NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. BARRETT, MO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agk.cui.tim; u. W « . •, .mouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 11, 1833. 



NO. 9. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



CULTURE OF WHEAT No. IV. 



We now approach the important inquiry, 

 whether any thing, and if any thing what can be 

 done to secure wheat from the blight, so far as 

 this blight is connected with the weather. Mere 

 conjectures in agriculture can attract only the ig- 

 norant, the credulous, ami the uninitiated. But 

 we shall rest only in conclusions plainly deducible 

 from observation and experience. 



Early sowing, from the best observation which 

 I have made of the wheat crops, which have come 

 under my notice, from the united and decided 

 opinion of the British wheat-growers, and from 

 many American authorities, is to be strongly ad- 

 vised. The reason is obvious. The wheat crop 

 should be as far advanced in the spring as possi- 

 ble, that it may perfect its seed before the hot and 

 sultry weather usual in July. 



Your correspondent, Mr. Ferry, in the N. E. 

 Farmer of the 7th ult. says, " The white flint or 

 bald wheat, being about ten days later than the 

 bearded wheat, was badly blasted, while the latter 

 is generally good. 



Jeremiah Wadsworth, Esq. of Hartford, Conn, 

 in 17'JS writes, " In my other field all the crops 

 were good and fit for the sickle from the 1st to 

 the 16th July, except one piece of two acres in a 

 stiff moist clay after Indian corn, put into (he 

 ground the 1st November ; this was very much 

 shrunk. In an adjoining field of pasture ground 

 were many barberry bushes, which might have 

 been the cause of this blast ; but I am satisfied it 

 will not do well to put this wheat in the ground 

 after the middle of October; that which was sown 

 early in September was the best.* 



James Hillhouse, Esq. of New Haven, Conn, in 

 1797 writes, "The Virginia wheat headed ten or 

 fifteen days earlier than the other, was ripe sooner, 

 and when harvested was plump : the other was 

 almost ruined by blast, and where separated from 

 the early wheat by a furrow only, the blast was as 

 great as in any part of the field.\ This last remark 

 deserves particular attention. These two gentle- 

 men are of the highest authority. 



Justin Ely, Esq. of West Springfield, whose 

 crop was before referred to, remarks in speaking 

 of his wheat crop, "It ripened so early as to be 

 harvested a few days sooner than any crop of rye 

 in the vicinity; to this circumstance of its ripen- 

 ing thus early before the nights get to be warm, is 

 imputed the security of this kind of wheat from 

 blasting. This crop equalled 36 bushels to the 

 acre. A single acre produced more than forty 

 bushels.f The average weight 64 lbs. to the 

 bushel. 



The English authorities are to the same point. 

 An English writer, as far back as the year 16S1, 

 (as quoted by Sinclair) says, the sowing of wheat 

 early hath been esteemed, and doubtless is, the 

 best remedy against mildews, by which means the 

 wheat will be filled in the ear before they fall, and 

 your increase will be much more : as for curiosity's 

 sake, wheat was sown in all the months of the 

 year : that sown in July produced such an in- 



* Mass. Agr. Papers, for 17y9. 

 t Ibid, for 1803, p. 73. 



t Ibid, p. 74. 



crease, that it is almost incredible."* Many other 

 authorities equally decisive, and results of actual 

 experiments and long observation might be quoted, 

 but I fear being tedious. 



In the next place high manuring, especially the 

 year of sowing the wheat is not advisable; be- 

 cause when the growth is very luxuriant the grain 

 is more liable to lodge, which always exposes a 

 to injury; the air has a less free circulation among 

 it, which occasions it to retain moisture longei 

 and its luxuriance may be supposed to render n 

 more liable t) disease, as the full and crowded 

 habit of the bon vivant, the gross and corpulent, 

 renders them much more liable to acute, violent, 

 and fatal disorders than the man of a more thin, 

 abstemious, and moderate habit. In all epidemics 

 such men are found peculiarly susceptible of dis- 

 ease, and are commonly the first victims. 



As to the particular manure to be applied to the 

 crop and the proper time of applying it, there is a 

 great variety of practice, and with almost equal 

 success; some giving it to the preceding crops, 

 and others applying it to the crop itself. I shall 

 suggest no theory of" its operation ; facts are all 

 that are important ; mere speculations in matters 

 of practical science are often much worse than 

 useless. Nature envelopes her hidden operations 

 by a veil of mystery, which man's sagacity at- 

 tempts in vain to raise. We soon reach the har- 

 rier beyond which all is utter darkness ; and no 

 finite mind can penetrate. 



In regard to the suggestion of your most re- 

 spectable correspondent B. that our primitive soil 

 is deficient in the specific food of the wheat plant, 

 which he gives merely as theory, I can only say, 

 the proof is wanting. As it respects likewise your 

 own positive assertion, that lime is indispensable 

 to the wheat crop, or " that without lime or some 

 alkaline substitute, a wheat crop must fail, though 

 with it, it may fail," accustomed as I am to respect 

 the intelligent authority from which this declara- 

 tion emanates, I must still demur, because the 

 proof is wanting. The conjecture of the most re- 

 spectable writer, Agricola, of Nova Scotia, that 

 lime is as necessary to form the wheat as it is to 

 form the shell of the egg, is certainly very amus- 

 ing ; but I believe after all it is mere moonshine. 

 Where is to be found a chemical aualysis of wheat, 

 either the grain or the straw ? Perhaps you can 

 assist me in a search, which I have made in vain. 

 What is the proof that lime is an important con- 

 stituent either of the straw or the grain of wheat ; 

 and if it exists at all, in what proportion and how 

 compounded ; and does it more exist there than in 

 Indian corn, where it is found in a very small pro- 

 portion, according to Dr. Gorham's analysis, in the 

 form of a phosphate.f 



* Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii, p. 141 Appendix. 



f By the Editor. We did not rely on the authority of Agri- 

 cola alone, when we stated that we believed lime to be indis- 

 pensable for the production of wheat ; but quoted Anderson, 

 see N. E. Farmer, vol. xii. p. 38 ; Dickson, ib. p. 38; Grisen- 

 thwaile, ib. p. 4fi, and Loudon, ib. p. 38. With regard to lime 

 being found hi wheat by analysis, we can at present place our 

 hands on the following authorities only, though we think others 

 may be adduced : 



Sir Humphry Davy in speaking of Phosphate of Lime, says, 

 " It forms the greatest part of calcined bones. It exists in most 



I am perfectly apprized of the value of lime as 

 a minute ; and of the fact that certain fields after 

 its application have borne good crops of wheat 

 whjch before were incapable of producing it. But 

 in spite of all the fine-spun theories which have 

 been invented on the subject, the true mode of its 

 opi ration is as much concealed as the actual process 

 of digestion in the human stomach, and the vari- 

 ous divisions and dispositions of the food after it 

 is necived into this secret, complicated, and won- 

 derful laboratory. If in many instances lime has 

 been applied with extraordinary success, there are 

 othj is in which it has produced no apparent effect; 

 am many in which its effects hate been positively 

 and permanently injurious. The English writers 

 spaak of the application of one hundred, three 

 hundred, and even seven hundred bushels to the 

 acre. These are remarkable quantities compared 

 uith any thing to which we are accustomed ; and 

 the application of a mere sprinkling to the seed, 

 i r as Anderson remarks, of a thousandth part of 

 die weight of the seed to an acre, seems very tri- 

 fling and insignificant.* 



Ql?" Broiwn of Markle, says, " the propriety ofap- 

 1 1\ iug lime on old arable lauds has been question- 

 ed, and with much justice by the most part of 

 practical agriculturists, and their doubts on that 

 head are confirmed by the fullest experience.! He 

 aids, that after having been in the regular habit of 

 at :\ ing considerable- quantities of lime for above 

 tlirty years, indeed few of the profession have 

 uk d more of this useful article, that in the ma- 

 joiitj of cases the application has been highly bene- 

 tteiai, changing in a manner the very nature of 

 the soil, and causing it to produce the most abun- 

 dant crops, whereas in others it has been alto- 

 gether useless, and in some instances followed by 

 mischief instead of benefit. Strong loams and clays 

 require a full dose to bring them into action, such 

 soils being capable of absorbing a great quantity of 

 calcareous matter. Lighter soils, however, require 

 less time to stimulate them, and may be injured 

 by administering a quantity that woti'J prove 

 moderately beneficial to those of a heavy nature." 



excremenlitious substances, and is found both in the straw and 

 grain of wheat," &.C.— Lee. vii. p. 299, N. York ed. 



'• Several of the earthy and alkaline matters exist very fre- 

 quently amongst the materials of vegetables. Sitex is found in 

 almost all their ashes. Alumine exists in them. Lime is much 

 more abundant in them, and is found especially combined in the 

 sulphuric, phosphoric, or carbonic acids.'" — Nicholson's Four- 

 croy, vol. viii. p. 137. 



* Dr. Anderson's expressions are u Perhaps the proportion of 

 calcareous matter did not, in this case, amount to more than 

 one thousandth part of the whole, yet the qualities of the soil 

 were thereby totally altered, insomuch that though before the 

 application of that dressing, the soil was incapable of producing 

 wheat at all, it was found at all times after that period well 

 adapted for the raising of this crop. Nature has formed many 

 soils with a similar proportion of calcareous matter, blended 

 imperceptibly in them, over large districts of land." Anderson's 

 Recreations, vol. i. p. 16. We believe that Dr. A. by " one 

 thousandth part of the whole" meant a quantity equal to one. 

 thousandth part of the mould or earth within reach of the roots 

 of the plants. Larger quantities might be beneficial as manure, 

 or a constituent of the soil, but a little was indispensable to form 

 a constituent of the wheat plant, which, if our theory is correct, 

 cannot be perfected without a portion of lime. 



t Treatise on Rural Affairs, vol. i, p. 418. 



