J¥EW EJ^Gl-AND FARMER, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultdrai, Warehouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 13, 1836. 



NO. 40. 



^<3Si25^ \S'3E,1? WmiSa 



LSS.ICHCSETTS SOCIETY" FOR PROMOTING 

 A6RICUI.TURE:. 



the Committee on Agriculture : 



Gpntlcmen, — Every ray of light relative to the 



Itivation of Wheat is iniportant to the farmer ; 



1 it is pleasing to knoT\-, that it can be raised to 



)fit in the county of Bristol. Wheat makes the 



it of bread, and however large our resources 



to the supply of flour) are at present, they 



y fail, at least to a certain degree, and render 



lecessary to raise it here. There is no need to 



igrate to the "far west," and there repeat our 



lausting process by running over much land 



h little labor and ex|)ense. We must bestow 



re labor, and apply more manure on a smaller 



fare than we have heretofore done, and in a 



years we shall be able to raise large crops of 



eat, barley, rye and corn. What can we ex- 



t by cultivating several acres of land, planting 



J corn, witli little manure, and that little put in 



hill, and thus year after year exhausting the 



? We cannot expect in this case to raise 



eat or Barley. 



The opinion of many farmers is that wheat 

 aot be raised in this part of the counti'y. They 

 that their land will not produce barley, much 

 wheat, and the consequence has been, that 

 cultivation of wheat, the very best of grain, 

 been neglected. This is, however, an error, 

 under a pro[ier cultivation, spring wheat can 

 raised to great perfection and profit. If we 

 e no calcareous soils so congenial to wheat, 

 have as substitutes, lime, ashes, and animal 

 uire. The reason why our land will not pro- 

 e wheat to advantage, is either because the soil 

 not the proper food for it, or we have exhaust- 

 he soil of those peculiar ingredients by other 

 )3 ; or by improper cultivation. In our soils 

 jiroper application of jime, ashes and manure, 

 aining the elements of animal matter, will, 

 believe, ensure a profitable crop of spring 

 at, if the seed be properly prepared. 

 Vheat is subject to disease, blight and smut, 

 former is occasioned by warm, wet, sultry 

 ther at or about the time the grain begins to 

 ,- id for this malady the cultivator has no 

 i le. Sinclair thinks tliat blight is produced 

 heavy rains at the time when the grain is in 

 er ; the rain washing off the farina, or vivify- 

 dust of the anthers, before it has come to suf- 

 ■ t maturity to effect its purpose. As to the 

 •r, smut, (which is, at least, of vegetable origin,) 

 farmer has an effectual remedy; which is, 

 hing the grain, and then stee])ing it in strong 

 e, strong soap suds, or lime water, for 24 

 rs and after draining off the liquor, roll it in 

 slacked lime previous to sowing it. A cool 

 ;ou is favorable to wheat and rye. 

 Vinter wheat is said to be more productive in 

 56 places where it will stand the winter than 

 ng wheat. The same may be said of rye. 



In 1792 I was in the interior of New York, and 

 was pleased with the beautiful crops of wheat 

 grown on land perhaps not riolier than much of 

 the land in this county. I had a desire to see it 

 growing on my own land, and accordingly, after 

 my return home, I obtained some wheat, called 

 Siberian Wheat, which was introduced herfe by 

 the Hon. George Leonard, of Norton, I sowed it 

 on a good soil. It smutted very much, say one 

 third. This I considered accidental, perhaps from 

 some peculiarity of the season. What did not 

 smut, was fair, jilump wheat. AVith a part of this 

 crop, I the next year tried the same experiment. 

 It smutted to a far greater degree than the year 

 before, say three fourths, or more. I obtained but 

 little more than the seed sown, and that was hand- 

 some wheat. This failure 1 imputed to tlie same 

 supposed cause which operated the last year. — 

 Not yet discouraged of final success, and having 

 raised enough that year to enable me to repeat the 

 experiment once more, I the next year tried it 

 again on a very rich soil. It grew well, and to 

 good height, but the whole of it smutted. I never 

 reaped it, nor saved a single corn. I was then 

 satisfied ; satisfied that my land, from some cause, 

 would Jiot produce wheat, and concluded never 

 again to try to cultivate it. 



About the year 1S09, (when the,gaperal embargo 

 chained all our vessels to our wharves, and of 

 course flour very high,) in passing through a 

 neighboring town, I saw a fine piece of wheat 

 just ripe for the sickle. I observed neither blight 

 nor smut. On inquiry, I understood, /or the first 

 lime, that it was necessary to prepare the seed in 

 order to avoid its smutting. I then sent to Ver- 

 mont for a peck o? spring wheat. I prepared the 

 seed by washing and steeping in strong soap suds, 

 and then rolled it in dry slacked lime, previous to 

 sowing it. I succeeded. The wheat was without 

 smut, very fine and good, and yielded at the rate 

 of 16 bushels to the acre. Since which time, I 

 have occasionally cultivated it, and with satisfac- 

 tory success. 



It seems proper in this place to state my gen- 

 eral course of culture, in order to exhibit the man- 

 ner of my raising wheat. I have succeeded best 

 iu the following mode of culture, or rotation of 

 croiis. It is not necessary to enlarge, and go into 

 every ])articular : such a course would swell this 

 paper beyond its intended limits. 



The land which I improve for grain cro])s is a 

 hard soil, .consisting of gravelly loam, in which 

 are innumerable small stones, say of the size of a 

 man's fist, with a hard panny bottom favorable for 

 holding water. As soon as convenient after the 

 crop of grass is secured, I turn over the sward 

 with the plough. Let it rest a few days, and then 

 harrow it with a light harrow drawn by a horse, 

 and this repeat at short intervals, say once in about 

 ten days, to keep down weeds and pulverize the 

 soil. In September, I commonly sow winter rye 

 and harrow it in. By this piactice I generally 

 obtain a fair crop of winter rye. In tbe nest year, 

 soon after the rye is reaped, turn in the stubble 



with the plough and harrow occasionally, if ne- 

 cessary, to koe[) down grass and weeds. In the 

 spring following, about the first of April, or as 

 soon as the ground is sufliciently dry, [ilough, and 

 in a few days harrow the same. About the first 

 of May, spread on stable manure at the rate of 8 

 cords to the acre and plough it in ; pass a light 

 harrow over it, to make it even ; mark out the 

 rows, 3 1-2 feet one way, and 4 feet the other, and 

 plant the corn on the top. If it be fui-rowed, as 

 is the common practice, the previous harrowing 

 is not necessary ; but in this case, bring up the 

 earth with a hoe, so as to make a small hill, that 

 tlie corn may lie even with tlie surface. As soon 

 as the corn appears above ground, place one half 

 pint of dry aslies round each hill, so as not to come 

 in contact with the corn. Plough the ground 

 each way twice, and hoe the corn twice, making 

 a low, broad, flat hill, and all this before it becomes 

 large, and the roots far extended. By this culture 

 I obtain a good crop of corn. In the spring next 

 succeeding, as soon as the ground is sufliciently 

 dry, I plough the land, and in a day or two har- 

 row it, and then spread on stable manure, at the 

 rate of say 8 cords (as it is thi-own into the cart) 

 to the acre. Then iilough again, and lay it down 

 with wheat, rye, or barley, and a sufEcient quan- 

 tity of grass seed ; harrow it in, and pass the roller 

 over the whole. By this process, my land will 

 produce satisfactory crops of wheat, rye or barley, 

 and for several years good crops of grass. 



I have never sowed oats, believing them to be 

 unfavorable to future crops of grass, far more so 

 than barley, rye, or wheat. I have found that 

 ashes spread on the land, about the time the grain 

 is coming up, have beneficial effects ; and that 

 wheat and rye cannot be sowed too early, if the 

 ground be fit to receive them. I have not tried 

 to raise winter wheat, believing that our winters 

 would greatly injure, if not destroy it. I once 

 sowed some winter wheat, supposing it to be 

 spring wheat. It grew luxuriantly through the 

 summer, but was not disposed to head. What 

 little lived over tbe following winter produced 

 large plump grain. 



So far as my experience extends, spring wheat 

 appears to be a more sure crop than spring rye, 

 and I have thought that I could raise more spring 

 wheat than spring rye on a given piece of ground, 

 under the same culture. This opinion I put to 

 test in 1S33. I selected 40 rods which was plant- 

 ed to corn the year before for the experiment. 

 The ground was j)loughed April 5th, and previous 

 to the second ploughing, two cords of stable man- 

 ure were spread on the same. I attempted to 

 prepare and divide tlie ground equally. On the 

 16th sowed one half to tea wheat and the other 

 half to spring rye, with a proper quantity of grass 

 see<l, harrowed the whole and finished with the 

 roller. Six quarts of tea wheat were sowed on 

 the one half, and four quarts of spring rye on the 

 other. The wheat was prepared by steeping it a 

 few hours in strong soap suds, in which a little, 

 say one fourth of an ounce, of sulphate of iron 



