TVEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



\'UBLlSUi:i) U V THOMAS W. SHK1'A1U>, RO tiKKS' lil'IM)I.NG^, CONGRI>S i^TKEF/r, (KOUIiTIl DOUIl FROM STA T E bT llKET.) 



No. 



L. II. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 60, 1»2:?. 



Faniui-'s (ind GanlenrrS Rcncmhrancci: , frosts of the siiccRedinsr winter. Sowing in dry 



1 eroiind is sjencrally reconiMKinded tor seeds ; 



[nv THE EDITOR. J |^^^j w hcit, ' bc ipg li:ible5>to be smntty, is cora- 



ON THE fULTIV.ATlON OF WHEAT. \ monly i)rei)ared by steepini? in brine or lime, 



'o raise good wheat is considered both inland in consequence of the steep, vegetation 



;rica and Europe as an object of prime con-! cnrnmeuces, ^nd if the seed in this state is phic- 



lonce to the cultivator, anil agricultural wri- ed in earth, which is, and continues for any 



have of course been very voluminous on (jme dry, vegetatioii is checked by the drought, 



subject. We shall select and condense some j which kills, or greatly injures the seed 



heir remarks, which appear to us of the 

 ilest importance, and add what our own ob 

 alion and experience has sunfifcsted. 



Early sowing requires less seed than late, 

 because the plants have more time, and are 

 more apt to spread, and throw out a good num 



►" heat is thought to be the most useful of i |jer of stalks. Jlore seed i,s required for poor 



farinaceous plants, and as the bounty ol 

 vidence has generally decreed that those 

 gs vvhich are most useful *hall be most 

 mon, wheat accordingly will grow in al- 

 |t any part of the globe. It thrives not only 

 hmperate, but in very hot, and in very cold 

 in Alrica and Siberia, as well as in the 

 ed States and Great Britain. It requires a 

 loamy soil, not too light, nor too heavy. 

 Memoirs of the New York Board of Agri- 

 ire, volume ii, page 28, state that " wheat 

 s best on land which contains just as much 

 as can be combined with it without sub- 

 ng the wheat to be frozen out."' And the 

 3r of that article, Mr. Amos Eaton, observes 

 ;e it is the clay which absorbs and retains 

 of the water injurious in wheat soils, 1 

 ed a rule for the consideration of farmers, 

 ed on that principle, and conlirmed by all 

 bservations 1 have been enabled to make. 

 —Wash a little of the soil in a tumbler ol 

 •, and observe the time required (or it to 

 ne clear. If the time required exceeds 

 hours, it may be considered as liable to 

 ured by frost." W. Van Dusen, a farmer 

 nsellaer county, N. Y. says, " that if wheat 

 •ved the last week in August, on clay soil. 

 generally resist the efl'ect of frost in the 

 r, and of insects in the spring." "A cla^ 

 ccording to the same work, " having ab- 

 1 a large proportion of water, becomes 

 ir as the water freezes, or rises up in va- 

 protoberances, so that the roots of the 

 plant become disengaged from their bold 

 soil. It is very manifest that if wheat be 

 SD early that each plant may have lime 

 3nd its roots into the soil, its chance for 

 ng its hold will be belter." We believe 

 ot only clay, but lime, chalk, marl, or 

 calcarious substance is necessary to bring 

 to perfection, and the grounds of our be- 

 i shall exhibit hereafter. 



Complete Farmer says, that " the best 

 jr sowing wheat is about the beginning 

 tcmber. But if the earth be very dry, 

 better be deferred till some shower* 

 Tioistened the soil. Mr. Mortimer says 

 known wheat to be so mustied and spoil- 

 laying long in the ground before ram 

 that it never came up at all. To which 

 s that he has seen very good crops of 

 from seeds sown in July." Vv'e should 

 end, however, that it would be necessa- 

 2ed wheat, sown so early, in order to 

 t its going to seed the first year, or get- 

 D far advanced in its growth to resist the 



than for rich lands, and rich land early sowed 

 requires the least of any. Bordley's Husband- 

 ry says " the climate and soil of America may 

 be believed to dilTer greatly from those of Eng- 

 land, respecting the growth of some particular 

 plants. Wheat sown there two to three bush- 

 els on an acre, yields great crops. Two bush- 

 els an acre sown in Maryland or Pennsylvania, 

 would yield straw without grain. In Maryland 

 three pecks are commonly sown. 1 never had 

 better crops than from half a bushel of seed 

 wheat to an acre, in a few instances. In these 

 instances the ground was perfectly clean and 

 tine, after many ploughings or horse-hoeings of 

 maize, [Indian corn,] on which the wheat was 

 sown in September, whilst the maize was rip- 

 ening. It was a clay loam highly jjulverized. 

 But because of the loss of plants at other times, 

 I preferred to sow three pecks an acre." — 

 •' Grain, which is thin sown, says the Complete 

 Farmer, is less apt to lodge. Every one must 

 have observed that in places where foot paths 

 are made through wheat fields, by the side ol' 

 the paths, where the corn is thin, and has been 

 trodden down in winter and spring, the plants 

 have stood erect, when most of the corn in the 

 same field has been laid flat on the ground, an 

 advantage proceeding from the circumstance ol 

 the stalks having more room." 



The Farmer's Assistant asserts that " the 

 time for sowins wheat probably depends much 

 on previous habit. Thus if it were sown 

 number of successive years by the middle ot 

 August, and then the time of sowing were chan- 

 ged at once, to October, the crop would proba- 

 bly be much lighter on that account; yet, where 

 wheat has become habituated to be sown late, 

 it will do tolerably well. The later it is sown, 

 however, the more seed is requisite. Wheu 

 early sown, a bushel to the acre is believed to 

 be sufTicient ; but when sown later, a bushel 

 and an half, or more, may be necessary." The 

 estimate of seed, however, should be formed 

 not so much from the capacity of any particular 

 measure, as from the number of grains, which 

 that measure contains. The larger and fuller 

 the seed is, the greater quantity by measure, 

 will be required; tbe smaller, the less quantity. 

 .Much, therefore, must be left to the discretion 

 of the farmer, who must take into consideration 

 the time of sowing, the quality and preparation 

 of the soil, as well as the plumpness or the 

 shrivelled state of the seed wheat 



If naked summer tallows are used at all thev 



pond, for one season, the raiding of crops of any 

 sort oil land uhicii is exhausted or greatly in- 

 fested with weeds ; ;,nil during the summer and 

 autumn plough and harrow it several times, and 

 thus thoroughly subdue it. When such a pro- 

 cess is adopted, wheat is generally the succeed- 

 ing crop. The custom of nakcul fiilouing how- 

 ever, is not much approved of in modern hus- 

 bandry, and that mode of prejiaring for wheat 

 is rarely adopted by scientilic cultivators. Sir 

 John Sinclair says, " the raising clean, smoth- 

 ering, green crops, and feeding stock with them 

 upon the land, is not only much more profitable, 

 as far as relates to the value of the crop sub- 

 stituted in lieu of a fallow, but is also a more 

 eftectual method of procuring large crops of 

 wheat, or any other crop, which may succeed 

 the green crop." There is a disadvantage 

 sometimes attending fallows, which we appre- 

 hend may be more detrimental in our climate 

 than in that of Great Britain. Land which is 

 kept in a light and pulverized state, is liable to 

 be washed away by violent rains, and the show- 

 ers of our summer season are usually more 

 plentiful, and fall with more impetuosity than 

 those of England, although the mean moisture 

 is less, and there is less rain falls in the course 

 of the year on this than the other side of the 

 Atlantic. 



In modern tillage wheat more usually follows 

 clover than any other crop ; and Bordlfy's Hus- 

 bandry says " clover is the best preparative for 

 a crop of wheat." In such case, English farra- 

 ersj and indeed all others wlio work it right, 

 give but one ploughing, and harrow in the seed 

 by passing the harrow twice in a place the same 

 way with the furrows. Mr. Bordley directs that 

 the operations of ploughing, harrowing and sow- 

 ing should immediately follow each other. Mr. 

 Macro, <in eminent English farmer says, " from 

 upwards of twenty years experience I am of 

 opinion, that the best way of sowing clover 

 lands with wheat is to plough the land 10 or 14 

 days before you sow it, that the land may have 

 time to get dry, and after rain to make it dress 

 well. 1 am at a loss to account for the wheat 

 thriving hetlcr on lands which have been ploughed 

 sometime, than it does on fresh pluuglied lands, 

 which dress as well or b^ter, but 1 have often 

 tried both ways on the same lands, and always 

 loiind tbe former answer best." Mr. Bordley 

 in attem[iting to account for this efl'ect says, 

 " 1 conjecture that the clover plants being buried 

 and the wheat sown at the same time, they both 

 f'erment and run into heat in the same period : 

 (he germ then shoots and the root is extremely 

 nelicate and tender tor some days; during which 

 the buried herbage obtains its highest degree of 

 heat ; which added to the internal heat of the 

 germ, may, though only slightly, check and a 

 little injure the delicate shoots of the wheat. — 

 In s[irouting barley for making malt, a little ex- 

 cess of heat in the bed checks, and a little more 

 totally slops the sprouting or growth of the 

 roots. Both modes give crops superior to what 

 are produced on fallow. Farmers may well try 

 both methods for determining which to prefer ; 



may as well be made preparatory to a crop of that is, as well immediate sowing, on ploughing 

 wheat. It may sometimes be expedient to sus-lin the clover, as the method of sowing not till 



