Vol. XIX, Second Series. ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1858. 



No. 9, 



A FEW WORDS ON THE CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 



Corn, oats, rye, and barley, are all more or less 

 used as food for man — they are all eminently 

 nutritions ; but of all cereals, wheat is most pre- 

 ferred, and is most extensively used. On the other 

 hand, few animals relish wheat, and without ex- 

 ception always prefer oats, corn, barley, or rye, 

 where a choice is allowed them. Wheat was de- 

 signed to supply the principal bread-food of the 

 most active and intelligent portion of the human 

 race. Ever since the sons of Jacob went to Egypt, 

 to buy wheat, with doulle money and a present of 

 "a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, 

 nuts and almonds," the wheat-growing farmers 

 could always find a market more readily than the 

 producers of any other cereal. 



Though wheat is a native of the temperate zones, 

 yet it is remarkably hardy, withstanding alike the 

 hottest summers and the severest winters. Its 

 range of habitat is more extensive than that of any 

 other cereal. From the cradle of the human race 

 to the last clearing on our western frontier, wheat 

 can be grown. "While some soils are much better 

 adapted to its cultivation than others, there are 

 few soils so poor that they can not, by judicious 

 management, be made to produce at least an occa- 

 sional crop. The soil naturally adapted to the 

 growth of wheat is of very limited extent. Its 

 production for any length of time, in any country, 

 is not an easy matter. Infinite wisdom has so 

 ordered, that those things which are most desira- 

 ble shall be the most diflicult to obtain. As we 

 have said, there is comparatively little land that 

 will naturally produce good crops of wheat ; but, 

 on the other hand, there is even less land which 

 intelligent and cai-efol culture can not make to 

 yield more or less wheat. In the county of Nor- 

 folk, in England, we have seen, on what was once 

 a "blowing "Sand," large fields of wheat which 

 would average forty bushels per acre. Farmers 

 must not expect to grow this prime article of 

 human food without intelligent labor. With it, 

 nothing should daunt them. The Anglo-Saxon 



motto, ''Through^'" combmed with science, will 

 overcome all obstacles. 



It is impossible to lay down specific directions 

 for the cultivation of wheat, adapted to aU sections 

 where the Genesee Farmer circulates. We can but 

 allude to general principles, and leave their appli- 

 cation to the intelligence of the reader. In West- 

 ern New York, so celebrated for the production of 

 the famous "Genesee wheat," many fears are en- 

 tertained that wheat culture must be given up on 

 account of the ravages of the midge. We have re- 

 peatedly given our reasons for considering these 

 fears unfounded. Farmers here have run their 

 land too hard; they have sown too much wheat 

 and other cereals. They must now sow a less 

 area ; select the best portions of the farm, manure 

 judiciously, cultivate in the best manner, aud sow 

 early with plenty of seed and an early kind. 



By far the greater portion of land in this section 

 needs underdraining. Even intelligent farmers 

 have the crudest and most erroneous views on this 

 subject. They laugh at the idea that liglit, high, 

 rolling land, can possibly need draining. Yet it is 

 a fact that such land is often full of stagnant water. 

 Dig a trench eight or ten feet long and three or 

 four feet deep ; let it remain open for a week or 

 two, and see if in the mean time water does not 

 accumulate and remain in it. If it does, the land 

 certainly needs draining before it can produce 

 healthy, early, maximum crops of wheat. Three- 

 fourths of the land in Western New York is in this 

 condition, and the wonder is, not that wheat so 

 often fails, but that fair crops have been so long 

 obtained. That judicious underdraining will pay 

 in this section, has been repeatedly demonstrated. 

 It no longer admits of a moment's doubt. Under- 

 draining is a permanent improvement, and the in- 

 crease obtained from it is net profit. We know of 

 instances where the increase of the first crop of 

 wheat after underdraining has paid the whole cost 

 of constructing the drains. It seems impossible to 

 make farmers believe this. We could wish that 

 every town and county agricultural society in the 

 State would appoint a committee, consisting of two 



