THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



19 



WHAT DEPTH SHOULD WHEAT BE COVERED 1 



A ■wnEAT-GROWER of Westcm New York gives 

 the following facts bearing on this point, in the 

 Albany Cultivator for 1842. 



In a bed of rich garden mold, I sowed, or rather 

 ■libbled five rows of wheat, the respective depths 

 of which were one, two, three, four, aad six inches. 

 The season was most favorable for germination, 

 moist and warm, and the seed was carefully se- 

 lected from a quantity of fine white flint, of the 

 previous year's growth. That put to the depth of 

 one inch, came up on the sixth day ; and the rows 

 of two and three inches, about two days later. 

 The row at four inches was still more tardy, and at 

 the end of sixteen days, only one of the seeds 

 planted at six inches, showed itself above ground, 

 rhe others never came up at all. 



The rows planted at two and three inches, gave 

 the best plants, that at oie inch the most ; although 

 from some unexplained cause, about one sixth of 

 the seed in all the rows, failed of germinating. 

 Other experiments with nearly the same results, 

 and close observation of the different modes of 

 sowing, have convinced me that covering wheat too 

 deeply is to cause a loss of a large portion of the 

 seed, and seriously impair the germinating powers 

 of the remainder. On the contrary, when the 

 seed wheat is covered too shallow, it is more liable 

 to destruction from insects, and from the drouth, 

 and is not so well prepared to endure the frost of 

 our winters, as when planted deeper. I apprehend 

 too, that where wheat is put into barns, packed in 

 large mows, and perhaps but imperfectly cured, the 

 mass, in undergoing the sweatening process, through 

 which it is certain to pass, accumulates so much 

 beat as to change in some degree the vital proper- 

 ties' of the grain, and partially destroy its geminat- 

 ing power. This may be the case without altering 

 in any degree the external appearance of the grain. 



MANTJKING THE WHEAT CHOP. 



A Good Cattle Rack. — It consists of four scant- 

 ling or other posts, six feet long, connected together 

 by slats, strips of board six feet in length, and sup- 

 ported by diagonal braces extending from the top 

 of one post to the bottom of the frame — the whole 

 forming a six feet square. The slats are carried so 

 high as to permit .animals to reach the bottom over 

 them — and it is advisable to floor the bottom. In 

 these the hay or straw is put for the stock. The 

 advantages which it ofl'ers are two — it prevents the 

 fodder getting under the cattle's feet, and thereby 

 being wasted — and it in a measure prevents the 

 weak animals being driven from their food by the 

 strong— four being accommodated at each rack 

 ■mthout interfering. 



■■ • w 



Parsnips. — One of the easiest raised, and most 

 profitable roots to feed to cattle in winter, is the 

 parsnip. Though probably not quite equal to car- 

 rots, they are, in my opinion, superior as feed for 

 stock to turnips, beets, and mangel wurzel ; and 

 are much easier to raise, and keep better through 

 the winter. Perhaps, if acceptable, I shall in a 

 future article give my method of culture, having 

 always been successful. — W. H. H. Peaeson, St. 

 Lawrence Co.y 2^. Y. 



"We shall be glad to receive the article, bds. 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — You have an inval- 

 uable correspondent in Mr. Johhstok, of Geneva. 

 He seldom writes a letter which would not yield 

 more profit to the majority of farmers, if its advice 

 were attended to, than would suffice to pay for 

 three or four agricultural papers the rest of their 

 lives. 



The application .of manure directly to wheat is 

 contrary to ordinary practice. I should fear an 

 attack of rust. Do you know if wheat grown this 

 way is no more liable to rust than other crops not 

 so treated ? If you try the experiment I suspect 

 you will find that harrowing the manure into the 

 soil with the wheat rather than plowing it under, 

 is the best practice. 



My usual plan has been to place manure in heaps 

 and spread just before plowing ; but in consequence 

 of reading Voelker's paper, I last spring spread the 

 manure over half a field intended for corn, as I 

 hauled it out — the manure on the other part being 

 spread the day it was plowed under. The corn on 

 that part of the field where the manure was first 

 spread was quite as good as the other; but the 

 weather was cloudy and stormy during the whole 

 of the time the field was plowed. Had it been bright 

 and dry, the result might have been otherwise. 



MoundvUle, Wis. JNO. TOWNLEY. 



Reaeing Calves: — The handsomest young 

 heifer I ever saw, was one that was raised on 

 potato mush. The cow died when the calf was 

 an hour old, and we had no other cow giving milk 

 at the time. An Irishman who lived close by us, 

 showed me how to make the potato mush ; we fed 

 the Jcalf entirely upon it, and by the time it was 

 three months old, it was larger and fatter than any 

 of those that canie afterward, and were fed en- 

 tirely on milk ; and by the time it was three years 

 old, it was valued at $40, at Avhich time some thief 

 stole it, and we never saw it again. 



' I would never let a calf, that is to be raised, suck 

 the cow at all ; for if it is allowed to suck but once, 

 it will be much more troublesome to teach it to 

 drink afterward. I have known calves starve t» 

 death because they would not drink after having 

 sucked the cow for a few days. — J. B. M., Hawley^ 

 Pennsylvania. 



How was the mush made ? eds. 



The "Wheat Midge. — Robert Millard, of Hamp- 

 ton, Washington Co., N. Y., alludes to this insect 

 as follows, in the Cultivator' for 1836 : 



The wheat crop in this section of the State, has 

 been more or less injured, I believe for twelve 

 years past, by what is here called "insects in the 

 head." "Tliese insects or maggots prey upon the 

 kernel while growing in the field, and before the 

 grain has become hard." In 1824 I had a field, 

 containing five or six acres, about half destroyed, 

 and subsequently for four or five years, my entire 

 crop was destroyed. In 1830 I abandoned the 

 idea of trying to raise wheat here, and have not 

 since sown any. A neighbor of mine wishes me 

 to say, however, that for two years past he has 

 raised fine crops of spring wheat, by sowing his 

 seed the 1st of June. Not an insect or maggot was 

 to be found in either crop. 



