i64 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



[November, 



But the worst phase of the whole matter is, 

 that many of those who patronize foreign 

 commodities, send their ready money abroad 

 and "run" tlieir credit at home, thereby dis- 

 abling their own fellow-citizens from becom- 

 ing the liberal patrons to them that they 

 would be if they received a more generous 

 home encouragement. Yes, we reiterate, buy 

 your trees, your newspapers and your other 

 etceteras at home, and give the homes of our 

 county an opportunity to flourish. 



IMPROVEMENT IN THE CULTIVA- 

 TION OF WHEAT. 



The following is a plain statement of the 

 new method of cultivating the wheat crop ; 

 and the question is so familiar to us, the par- 

 ties so well known, and the results so satis- 

 factory, that we feel we cannot do better than 

 to give it an insertion in The Farmer, as a 

 matter of interest to all the friends of agricul- 

 tural progress : 



After having thought much about the culture of 

 wheat, and given it considerable attention, and 

 gatliered all the information I could by experiments 

 of my own and that of others, and whatever other 

 information I could obtain by observation and from 

 agricultural journals, I became fully convinced that 

 as yet we were losing much in the old and common 

 method of raising wheat ; and that the only true and 

 profitable manner of raising wheat is to cultivate it 

 as near as possible like other cultivated grain. Not 

 by hand-power, neither by horse-power half done, 

 but with some kind of a cultivator that will do good 

 work, and be a success in attaining that which it was 

 intended for — at the same time economize labor, by 

 doing as much work in a day as can be done with an 

 ordinary wheat drill, which I have no doubt would 

 be satisfactory to all parties. 



To form these conclusions was one thing, but to 

 get up the right kind of a machine to work satisfac- 

 torily was another. I found wheat drilled in the old 

 style would not admit of cultivation — for the reason 

 that the rows were too near together — eight sowing 

 boots generally being al'oted to an ordinary drill. 

 Then after concluding to close every other or alter- 

 nate spout, or small seed-box, and remove every other 

 boot, I again found that would not answer, as the 

 spaces between the sowing boots would not be equally 

 divided. And just here another very important point 

 presented itself. One of the principal objections 

 against' the old style drill is, that it sows the wheat 

 too thick or too close together in the small row. For 

 example, an ordinary drill has eight sowing boots, 

 and out of a dozen different makes not one will 

 spread the wheat one inch in the row. Thus, it is easy 

 for any one to understand that in a whole drill 

 breadth, the wheal from all the eight boots, at one 

 inch in the row, stands on only eight inches of ground, 

 while the new style drill has four sowing boots (in- 

 stead of eight), and each one is so arranged with a 

 spreader as to put the seed regular in the rows four 

 inches wide ; therefore this drill, with four sowing 

 boots and each sowing it four inches wide, will de- 

 posit the seed over sixteen inches of ground (instead 

 of eight), and consequently it is plain and evident 

 that this drill sows the same quantity of seed on an 

 acre only half as thick or close together in the row 

 as the old style drill, thus doing away with the thick 

 sowing objection ; and in addition to this, it still 

 leaves 10 2-5 or nearly 11 inches space between the 

 rows for spring cultivation, that one great point 

 necessary in the raising of all crops. It is an ac- 

 knowledged fact and v/ell known to every practical 

 farmer, that by cultivation, and by cultivation only, 

 it is that he raises those fine crops of corn, tobacco 

 and potatoes ; and that if he did not cultivate those 

 crops, they would not produce one-third of the crop 

 they do liy cultivation, though they are planted soon 

 after plowing, or in other words on fresh plowed 

 ground. Now, these are not exaggerations, but real 

 Bolid facts, and so admitted by all; therefore, it is 

 but fair to say, that two-thirds of those crops (or 

 fi"?^ per cent.,) is due only to having been cultivated. 

 Now, then, if so large a per cent, of those crops as 

 that is due to cultivation, why should not cultivation 

 pay fully as large a per cent., or even larger, in the 

 wheat crop. The principle of cultivation would 

 answer; cirtainly it viiH pay fully as irell, for this 

 reason : Wheat ground is generally plowed in August. 

 About the 1.5th of September the average farmer is 

 done seeding; then, from that lime on, "that ground 

 is left to produce a crop, such as it will be, after being 

 exposed to all the beating storms, snow and rains of 

 all wiutei:, and when spring comes is beaten down as 

 hard as though it had not been plowed at all the 

 previous August. What is the result? An average of 

 14 bushels per acre in the United States. 



From the 1.5lh of September, when the wheat 

 ground is seeded, to the 15th of the following April, 

 is bcv^n months ; and as it is a well known fact that 

 no plant will thrive or even grow at all without the 

 influence of the atmosphere and the sun, neither can 

 penetrate ground that has been beaten down for 



seven months until it is quite hard, near as well, and 

 with anything like as good results as it can pene- 

 trate fresh cultivated ground ; and any person having 

 the least idea of the good result derived from the 

 cultivation of any kind of a crop will admit this. 

 Now when we see plainly that such are the facts, 

 undeniably so, must we not therefore at once admit 

 that the cultivation of wheat ground is all the more 

 necessary in the spring of the year, after having 

 been beaten down for seven months, and left un- 

 touched all that time, and will therefore show a 

 larger per centage of benefit and gain from having 

 been cultivated than other crops, accordingly. After 

 taking all the above-mentioned facts into considera- 

 tion, as well as the good and sound principles of 

 cultivation, I concluded to test the matter fairly and 

 exact, for my own satisfaction as well as for that of 

 others, who acknowledged that their wheat crops 

 are only about half the product they sheuld be. To 

 do so I induced one of our farmes, Levi W. GrofT, of 

 West Earl township, Lancaster county. Pa., to sow 

 about the half of a field on this new method, and the 

 other half on the old style. This sowing was done 

 about the 25th day of September, 1876 ; the quantity 

 of seed sown was \].i ijushels of wheat per acre ; 

 and exactly or as near as possible that quantity was 

 sowed on every acre in the field. As to choice of 

 quality of land in the field, there was none ; for the 

 reason that there is no hill in the field, it being a 

 nice level tract, and the quality of land very fair, 

 and as near the same all over, I think, as it is possi- 

 ble to have it. About the middle of April, 1877, the 

 half that was sowed on the new plan was cultivated, 

 which showed a considerable difference in improve- 

 ment in one week's time, when compared to the 

 opposite half which was not cultivated, as it looked 

 stronger and had a fine, thrifty and better color ; 

 notwithstanding that quite a large per cent, of it 

 was cropped by this first cultivation, on account of 

 not having the protectors put on the cultivator then, 

 yet to protect the growing grain from being covered 

 with earth, which was found very necessary to do, 

 or cover entirely too much grain, the protectors were 

 therefore put on the cultivator, and then cultivated 

 the same part of the field the second time, about the 

 Ist of May, which improved it still more accordingly. 

 It was then again cultivated about the middle of 

 May, this being the third and last time. This last 

 cultivation I thought did it as much good as either 

 of the former times did ; the result was it looked 

 stronger, firmer, and had a better appearance in 

 general than the opposite uncultivated tract had ; 

 and when it came into heads there was a marked 

 difference, as the heads on the uncultivated tract 

 were about the same as are generally seen in an 

 ordinary field farmed on the old style ; while the 

 heads on the cultivated tract were much better filled 

 and larger, plenty of them measuring over six inches 

 in length. Even the straw was considerably coarser 

 and stronger, which of course makes it less liable to 

 fall or go down ; the difference was so great that it 

 could easily be noticed without a close examination. 

 When harvest time came, both of these tracts were 

 cut on the same day. Thus it will be noticed, that 

 both tracts were treated alike in the time of seeding, 

 quantity of seed per acre, and also in cutting it all at 

 the same time ; the only difference being that the 

 one was cultivated and the other was not. Before 

 cutting it, however, E. H. Burkholder, esq., a gen- 

 eral surveyor and justice of the peace, was called to 

 measure ofl' two acres, side by side, on each tract, 

 which was separately threshed soon after, and pi-o- 

 duced as follows : Two cultivated acres produced 72 

 bushels and 'M pounds, or 36 bushels and 15 pounds 

 per acre. Two uncultivated acres produced .50 

 bushels and i pounds, or 25 bushels 2 pounds per 

 acre. Difference in favor of cultivation, which was 

 produced at an expense of just 60 cents per acre, 11 

 bushels and lo pounds per acre. 



Another tract was also sowed on the same farm on 

 this new method ; but as it was not sowed until the 

 Sth of October it was later in the spring, and there- 

 fore not cultivated until the protectors were put on, 

 therefore covering none of the growing grain. And 

 this tract produced 31 liushels and 15 pounds per 

 acre. This tract was also measured by the same sur- 

 veyor, and this result was certainly very satisfactory, 

 but not any more so, I think, than farmers' wheat 

 crops generally would be if they were properly culti- 

 vated, which it is universally acknowledged they 

 should be. 



The attachments are simple and will apply to all 

 drills, and can be put on any drill at a small expense. 



At a meeting of the Lancaster County Agricultural 

 and Horticultural Society, a committee of four of its 

 members was appointed as a visiting committee, to 

 go to the above mentioned farm and examine into 

 this new method of cultivating wheat, which they 

 did a day or two be lore it was cut, and they admitted 

 that the difference in favor of cultivation, after hav- 

 ing examined it, was greater than they even ex- 

 pected ; and all of them approved of this new method 

 and heartily endorse it, and reqnested the above- 

 mentioned Levi W. Groli' to make a report to said 

 agricultural society of the above mentioned crops as 

 soon as he has threshed it, and thereby linows the 

 result, which he did, the same as above stated, to 

 which the said committee reply as follows : 



We, the undersigned, visited the farm of Mr. Levi 

 W. Groff, about hai'vest time, and fully concur in his 

 report so far as we could judge at that time. 



H. M. Engle, 

 Calvin Cooper, 

 Levi S. Reist, 

 Peteu S. Reist. 



Mr. Engle said he had examined .Mr. Groft''s clover 

 and timothy, and believed it would be very superior. 

 He trusted that not a few of our farmers would 

 adopt Mr. Groft's plan of cultivation. He would do 

 so himself, and from his observation he was sure it 

 would pay. 



Mr. Pownall said that ou a former occasion he had 

 objected to cultivating the wheat crop in the way 

 adopted by Mr. Groff, ou the ground that it would 

 injure the grass that was to follow the wheat; hut 

 from an experiment of his own he was now convinced 

 that it would not. 



We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that we 

 visited the farm of Levi W. Groff, esq., in the month 

 of July, 1877, in the midst of harvest, and examined 

 a field of wheat sowed, in part in the ordinary way, 

 and in part by a drill invented (and now patented) by 

 Adam B. (iroff, which drill, by some modification of 

 parts, is converted into a cultivator, and by means 

 of which the wheat is cultivated the same as corn 

 with the cultivator. One part of the field we ex- 

 amined had been treated by the new invention ; that 

 the wheat on the jiart of the field sowed by this new 

 drill, and treated as aforesaid, was much better than 

 the other part of the field, larger and stronger in the 

 straw, and in heads proportionally still better ; and 

 the yield in the bushel better by (11) bushels to the 

 acre, as verified by Mr. Groff, by separate threshing 

 and measuring. 



[Signed,] And. M. Frantz, 



Geo. K. Reed, 

 D. P. Locher, 

 Walter G. Evans. 



OBITUARY. J 



Atglen, 10th mo. 22d, 1877. " 



Prof. S. S. Rathvon— Dear Sir : The fol- 

 lowing resolutions were passed at a meeting 

 of the Octoraro Farmers' Club, held 10th mo. 

 18th, 1877 : 



Whereas, Since our last meeting we have been 

 called upon to follow to the tomb our esteemed 

 friend and fellow-member, Levi Pownall, who de- 

 parted this life on the ISth of 9th mo. last, after a 

 short illness ; and 



Whereas, It is fit that those who have worked 

 with him for a number of years past, so agreeably 

 and profitably, should give some public expression to 

 their feelings on this occasion ; therefore, 



Besolued, That it is with the deepest sorrow that we 

 have been compelled to see the ties severed by the 

 hand of death, which bound us to the deceased, 

 whose many good qualities and earnest labors for 

 the benefit of the club have endeared him to us, and 

 whose memory we shall ever retain within the deepest 

 recesses of our hearts. 



liexolved, That in his death we have lost one of our 

 best and most persevering members, and the public 

 a citizen of the strictest honesty and uprightness. 



Besohed, That we deeply sympathize with his 

 bereaved family in their deep alHiction. 



Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions 

 be forwarded to The Lancaster Farmer. 



Samuel Whitson, 

 Correspondiiig I'^t^cretary vf Club. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE CROPS OF 1877. 



AVe have received '' Special Reports No. 2, 

 of the Department of Agriculture for 1877," 

 and from it we have condensed the following 

 synopsis of the crops of the present year ia 

 the United States, so far as the results can be 

 attained at this early |)eriod, some allowance 

 having been made for contingencies. 



The Wheat crop is estimated at 109,000,000 

 bushels, which is 00 per cent, over last year, 

 and 1.5,000,000 more tlian iu 1875. Unless 

 something unforeseen, or yet undeveloped, 

 shoidd occur in the outcome of the crop, the 

 Corn will yield 1,350,000,000 bushels, which is 

 an average of about 27 bushels per acre 

 throughout the country. Pennsylvania and 

 Texas make the best average slu)w of any 

 States in the Union in their crops of corn. 



The Oat crop shows a higher average con- 

 dition than corn, and is 08 of the standard- 

 of 100 against 80 last ye;ir, when the crop 

 was estimated at 32O,0OO,0O(_l bu.shels. 



Bije and Barkji average higher than last 

 year in their general condition, and will make 

 a large crop, but the figures cannot yet be ' 

 satisfactorily given. 



The estimated area in Cotton exceeds 12,- 

 000,000 acres, and the increase over last year 

 is about 4 per cent., and the yield will average 



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