- 

 proved state of agriculture can render it, the aver- 

 age produce of wheat is rated by Armstrong, at 

 eighieen bushels per acre, by Sinclair at twenty 

 two. In the interior of New York, from the best 

 information which I can obtain, in docs not aver- 

 age higher than from twenty to twenty-five, or say 

 twenty-two ; and in Virginia not higher than six 

 or seven bushels. The average crops in this part 

 of the country for the last two years, where it has 

 been cultivated, have been full twenty ; and while 

 the labor of raising it, is greater than on the virgin 

 lands of the west, yet the superior value of the 

 crop is not fur from an equivalent. 



The crops of wheat in Springfield, Northamp- 

 ton, Hadley, and lower down on the river have 

 been abundant and fine. In this and the neigh- 

 boring towns, the crops, with some exceptions of 

 blight, have been equally favorable ; and in the sin- 

 gle town of North fie Id in this State, where three 

 years since the article was scarcely cultivated, I 

 have heard the crops of this year rated as high as 

 seven thousand bushels. I think this must be an 

 over estimate; but any thing like an approach to 

 this, or even an adequate supply for the popula- 

 tion of the town, which is believed to be fully se- 

 cured, is certainly a considerable event in our ag- 

 ricultural history. 



William Pomroy, Esq. of Northfield, whose 



farm for its fine condition and admirable manage- 

 ment is not surpassed by any one that has come un- 

 der my observation, its extent, expenses, neatness 

 and productiveness, all considered ami compured, 

 lias this year harvested from twenty three acn ! ol 

 old meadow land on the banks of the Connecticut 

 more' than five hundred bushels of winter ami 

 spring wheat, of as line a sample asever floated mi 

 the Erie Canal. A part of it was reckoned to 

 yii Id fully thirty bushels to the acre. This crop 

 was without blight excepting one small parcel, and' 

 the facts respecting this, confirm the suggestions 

 made in a former communication, concerning the 

 particular state of the weather at tin- time of form 

 ing the grain, being the cause of blight. 



Most of this wheat was sowed very early. It 

 had arrived at such a state of maturity before the 

 sultry and foggy weather of July came on, to be 

 perfectly secure from injury. The piece which 

 was blighted, though of tin; same seed, the laud at 

 the side of the perfect crop, ami with no difference 

 of preparation, was sowed much later, the sowing 

 havingbeen necessarily delayed until after a crop 

 of Indian Corn was removed from the ground. 

 This derives farther confirmation from the fact, 

 that two fields, in the immediate vicinity of bis 

 own, on the same flat, and one or both of them 

 lying between his lots, being sown late, were both 

 of them severely blighted. The condition of sev- 

 en acres of this wheat land, and which bore as 

 Deavy a crop as any part, being well remembered, 

 it may be desirable to state. In 1828 and 1829 it 

 was in Indian Corn and manured at the rate of 

 about eight four ox cart-loads of barn manure to 

 the acre each year. In 1830 and 1831, it bore a 

 crap of Broom Corn, and was manured with six 

 loads of manure to the acre. In 1S32 it was in 

 nas, without manure, and bore a fine crop. The 

 stubbie was then ploughed in and wheat sowed at 

 the rate of about one bushel of seed to the acre, 

 without manure and no preparation of the seed, 

 other than that of washing and sprinkling plaster 

 ipon it. 



William Wells, Esq., in Shelburne, on a side hill 

 ♦n old land, from an early sowing obtained a fine 

 <rop. No manure was applied to this laud the 

 jear of its being sowed ; of the previous crop I am 

 tot informed. This gentleman's farm is an exam- 

 lie of excellent husbandry, obvious at once to the 

 pissing observer. Mr. Charles Williams had a 

 piece in my vicinity, on a hill on the meadow lands 

 known by the name of Fort Hill, being a very con- 

 siderable elevation and rising gradually from the 

 meadow on all sides. This was badly blighted. 

 !t was sowed late in October. What is remarka- 

 ble however, is that the blight principally attacked 

 the lower sides of the field ; and that on the top of 

 the hill, where the dampness and fog were not 

 likely to prevail and remain so long, there the 

 wheat was of a fair quality. This corresponds 

 with the observations of Sinclair's Gen. Report, 

 vol. i, p. 476, where speaking of the wheat blight 

 in 1808, the writer says, "No discrimination of 

 soils could be pointed out as more or less affected by 

 the disease. It attacked the crops of wheat on 

 strong as well as on free soils ; and the only ob- 

 servable difference was that high, open, free-aired 

 situations were comparatively less diseased, while 



low grounds, much sheltered by high hedges, 



hedgerow trees, and plantations, and situations 



e r rivers, were obviously and considerably more 



riallj injured. The near neighborhood of the 



eemed to have a beneficial influence in pre- 



ventiug or lessening the disease." Then in a note 



lie adi's, "Hedges and trees by preventing u free 



circulation of air, would detain moisture longer in 



the grain, than in open situations. Near the sea 



there is generally a circulation of air, occasioned 



by t'nc tides perhaps, even in the calmest weather." 



Mr. Orrin Dole, of this town, cultivated a small 

 pii ce Hi' wheat ill my immediate neighborhood, 

 the growth of which was very luxuriant but the 

 crop was very severely blighted. The sowing was 

 very late, and the situation on the borders of 

 Green River, low and very confined. The pre- 

 vious crop was potatoes. 



Mr. Augustus Wells of this town raised a crop 

 of fine wheat on the upper meadow land near the 

 centre of Deerfiehl village. The extent of land 

 was nine-tenths fan acre. It was last year in 

 [ndiau corn ; after this crop was gathered, the 

 land was ploughed ; eight loads of barn yard ma- 

 nure were spread on the surface, and one bushel 

 and three peeks of seed without any preparation 

 were sowed on the piece on the 17,th of October. 

 The crop was very fair though slightly blighted ; 

 and the yield in this piece was tvveuty ! one bush- 

 els. 



The whoa: Crops of John Wilson, Esq. on the 

 hanks of the Connecticut, whose farming is distin- 

 guished by its intelligence, neatness and skill, were 

 considerably blighted.' They were sowed, I think, 

 after Indian Corn and Hula Baga, b >th of which 

 crops were manured. The crop after Ruta Baga 

 was much poorer than the other parts of the field, 

 which is confirmatory of my own belief and expe- 

 rience that valuable as the Swedish Turnip is, it 

 scourges the land severely. The seed was washed 

 in brine and rolled in lime. The yield not ascer- 

 tained. The sowing from accidental circumstan- 

 ces was quite late. 



A respected correspondent writes me from 

 Hatfield that "Dr. Hastings of that town, the last 

 year, reaped from three acres ninety bushels. He 

 measured one acre, and had 34 bushels and 2 qts. 

 The other two acres were a little winter-killed, but 

 there was no blight. The wheat was sowed the 

 fore part of October, after Broom-Corn ; the corn 

 (that is the stalks) ploughed under; after plough- 

 ing, 2 loads of fine manure per acre spread over. 

 The seed sowed without any preparation. The 

 wheat is bearded, of a redish cast. Dr. Hastings 

 says the flour is equal to any of the Western flour. 

 This kind of wheat was brought from Springfield 

 14 years ago; and has been raised in town ever 

 since, and I have beard of no blight until the pre- 

 sent year. Capt. Hastings reaped this year from 

 about one and a half acre, he judged, 21 bushels; 

 Mr. Morton, from one acre, he judged, 30 bushels, 

 had it not been a little blighted ; Maj. Porter 18 

 bushels from three-fourths of an acre, a little 

 blighted." 



The red bearded wheat here mentioned, is the 

 same kind as that sowed by Mr. Pomroy, who al- 

 so procured his seed from Springfield; and is con- 

 sidered by the English farmers, from their om 



