1869. 



XEW ENGLAND TAEMER. 



125 



agricultnre. Wc intend to enlarge oui- facilities 

 for practical scientific education just as rapidly as 

 the demand fur such training increases. We are 

 alwaj's very Iiappy to have visitors call upon us, 

 and see what we are doing. We believe that we 

 can satisly them that it is no longer necessary to 

 send the sons of Vermont out of the State, whether 

 to obtaiu a classical education or a thorough ac- 

 quaintance with the physical sciences in their ap- 

 plication to a:^iiculture and the mechanic arts. 



KEW E:?rGIiAWD -WHEAT CONVEN- 

 TION. 



In a late number of the Farmeb, I noticed a 

 proposition for a grand Convention of Western 

 wheat growers. Such a Convention, it strikes me, 

 is more needed in New England than at the West. 

 Here I think there is a positive necessity for such 

 a Convention. The increased interest in the cul- 

 tivation of wheat that has been manifested in all 

 parts of New England, of late, would be still fur- 

 ther stimulated. The past season Maine reports 

 two hundred thousand bushels. None of tlie other 

 States have been reported, but doubtless many 

 other experiments have been wrought worthy of 

 publication. 



We have had Horse Conventions, Wool Conven- 

 tions, and scores of other Conventions for the "pub- 

 lic good," and now, we say, lastly and earnestly, 

 let us have a great Wheat-growing Convention, em- 

 bracing an interest, tinhiowii to nine-tenths of the 

 yeotnanry, on whose farms hundreds of millions of 

 Dushels of wheat can be produced, requiring neither 

 art nor skill beyond the cost or labor of getting any 

 cereal crop. Let every town or county in the New 

 England States be represented at some central 

 point, say Boston, and there discuss this and other 

 subjects, bringing into goodly fellowship a class of 

 noble men, the tillers of the soil. 



Il behooves the New England farmer to protect 

 his interest in this new occupation, partly in view 

 of the West becoming large manufacturers of the 

 heavy textile fabrics and agricultural implements, 

 as well as supplying many of their domestic wants, 

 for which they were formerly dependent on New 

 England. 



The question — "Can we grow wheat ?" I most 

 emphatically answer, we can, and to repletion, and 

 we will. Henky Poor. 



Brooklyn, L. /., 1869. 



Remarks. — Our highly respected correspon- 

 dent, Mr. Poor, has long been a zealous ad- 

 vocate for wheat raising in New England, and 

 we doubt not his motive is a real regard for 

 the best good of New England farmers. We 

 fully coincide with his views, so far at least 

 that we think every farmer iv]ic lias a suitable 

 soil should raise sufficient lolieat to supphj his 

 men family icith bread ; and thus, in the im- 

 portant matter of bread, farmers would be in- 

 dependent of ^peculators and railroad exor- 

 bitance, and sure of sweet and wholesome 

 flour. Further than this, each one must judge 

 for himself. 



We cannot raise wheat or corn or potatoes 

 or grass without manure. The great problem 

 with us is to get manure. We need every 

 ounce we can obtain, and the question occurs 



to every one, how can it be most profltably 

 used? 



An acre of land well manured will give us 

 twenty bushels of wheat. This same land 

 with the same manure will yield fifty bushels 

 of com, one hundred and twenty bushels of 

 potatoes, or two tons of hay. We need all 

 the corn we can raise. This makes milk, pork 

 and fodder, and leaves a valuable residue in 

 manure. The potatoes and hay find a ready 

 market. Which crop, then, is the most profita- 

 ble .** In the vicinity of the cities, other crops 

 are more profitable than cereals of any kind, 

 and the cultivator will raise neither wheat nor 

 corn. The fifty bushels of corn are worth 

 sixty-five dollars. The wheat forty-five or 

 fifty. The potatoes eighty, and the hay fortj'. 

 The first three crops require thirty dollars 

 worth of manure each. The hay none, and 

 the labor of harvesting is .less. Each farmer 

 must determine for himself as to the expedi- 

 ency of raising every particular crop. The 

 corn crop is, and ever will be, ths favorite 

 crop In New England. If we had manure to 

 raise all the corn we need, and to raise wheat 

 besides, there would be less question about 

 the matter. But if we must Import the one or 

 the other, will it not be cheaper to Import 

 tlour ? 



One Important consideration we have alluded 

 to. The farmer likes to see his manure heap 

 increasing. Wheat yields no manure, at least 

 unless the straw Is fed to stock. But corn 

 stover is worth more for fodder than wheat 

 straw. This question has received a good 

 deal of attention already among the shrewd 

 Yankees. The nature of his soil, his facilities 

 for market, and for obtaining artificial ma- 

 nures, will assist in determining what crop 

 each shall raise. In the northern half of New 

 England, where the corn crop is more uncer- 

 tain. It may be best to raise wheat as a lead- 

 ing crop. In the southern half, where the 

 corn crop Is the most certain crop we have, it 

 may not be so. 



We can see several good reasons why the 

 wheat growers of the West may profitably hold 

 a convention. In all the older wheat growing 

 States, the crop is annually depreciating. The 

 first question will be whether they shall at- 

 tempt to continue the growing of wheat at all. 

 What varieties can best be grown. If any ; 

 how the ground shall be prepared, and the 



