PRACTICAL FARMER. 



153 



'RAISING WHEAT. 



Mk Holmes : — I am pleased to find the peo- 

 ple of this section of the country awake to the 

 subject of raising wheat. In regard to the sub- 

 ject 1 will relate to you a little of my e.xjjcrience. 

 1 have followed farming for upwards of 30 years, 

 and have generally raised my wheat from land that 

 had been planted the year previous ; but within a 

 few years, I find that good wheat can be raised by 

 a different method to a better advantage. In Sep- 

 tember, 1833, I broke np one acre of light loamy 

 land {not by any means my best) which had been 

 pastured three years with sheep, intending to plant 

 it the next year with corn. The ensuing spring 

 being cold and backward, I concluded to sow it 

 to wheat. J accordingly spread seven or eight 

 loads of old mellow manure, which I intended to 

 have put into the hill if I had planted it with corn. 

 1 sowed two bushels of wheat on the acre of 

 ground and gave it a thorough harrowing. It 

 came up and did well. Jn the following Decem- 

 ber 1 thrashed it, and had 52 bushels of wheat — 

 110 mistake. 



From the above 1 am led to make the follow- 

 ing calculation. Wheat at that time was worth 

 $1,50 to grind into flour, the amount would be 

 $78,00, if the straw would pay for thrashing, eight 

 dollars would cover all the expenses of growing 

 it; this would leave me §70,00. If 1 had planted 

 this piece of ground with corn, I should probably 

 have had about ten bushels (as it was killed that 

 year by an early frost) worth $10,00, with an ex- 

 pense of 12 or 15 dollars growing it. 



Since the seasons have become so cold, and the 

 corn crop so uncertain, I thirdv farmers had better 

 jtlant less corn, and sew more wheat, and what 

 corn they do ]>lant, manure the ground well, and 

 instead of pasturing their sheep upon broken rocky 

 mortgage land, as is frequently the case, put them 

 upon some better land that they can plough once 

 in three or fouryears. Kenelem Marston. 



JVaterville, Dec. 21, 1836. [Main€ Far. 



Potato Bread. — "Seeing is believing;" as 

 says the old^adage. And so is tasting, as all will 

 admit who try it. And if any one is in ])articu- 

 lar want of a subject to make the trial on, we ad- 

 vise him, especially if he has a family and can't 

 cheerfully f)ay fourteen dollars a barrel lor flour, 

 and nine shillings for corn, and twelve cents for 

 pork, to make trial of potato bread. "Bah ! cries 

 one; "'tis heavy stuff — can't eat it any more 

 than I can eat lead." "Pooh !" says another ; "I 

 wouldn't eat potato bread — the poor may eat it, 

 who can get nothing else !" Friends, don't be 

 so fust. If you are not particularly circumspect, 

 you may eat it unawares ; for depend upon it, 

 you would be puzzled to tell it from bread made 

 entirely of flour. We speak from persoual knowl- 



edge. Our own " better half " has tried the ex- 

 periment, and succeeded to a charm. Somewliat 

 more than half of the bread was of potato, which 

 was crushed after being boiled, and mixed with 

 the flour. It rose quick, and when baked, came 

 out " as light as a feather," and sweet as the best 

 wheat. The experiment has also been tried in 

 the family of a friend, with a like result. We 

 say then, if any body wishes to live in a frugal 

 way and live well too, tug away at your ])Otato 

 bin as much as at your flour barrel, -md snap your 

 fingers at the speculators who would fill their 

 pockets at the expense of yours. 



P. S. Since writing the above, we have receiv- 

 ed from a friend, some very nice dough nuts, 

 made of pc;tatoes and flour, half and half. Try 

 it, Ladies Franklin Mer. 



WINTEK FOOD Fl>R SHEEP. 



Every farmer is aware, that one of the chief 

 difficulties in the raising and managementof sheep 

 consists in preserving them through winter, with- 

 out disease or loss. Hence every fact or hint in 

 relation to their winter management becomes of 

 tlie first importance. It is indispensably neces- 

 sary that sheep should be kept in good condition 

 in order to prevent disease ; and it is a secon- 

 dary point, yet one to which much attention 

 should be paid, to make use of the cheapest kinds 

 of foo.4. 



With regard to the quantity and nature of food, 

 it should be such as to keep them in a strong, 

 healthy state, and rather full of flesh, yet not par- 

 taking too much o{ fatness. This good condition 

 even if maintained at considerably greater imme- 

 diate cost, will be found by far the most profita- 

 ble in the end ; for independently of the constant 

 danger of loss by death, when sheep are ill kept, 

 tliey shear much less wool, and the future proge- 

 ny is much weaker, in consequence of such im- 

 perfect management. 



One of the most necessary requisites to be ob- 

 served is constant and regidar feeding. Sudden 

 changes, from scanty to plentiful food, are highly 

 detrimental, as is also the reverse. Perhaps the 

 only exception to this remark, is tite case of ewes 

 rearing lambs, which require better feeding than 

 in ordinary times. 



The quality of the food is a thing of much con- 

 sequence, and the quantity must be adapted to the 

 quality. It is satisfactorily ascertained, that hay 

 alone, is not adapted to kee|)ing sheep in the best 

 co)Kiition. Still less is it if they are not allowed 

 a constant supply of water. But the intermixture 

 of roots, and particularly mangel wurtzel, is (bund 

 to |)roduce an excellent effect. A very successful 

 manager of sheep, whenever he feeds any kind of 

 roots, or grain, to them, first gives them a fodder- 

 ing of straw in order to fill theoi, as he does not 



