7oL. II. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1823. 



INo. G. 



fanner's and OarJcnci's Heireiubniiiccr. 



[by thk kditor.] 

 ON THK CUM'IVATION OK WIIKAT. 

 (Concluded I'toin p:i».' 31.) 

 riio o^renlcsl care sliould be exercised with 



A correspondent of llie New i:iis:Um<l Farmer, sow whant next in rct:ilio„ j,fitr clover as has 

 (ivho IS, we lielieve. a pracHcul and scientific , been recoriimended. " ' 



ao-riciiiturisl, and whose slatemei.ts are worihyj It is Well known that our I;inds where th<. 

 nt implicit confidence) with the si-nalure Bcrk-\^o\l is at ail snitaMe, will prodnce' irood creos 

 .ohirc, m giviii- directions i.u- preparing s;^cd , of wh'eat when tjrst cleared f,„m their intivc 

 rd to the kind, quality and preparation of »v heat observes, " the only siiccesshil course is ! growth of wood ; hut ai'ler haviuy been tiled 

 i wlieat. There are many varieties of wheal, '" I""'^!''"''' '"'P -^t^e'' -'''f"" ten days before sow- (or some years, they ffenerallv ' 

 w nter wheat, in the United States, is ^en- iny lime. This is done by .splectins; clean and '' " ~" "' - • ^ 



Iv distinguished by only two appellations, ' P'""np seed, passinsf it tliro'jgh water in a tub. 

 wheat, an. I white wheat," of which the latter "'■""' h-'" a bushel at a time, and wa>]iinj it 

 leid in highest estimation. | and skimming olT the matter that (loats ; then 



a preparing your seed wheat the first thin^f , ''"'P'.v '' '"'" <' li^^^l^et to drain, then lay it on a 

 attended to is to clear it perfectly from j '^'''''" '''""' ■'•"'^ rake in two cjiiarls of slacked 



linie and one quart of ])laister to the bushel, 

 and if too dry sprinkle on water and continue 

 to stir it until all is covered with the lime and 

 plaister. In this way you may proceed until 

 you have prepared your whole seed. Let it 

 remain in a heap one day, then spread it and 

 move it daily, until it becomes perfectly dry ; 

 it is then tit to sow, and you may sow it if the 

 land should happen to lie quite wet." 



We shall now speak of the liability of wheat 

 to become winter killed. The author of Let- 

 ters of Agricola states as an objection to the 

 cultivation of wheat in Nova Scotia, "its lia- 

 bil ty to be thrown out in the spring, and thus 

 suljecting the farmer to serious inconveniences, 

 and often disappointment of a crop. Grasses 

 ate not exempt from the same Jiazard ; and the 

 hopes of the year are thus blasted. by a cause, 

 which, in many cases, will adniit.pf^' remedy, in 

 all of alleviation. I am not saie but sowing the 

 wheat seed under furrow at least four or five 

 nches deep in September, in order that it may 

 t-xtend its roots and take a firm hold of the soil 

 before the aj.proach of winter, and rolling it in 

 Uie spring with the box heavily loaded would 

 obviate the evils of our climate, and enable us 

 to cullivale that grain according to the improv- 

 ed modes of England. It ought to recollected 

 ''*'"' ^^'*'" ''•'^■'e) about sixty years ago, winter 



1- and lime. 2 Boiling water and lime. 3. 'vheat was not of general cultivation, and the 

 r imures'nated with salt d nnno ..i-iiu iieaving of the soil was accounted a powerl'ul 



obstacle toils success. In Scotland, too, during 

 the same period, spring wheat almost univer- 

 -;.illy prevailed ; and her northern and bleak 

 position was thought to be incapable of anv 

 change to the betler, and utterly unfriendly to 

 autumnal semination. The zeal and industry ol 

 Lirltish farmers, combined with their skill, have 

 "aflled all those gloomy predictions, and taoghi 

 us at once to copy the example of our sires, 

 and not to desp.ur in the race of improvement." 

 A method, according to the same author, 

 made use of in Norfolk, Eng. to guard wheat 

 against ihe changes and inclemency of winter 

 • aid spring, is to adopt the following rotation. 

 ■• After a lurnip crop, they sow barley the sec- 

 ond year with cbiver seeds; the third year 

 hey cut hay, and plough down the ley, and 

 ' vv their winter wheat on the malted "sod. — 

 i'he roots of the grass bind the soil, and pre- 

 vent It fri.m heaving, which is much akin to 

 the same effect jiroduced by the tangled and 

 iioiind surface of' our new and cleared lands." 

 This tact may suggest another inducement to 



ry injurious foreign substance. " One error 

 e may mar our whole system, and render 

 skill productive of as much evil as good, 

 poor and worn out land the evil of sowinsj 

 :xtiire of impure seed, with grain or grass 

 1, would be great — but where the ground is 

 igh Older, the crop is more injured ; the 

 .oils plauts take firmer hoM, ami are more 

 cult to be eradicated. "* Indeed, it wonid 

 bi'tier for a farmer to pick over his seed 

 at by single handfiils, and make a riddle of 

 ingiTs, than to sow cockle, darnel, tares. 



turn.p seeds, and other vegetable nuis- 

 s, which are as intrusive as unwelcome, as 

 cioiis of life as they are unworthy of ex- 

 ce. The fust jireparation therefore should 

 ) screen, winnow and riddle the grain till 

 :cliy ireed trora these ,ino other improper 

 ;d:eni.s. When this i*i thoroughly accom- 

 ed, washing and steejtinaf, for the purpose 

 eventing sin.it, should meet attention. The 

 step in the processes to be instituted againsi 

 , as recommended by Sir John .Sinclair, is 

 rim the gran very gently through a riddle, 

 1 not only the smut balls, but the imperfec 

 3 and the seeds of weeds will float, and 

 be skimmed oft' at pleasure." The sain.- 

 T enumerates as modes by which snun 



be prevented, 1. The use" of pure col i 

 • and lime. 2 Boiling water and lime. 3. 



r impregnated with salt. 4. Urine pickle. 



y of wood_ ashes. 6. A solution of arsenic. 



iolutioD of blue vitriol. It seems that ai- 



any acnd, corrosive or poisonous applica- 



lill secure a clean crop, if properly used 



at purpose. 

 Arthur Young sowed fourteen beds with 



line wheat seed, which was black with 

 The lirst bed was sown with this wheal 



ut washing and had 377 smutty kernels, 

 sowed with seed washed in clean water 



ced 3-zb smutty kernels— Washed in lini' 



43 do. — Washed in a lie of wood ashe« 



— Washed in arsenic and salt mixture 2'^ 



iteeped in lime water four hours 2 do.— 

 d in lie tour hours 3 do. — Steeped in ar 



four hours 1 do. Again, that which was 



d in lie, as before mentioned, twelvt 

 had none ; and that which was steepei! 



same kind of lie twenty-four hours, hati 

 that also which was steeped twenty-four 



in lime water, bad none ; that steeped in 



; twenty-four hours had 5. 



a communicalioij by O. Fiske, Esq. New Eng 

 rmfr. vol. i, paje 222. 



* See New England Farmer, vol. i, page 275. 



., .,. , yieid wheat 



With diflficulty, aiiT! it is oficn found .mpos>.il,le 

 to raise it by any of the modes comm<ailv adopt- 

 ed for wheat culture. In most pans of Massa- 

 chusetts, and in some parts of New Hampshire 

 and Vermi nl, the (armrrs scarcely everallempt 

 to raise wheat, and still more rarely succeed 

 when they do attempt it. Yet, we Iielieve 

 wheat was a common and profitable crop m 

 those places in the early period of their si-itle- 

 menf. In process of ti.me, however, the Ir.nd 

 became exhausted of its whenl-beanng faculty, 

 and our farmers were forced nearly to forego 

 its cultivation. The same variations and ap- 

 pearances have likewise been observed in Eu- 

 rope. Wheat countries, by contmuei, cultiva- 

 tion, have become almost incapable of yielding 

 wheat. The cause and remedy of this partial 

 barrenness, this falling ofl', wil'h regard to par- 

 ticular plants, was alike involved in oliscnritj-. 

 till modern discoveries in chemistrv threw hght 

 on thesubject. It has been found'lhat the tex- 

 ture of every soil is defective unless there is a 

 mixture of three kinds of earth, viz. clay, sand, 

 and liriie ; and that lime, in some of ils combi- 

 nations, exists in wheat both in ihe straw and 

 kernel. In some soils, fertile in other respects, 

 lime may either have no existence, or be foumi 

 in very minute portions, and be soon exhausted. 

 If lime be a necessary constituent of wheat, and 

 IS not in the soil where we altempt to raise 

 wheat, it must be sujiplied by art, or wheat 

 will not grow. Or if native lime exists in the 

 soil, in small quantities, the land may bear 

 wheat till the lane is exhausted, and then be- 

 come incapable of producing that plant, till a 

 Iresh supply of lime, niarle, pulverized bones, 

 or some other calcarious substance is added. — 

 Mr. Young says, (Letters of Agricola, p. 299,) 

 " it cannot be denied, that since the plentiful 

 use of lime has been adopted, lands in Europe 

 will produce wheat which otherwise were in- 

 ca|iable of bearing it, and quotes several in- 

 tances in proof of this assertion. Dr. Anderson 

 likewise gives an account of a field, which had 

 a top dre.ssing of lime for the purpose of rais- 

 ing ^^heat, but the lime, by accident, was not 

 applied to a small patch of the field, and in that 

 patch there was no crop, while every part of 

 the field to which the lime was applied pro- 

 duced wheat luxuriantly. It would be easy to 

 adduce many more instances to prove that lime 

 in Great Britain is considered not only useful 

 but indispensable for the production of wheat. 

 \ British farmer, we believe, rarely undertakes 

 to raise wheat without the use of lime, and an 

 American farmer as rarely undertakes to raise 

 it iii</t the use of that substance for manure. 



If the foregoing premises are correct if would 

 seem not impossible, and indeed scarcely im- 

 probable, that by the judicious use of lime, or 

 other calcarious substances, wheat iiOTiy be as 

 well raised in New England as in the Western 



