346 



Mildeir, Blight or Rust. 



Vol. V. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Mildew, Blight or Rnst. 



Mr. Editor, — The essay by Col. K. Smith, 

 read by him before the Philadelphia Society 

 for promoting Agriculture, on the above sub- 

 ject, deserves notice. In my remarks I shall 

 be brief, and I hope to the purpose. Should 

 subsequent experience prove the truth of the 

 " cause and remedy" devised by that gentle- 

 man, he will merit a statue of gold, and farm- 

 ers will not fail to raise it; but the period for 

 the discovery of that important secret has not 

 yet arrived : the combined research of intelli- 

 gent farmers manifesting the same zeal which 

 characterizes Colonel Smith, will, however, 

 do much to unravel the mystery. I am 

 pleased to find that the Colonel, as well as 

 others of your correspondents, deny the 

 agency of fungi or parasitic plants as con- 

 nected with the cause of blight, however 

 much these may attend as an effict. Is my 

 friend, Col. Smith, (for a man who exhibits 

 such ardour in the cause of agriculture can 

 be no other than my friend) a real farmer 1 * 

 But I digress. 



The respectable writer asserts, that grass- 

 seed sown amongst wheat is the cause of 

 mildew, and to abstain from this practice con- 

 stitutes the remedy. In this view of the mat- 

 ter, I can only say, we farmers of Lancaster 

 county who make wheat-growing our princi- 

 pal business, ought to be permitted to record 

 our experience and close observation against 

 this "cause and remedy;" our practice and 

 observation condemn both, and we can furnish 

 instances times and again in proof of the as- 

 sertion. Many farmers in this county still 

 take two crops of wheat successively off the 

 same field ; the first being sown on clover 

 lay, when, if the field lie low and flat, and is 

 destitute of manure and carbonate of lime, 

 tiie crop will be liable to blight, although, let 

 it be remembered, grass-seed is never sown 

 with this first crop; then, when the second 

 crop of wheat follows, and frequently half the 

 field gets a dressing of stable manure, and 

 the whole field, after being sown with wheat, 

 is also sown with grass-seed, even should mil- 

 dew be prevalent the following harvest, a 

 good crop of wheat and grass, too, may be 

 traced to the line of the manure — the balance, 

 a handsome sample of mildew. According 

 to my theory, mildew is rarely, if ever, found 

 on good wheat land of high and undulating 

 aspect, when cultivated clean from binding 

 grass, such as the native varieties, particu- 

 larly the poa compressa of Muhlenburg, or 

 blue grass, but we have in no instance sus- 



• Col. Smith cultivates one of the best farms, of up- 

 wards of 200 acres, in tlie county of Philadelphia, in 

 tUe bost possible ma7tner.—Eo. 



tained any damage to our wheat crops from 

 artificial grasses, when sown, provided the 

 rioil be clean of binding grass, or even timo 

 tliy, before t!ie wheat was sown, and espe- 

 cially when the soil is well supplied with 

 manure: but we are never troubled with 

 grass "a foot or a foot and a half hiij;h, and 

 matted on the ground," and I think this 

 would hardly happen after clean cultivation, 

 from the grass-seed sown. 



My own practice within two years, goes 

 to explode the new discovery of Col. Smith; 

 for having, on account of the severe drought 

 three years ago, for the purpose of sparing a 

 clover sod intended for wheat, (the young 

 clover on the wheat stubbles being destroyed 

 by the drought,) cut up my corn, wiiich, by 

 the bye, was well manured for in tlie spring 

 previous, and sowed the field — situated low 

 — with wheat, which, owing to the dry wea- 

 ther and good cultivation, was unusually 

 clean and free from grass; but wet weather 

 setting in, the wheat was sown too late, (an- 

 other cause of mildew,) I predicted a blighted 

 crop ; and so it proved, although perfectly free 

 from grass, yet there was a large yield of 

 straw. Well, the following season I manured 

 one half of this field, and farmed the whole 

 in other respects alike; but at harvest, al- 

 though I had previously, in fall and spring, 

 sown three varieties of grass-seed, the whole 

 taking remarkably well, yet not sufficiently 

 strong to mat upon the ground or grow to 

 any great height until after harvest; tiie re- 

 sult proved itself the overthrow of the "cause 

 and remedy" — a full crop of wheat, fine ber- 

 ry and bright straw, when, the harvest pre- 

 vious, the straw was unfit for any thing but 

 litter, the grain light and .shrivelled, but the 

 ground the freest from grass I ever saw. 



Now, let us examine whether the proposed 

 remedy be not worse than the disease. " The 

 system of wheat-farming is wrong," observes 

 the writer, and proposes "to discontinue the 

 practiceof sowing grass-seeds upon land sown 

 with winter grain, ploughing the wheat stub- 

 ble after harvest, and permitting the scattered 

 grain, &c. to grow two or three inches high; 

 then to plough again and sow grass-seed 

 alone, about the 10th of October, which will 

 insure a more abundant crop of hay the ensu- 

 ing season." Now I am led to atk, what 

 practical farmer would not prefer occasional 

 blight, rather than the expense and labour of 

 preparing his land for grass as for wheat ? to 

 say nothing of the loss he would ruffer in not 

 having his wheat stubble matted a foot in 

 height after harvest for his stock. But this 

 is not all : imagine for a moment how this 

 system would work on a farm of good size, 

 where about 50 acres are annually sown with 

 wheat, and as many acres in grass, — first, 

 plough fifty acres, perhaps twice, for wheat, 



