WHE 



WHE 



actions' for 1823. This disease is 

 not so common as the smut and pep- 

 per brand. It is probable, according 

 to Mr. Ilenslow, that the animalcules 

 may be killed by exposing the grain 

 to a certain heat, so as not to destroy 

 its power of vegetation, but sulficient 

 to kill the vibrio." 



The chi>ick bug, in the Southern 

 States, is often more destructive than 

 the Hessian (iy. 



" Great attention has been lately 

 paid to the introduction of the best 

 and most prolific varieties of wheat, 

 and by merely observing what cars ap- 

 pear much superior to others in a field 

 of ripe wheat, and collecting these to 

 be sown separately in a garden or por- 

 tion of a field, the variety, which may 

 have been produced by some fortui- 

 tous impregnation, or some peculiarity 

 in the spot where it grew, is perpet- 

 uated. By carefully selecting the 

 seed which is best adapted to the 

 soil, by a more careful and garden-like 

 cultivation, and by adding those ma- 

 nures which are found most adapted 

 to favour its perfect vegetation, crops 

 of wheat have been raised which, at 

 one time, would have been thought 

 miraculous." 



WHEAT, CULTIVATION IX 

 ^^"ESTER.\ XEW-YORK. The fol- j 

 lowing, from General Harmon, is ' 

 worthy of great attention from its 

 practical value : 



"The soil that I have under culti- { 

 vation is probably as well adapted to ; 

 the producing of as fine a quality of, 

 wheat as any in the world. It is a j 

 gravelly loam, with limestone of small 

 size gravel up to several pounds each. 

 It is what has been called the hard ' 

 oak openings. My rotation is of three [ 

 years shift. Clover is invariably sown 

 on wheat in March or April, about , 

 eight pounds to the acre ; and as 

 soon as the ground is dry in April, sow ! 

 one bushel of plaster to the acre, j 

 Tlie next year pasture or mow ; the | 

 third year, in June, plough seven or I 

 eight mches deep. The clover should ; 

 be mostly eaten off when ploughed. 

 The turning under of a great growth 

 of clover 1 believe to be injurious to 

 the next crop of wheat. If fed off 



[ with sheep, the manure they drop is 

 worth more to tiie wheat crop than 

 if it had been turned under in its 

 green state. In turning under green 

 clover, there is in the next crop fre- 

 quently a coarseness in the leaf and 

 straw that is not favourable to the 

 production of a fine quality. I go 

 over the ground thus ploughed wiih 

 I the cultivator harrow three or four 

 I times by the first of September ; then 

 , cross-plough, and sow on the furrow 

 j from the 10th to the 15th of the 

 I month ; then harrow it in with the cul- 

 ; tivator harrow. It buries the wheat 

 dee|)er than the common harrow, giv- 

 ! ing the plant a more vigorous apjiear- 

 ance, and rendering it less liable to in- 

 jury by the thawing and freezing in 

 March and April, ^^'heat, for seed, 

 should be selected from that j)art of 

 the field that is first ripe and where it 

 ripens evenly. All lodged or rusty 

 straw should be rejected, for wheat 

 from such straw does not fully mature. 

 It will grow as soon as any other, 

 but wheat of superior quality is se.- 

 dom obtained from such seed. A,l 

 small or imperfect kernels should bc3 

 sifted out, and nothing but the puna 

 seed sown. Twenty-four hours be- 

 fore the wheat is sown it should be 

 washed in a brine as strong as salt 

 will make it. After draining a few 

 minutes, mix with each bushel two 

 quarts of newly-slacked lime, and 

 then sow one and one fourth bushels 

 to the acre. The above is raycours.e 

 of operation. My average crop for 

 several years past has been over 20 

 bushels per acre, of very superior 

 quality, mostly sold for seed ; the 

 past season over 1100 bushels. My 

 price has uniformly been twenty-five 

 cents over the millers. One great 

 difficulty in the way of farmers im- 

 proving their wheat crops is, the sow- 

 ing of poor grain mixed with other 

 seeds, and believing that Wheat turns 

 to chess. While at the State Fair, 

 at Poughkecpsie, last fall, I saw sev- 

 eral barrels of wheat, of different va- 

 rieties, all mixed with so much cockle 

 and chess, that a Wheatland miller 

 would not take such for flouring as 

 first quality. The man that had it 



8.59 



