238 



Vurielie.i, Properties and Classification of Wheat. Vol. III. 



if the coafTulum be allowed to remain unbro- 

 ken and the whey be separated by very slow 

 and gentle pressure, the cheese is good. 



On the Varietiegf Properties, and Classl- 

 flcatton of Wheat. 



[Concluded.] 



ON THE RELATIVE ADVANTAGES OF TFIE 

 DRILL OR BROADCAST SYSTEMS. 



Much has been written on this subject which 

 still appears debateable. My own observation 

 leads me to believe, that it rests mainly on 

 the knowledge, skill, and long practise of the 

 farmer. If a skilful and intelligent farmer, 

 has for a long series of years, hoed, manured, 

 and treated his land, so as to have eradicated 

 all the seed weeds from it, and it remains in 

 so clean a state that nothing but the intended 

 crop will germinate ; then indeed I should say 

 the broadcast system would afford the greatest 

 produce. But if the case be with most farm- 

 ers, as my own, that the land to be cultivated, 

 is loaded with the seeds of many descriptions 

 of noxious weeds, then I contend the drill, or 

 partly fallowing process, is that, which is alone 

 likely to enable the farmer to obtain a com- 

 pensating return from his crops. I have ob- 

 served a field of wheat sown broadcast in 

 very good rich soil, so completely over-rnn 

 with weeds, that at the veiy lowest computa- 

 tion, two-thirds of it was lost. In every 

 case where the ordinary means are adopted, 

 whether the expensive process of hand weed- 

 ing, or the much less costly mode of hoeing 

 broadcast, it is attended with manifest risk if 

 not most carefully and attentively performed, 

 as any of the young tillers that may be drawn 

 or cut, will reproduce fresh ones, the ears 

 from which will ripen a fortnight or more, 

 later than those which were uninjured; and the 

 crop from such a mode of culture can never 

 be, in the most fit state of ripeness for har- 

 vesting. 



By the drill process, just before, or about the 

 period that the wheat is forming its coronal 

 roots, which, from wheat sown on the 18th 

 January, I found, as may be seen by the plate, 

 to be on the 17th of April, there is ample time 

 to have it lightly but carefully hoed, so that 

 the weeds may be completely destroyed, and 

 the coronal roots find a well stirred soil to 

 work in ; moreover the plants, being in a free 

 atmosphere between the dri-lJs so cleaned, 

 which the weeds, previously to their destruc- 

 tion, breathed in common with them, have 

 the whole benefit of the soil. 



Those who desire to sow clover and rye 

 grass, in the spring, will find it to be good 

 practise t6 sow them a day or two before 

 the first hoeing is given, as the same stroke 

 which destroys the weeds, mixes the grass 

 seeds with the soil, which then take posses- 

 sion of it sooner than a second crop of weeds ; 



but this mode which 1 have found successfiil, 

 in regard to the future hay crop, is, I consid- 

 er, at the cost of several bushels per acre on 

 the wheat crop. 



My own practice is to put my seed wheat 

 into fresh water, two or three bushels at a 

 time, then stir it, till all the light, injured, or 

 sickly grains are floated, or skimmed oflT; the 

 grain thus cleaned is put to soak twelve hours 

 in brine, made strong enough to float a pota- 

 to; it is then put to drain, and is well dried 

 with air slacked lime — no smutty ears appear 

 after such treatment The land is prepared 

 by two or three ploughings, and a dressing of 

 lime, ashes, or some suitable manure, accord- 

 ing to the change required in the food of the 

 seed. The wheat is then sown with a five 

 row drill machine, in drills seven inches apart, 

 at the rate of two, to two and a half bushels 

 the acre, after potatoes, or parsneps. 



One careful hoeing in April or May, is then 

 sufficient to enable the wheat to get the up- 

 per hand of its enemies the weeds, for which 

 purpose I use a hoe of my own invention, 

 with a very narrow steel blade, not wider than 

 a table knife, with a stout blunt back, and 

 a very sharp edge, the sides being rounded 

 off like some cavalry stirrups I have seen. — 

 The workman is thus enabled to place the 

 back of the hoe against the very roots or til- 

 lers of the wheat, and thus scoop out any 

 weed from them. In hoeing straight along 

 the drills, the work is performed very speed- 

 ily, as the round projecting sides of the hoe 

 guide the laborer, and prevent his cutting the 

 plants ; the blade being so narrow prevents any 

 accumulation of earth on the hoe, which glides 

 or cuts through the dry surface with great 

 ease, and scarcely any resistance to the per- 

 son using it Women or even children can 

 handle it with facility. My gardener has 

 adopted it for all his drilled crops, finding it 

 a safe, commodious, and very powerful instru- 

 ment The clover and grasses are sown im- 

 mediately afler the crop has been harvested, 

 which has been found to answer remarkably 

 well, though at the expense of one additional 

 ploughing, a practice I have adopted, having 

 observed it to be corroborative of Mr. Sin- 

 clair's experiments, who states in the "Hortua 

 Gramineus VVoburnen.'^is," page 248, "I have 

 sown the seeds of the same grasses in every 

 month of the year, January excepted ; and 

 though much depends on the vvenlher and 

 state of the ground, the results were always 

 in favor of the month of September, and the 

 beginning of August ; and next to that, tho 

 middle or latter end of May, according as the 

 weather was dry." 



Tiiis principle is obviously in accordance 

 with coumion .sense, for in the first place — 

 the wheat crop receives the whojf* btsnofit of 

 the manure which was intended for it» with« 



