40 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



DRILL HUSBANDRY. 



The broad-cast system of sowing wheat, oats, 

 barley, rye, and peas, generally prevails in this 

 country. It is not practiced because it is the best, 

 but has been handed down from father to son, like an 

 heir-loorn, for many generations, and indeed is the 

 only system of which the great mass of our farmers 

 have any knowledge. The intelligence and enter- 

 prise of American farmers have become proverbial 

 throughout the entire civilized world, and it is natu- 

 ral to infer that it is only necessary to point out an 

 improved system of managing any branch of the 

 ancient and noble profession of Agriculture, to at 

 once enlist in its favor all those whose circumstances 

 and means would admit of its profitable introduction. 

 A portion of the agricultural press of this country 

 have recently made favorable mention of drill hus- 

 bandry, and in some instances the knowledge thus 

 imparted has been seized upon and practiced in a 

 manner highly creditable to the parties concerned. 



In various portions of the United States may be 

 found very sensible and enterprising farmers who 

 originally migrated from those countries of Europe 

 where drill husbandry has been long successfully 

 practiced ; but, strange to say, as if by common con- 

 sent, it has almost invariably been the ease that this 

 as well as many of the'other acknowledged improved 

 systems of farm practice in general use in those 

 countries, have been pronounced inapplicable to the 

 agriculture of America. The system of passing 

 wholesale opinions, and looking merely at the surface 

 of things, does not answer a wise purpose at this 

 enlightened period of the history of agriculture. — 

 That drill husbandry can be profitably practiced in 

 this country, has been thoroughly proved by the 

 writer and scores of other American farmers, and 

 when accompanied by horse hoeing, at least twenty 

 per cent, may be added to the yield of those crops 

 enumerated above. From a number of trials, some 

 of which were made upon a pretty large scale, an 

 additional average of five bushels of wheat per acre 

 from drill husbandry alone, was produced ; and when 

 horse hoed, a still further additional average of five 

 bushels per acre was the result. So large an extra 

 yield as this should certainly be a sufficient induce- 

 ment to influence every thinking man to make some 

 effort in becoming acquainted with this or any other 

 system of agriculture adapted to produce so favorable 

 a result. 



Some of the most prominent benefits to be gained 

 by drill husbandry are, a saying of about one-fourth 

 in seed ; the regular distribution of seed in rows to a 

 uniform depth ; the free admission that is given to 

 the air and rays of the sun, between the rows of the 

 plants ; the excellent opportunity that it affords the 

 farmer for the eradication of noxious weeds that may 

 appear in the growing crops ; and for the use of the 

 horse hoe in the early spring and summer months, 

 by which a much larger growth of straw and yield 

 of grain will be produced on most soils, and besides 

 the ground will be thoroughly cleaned and improved 

 in texture for the succeeding crops. 



The saving in the quantity of seed is not an object 

 that should influence a change of system in the mode 

 of farming in this country, so much as that of obtain- 

 ing a greatly increased yield ; but nevertheless, when 

 a large breadth of land is sown, a saving of one or 

 two pecks of seed per acre is an item of some impor- 

 tance. When the seed is sown in rows, the roots of 



the plants, especially of winter wheat, become inter- 

 woven in each other and hence are not so likely to 

 be thrown out and destroyed by the action of winter 

 and spring frosts as if sown broad-cast, and besides 

 the tops of the plants spread and cover the roots, 

 which afford a natural protection to them during the 

 most critical period in the growth of the wheat plant, 

 in the northern sections of our country. 



If a portion of a field be sown with a drilling 

 machine, and another portion be sown broad-cast, 

 that which is drilled will not suffer • nearly as much 

 by severe frosts as that sown broad-cast. After an 

 extremely cold winter, or a cold backward sprint, 

 wheat sown in the ordinary method will in most cases 

 have a sickly and stunted appearance : whereas that 

 sown with a proper drilling machine will scarcely be 

 affected by the frost. There may be exceptions to 

 this rule, but after many years experience with both 

 systems it has been found the case in almost every 

 instance where drill husbandry has been efficientlv 

 tested. 



The regular width between the rows should not be 

 less than nine nor more than twelve inches. Where 

 drilling grain crops is practiced with a view of em- 

 ploying horse hoes to clean the ground, the rows 

 should be about eleven inches asunder ; a less distance 

 than this would be advisable, if the crops are not 

 intended to be hoed ; but if the rows be much less 

 than a foot apart, it will be fouud difficult to efficient- 

 ly work the land with hoes while the crops are in a 

 rapidly growing state. Horse hoeing a crop of wheat 

 or other grain, once or twice in the early part of 

 summer, will promote a very strong and healthy 

 growth of plants, and land that ordinarily produces 

 only fifteen or twenty bushels per acre, will, under 

 favorable circumstances, yield from thirty to thirty- 

 five, and even as high as forty bushels per acre. — 

 While this statement will be found to fully accord 

 with the practice of most of those who adopt drill 

 husbandry and horse hoeing, yet it must not be for- 

 gotten that there are soils which do not possess a 

 sufficient amount of the requisite elements or food for 

 the wheat plants, to produce so large a product, and 

 hence a much less average increased yield must be 

 taken in the aggregate. 



A smart plow -boy with the aid of a horse, and a 

 single drill horse hoe, will find no difficulty in clean- 

 ing three acres per day, in the long days of the 

 month of May or' June. Two such hoeings would 

 not cost more then one dollar per acre, which is a 

 very trifling expenditure, when the advantages re- 

 sulting therefrom are carefully taken into account. 

 By the use of the improved English self- expanding 

 horse hoe, one man and a horse will clean in a more 

 perfect manner than can be done by employing hand 

 hoes, from eight to ten acres per day : but as these 

 machines, being constructed entirely of wrought 

 iron and steel, are very expensive, their use in this 

 country is not likely to become very general. 



The increased quantity of straw produced by horse 

 hoeing a crop of wheat, barley, peas, oats or rye in 

 the manner described, may be safely calculated at an 

 average of thirty per cent, on the amount that would 

 be produced by the ordinary method of sowing those 

 grains broadcast. The value of this straw in many 

 parts of our country, especially, near large cities 

 would be an object, and where it is not a marketable 

 article, it will be found worth at least as much as the 

 outlay in hoeing the crop, for the purposes of fodder 

 and manure. The extra cleanliness of the ground 



