1878.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



-121 



pounds of seed i)er acre, as tliis not only 

 allows for dosti uction by llio oncniics, siu'li as 

 wirc-wonn, grub and lly, but the plants };i-o\v 

 fa.stor in their infancy wlicii thickly .seeded. 

 With rcspe<'t to lioeini; we have often, wlien 

 the plant has lieen tliick and re;,'ular, been 

 induced to horse-hoe aei'oss the drills and to 

 set the hoc at twelve inches wide, which will 

 leave the plants in bundles at rather more 

 than that distance apart. 'l"he labor of hand- 

 hoeing is thus diminished, and the i)lants may 

 be singled by hand by women. It is, how- 

 ever, most essential at the time of hand-hoe- 

 ing, and in singlinglhese |ilants always to leave 

 the strongest plants, and the iioinl is more to 

 be regardc<l than any little (litfereiice in thi; 

 distance between the plants. We shall omit 

 any remarks at present as to cultivating foi- 

 Swedes as a .second crop after Irifoliuni, 

 vetclies, etc., because this matter will be 

 treated of under the cultivation lor ct>nnnon 

 turnips in a future article." 



EXPERIMENTS IN WHEAT AND OATS. 



Till' following is the rrjxut of .fohn 1. ( 'arter, 

 Sui)erintendent of the Kastern Experimf^ntal 

 Farm, of varieties of wheat and oats tested 

 for the season of 1S7S. Doubtless our coun- 

 try readers will find much practical informa- 

 tion in it : 



Experiments with Wheat. 



The ground used in these experiments was 

 a wheat stubble, plowed soon after harvest. 

 It lay until September 2."), when a light dress- 

 ing of fertilizers was sown on it, and re- 

 plowed, shallow. On September 'J8 the fol- 

 lowing varieties were sown (broadcast) on 

 eight acre plots, at the rate of two bushels 

 per acre. When threshed the following was 

 the result : 



VABIETT, 



Clttweou... -. 



Fultz 



White Chaff Mod.... 

 llpiges' Chami>iou 



Amber 



neiges" Pj'olific 



' Washingtou Whiie. . . 



Eureka 



Gold Dust 



Oholt 



Gold Medal Arn'd. . . 



Straw 

 per 

 acre. 



2ri'.iS 

 3220 



1S4S 

 21110 

 27S4 

 291111 

 304(1 

 3832 



Notes. — The Clawson and Fultz have done 

 equally well for several years. The l-'iiltz is 

 about one week earlier, and stands up lietter, 

 but the straw is not so heavy. The ^lediter- 

 ranean neither yields nor stands u]) well. 

 The Champion and Ilciges' I'rolific are two 

 hylnids of the I'ultz, from .lohn M. Heiges, 

 of York, Pa. They have not proved particu- 

 larly valuable to us, the Chamiiion being 

 quite light strawed. The Washington and 

 Eureka came fi'o;n central Pennsylvania, pre- 

 sented to us by .Joseph Uaker of Centre county. 

 The Washington White has a siilendid large 

 berry and good strong straw. The Eureka 

 somewhat resembles the Gold Medal, but 

 more productive. The Crold-dust came from 

 the Agricultural Department, Washington — 

 has a nice white plump grain, and the sliffest 

 straw I have ever seen growim:. TIk; heads 

 blighted .some and it was a little late, other- 

 wise it could be recommended for very strong 

 laud or heavy manuring. The (ilick is a 

 white*-beardcd wheat from near Allentown, 

 Pa., but of 110 especial promise. The Gold 

 ]^[edal is one of Arnold's hybrids, nice and 

 white, but not especially valuable. 



The following varieties were sown in smaller 

 quantities, and accom]ianying notes made : 



Arnold's Victor, Colorado Wheat, Nevada 

 Rye or Diamond Wheat, White Rye, J^ouisi- 

 ana, Grecian, Progress, Amber, Kentucky, 

 Diehl, Tappahannock, >[iiskingum, Arnold's 

 Hybrid, Red Jlay, Sluemake'r, While Hlue 

 Stem, ^[icliigan Amber, ]5ayard, JSengal 

 White, Treadwcll, Germ.an Amber. Elinn 

 Bran, Russian, White Rogers, Jlicliigan 

 Wick. 



Notes. — Arnold's Victor came from 

 Canada, highly recommended, but proved 

 utterly worlliless with us, lilighting badly and 

 being quite late. It is a white, smooth wheat, j 



The C'olorado wheat and Nevada rye came 

 fronj C. 15. Rogers, Philadelphia. The wheat 

 was not a 8Ueces.s, but the Nevada rye had 

 good heads of long light-colored grains.almost 

 transparent. The straw was not long but 

 stood the winter well. It is worthy of some 

 further trial. The (irecian is a new whiti' 

 smooth wheat, largely pufCed, hut worthless 

 in this section. Specimen.s of other varieties 

 are herewith exhibited but llu^y pos.sess no 

 especial interest. The following e.xperimenls 

 were made to test fertilizers on wheat, tlu; 

 conditions otherwise being tlu; same as before 

 related. The variety of wheat used in the 

 experiments was (iiild-tiust. The cost of 

 fertilizers was at the rate of $A jK-r a(!re : 



Wheat I Straw 

 per acre. \ per acre. 



Slotkbridgo Wheat Formula 



No Fertilizer 



I'oppleciu's Silieated Sup. Pho.. 



A. A. Nitrogen 



ChalleiiRo for High Orade R. P.. 

 Challeuge Sown and Uarrowed.. . 



Spring Ciiltivatloii 



Uiicuitivated 



32.04-11(1 bus. 4140 11.8. 

 30.24-CU do ]:i«40 " 

 30.32-liO do 

 32.0S-(>0 do 

 33.4s-<-,0 do 

 2'.I.OS-C0 do 

 24 4H-r,0 do 

 31.20-00 do 



3832 ' 

 4376 

 4'JSO ' 



!;H20 

 31i;h 



I3S20 



In the above cases these fertilizers have 

 evidently done but little good, and the only 

 fact worth noticing is the gain in lightly 

 plowing down the Challengt^ Phosphate over 

 sowing it on the surface and harrowing it in. 

 Our experiment in cultivating wheat is still 

 unfavorable to this much talked of .system. 1 

 think there must be some peculiarity in our 

 soil that renders cultivation for this crop un- 

 necessary — as all our ]irevious ex]ieriments 

 have resulted much like the present one. 

 What is singular we can notice no increase in 

 the length of head from cultivation, and as 

 tliert! are fewer stalks theri^ must be less grain. 

 The wheat on this plot was sown in drills, 

 live inches wide with a space of fifteen inches 

 between, sowing about one bushel of seed per 

 acre. April 20 we ran through the spaces 

 with a one-horse cultivator ; and May .'id we 

 ran through them with a small subsoil plow, 

 loosening up the ground ten inches deep aiul 

 finished by dressing up with a Ile.xamcr hoe. 

 Varieties of Oats. 



We made the the following experiments to 

 test the varieties of oats, their products, time 

 of ripening, &c. We selected a piece of corn- 

 stalk ground ; plowed, then harrowed in a 

 light coat of dissolved South Carolina rock, 

 sowed the oats March 28th at the rate of 2^ 

 bushels per acre, covering with a harrow. 

 When cut and threshed the following results 

 were noted : 



vARiF.TiKs. I Wgt. I Color. I Time. I Yld. Oats. | Straw. 



The Irish oats is of recent importation ; 

 came to us from Captain Ingram, of Oxford, 

 Pa.; was said to weigh over lo lbs. per bushel, 

 and to yield over St) bushels per acre. The 

 grain is white and plump, and the straw 

 strong and tall. The Andres King Oats came 

 from New York ; has heretofore been our 

 most productive variety, is a long grained 

 yellowish oats with a heavy stilf straw, is 

 lather late, which has been my principal ob- 

 jection lo it, but this year its lateness and 

 heavy straw enabled it to tide over the hot 

 dry weather. 



The Canadian, AVaterloo and White Dutch 

 came from the Agricultural Deji't, Washing- 

 ton. The grain of each wa.s while, plump and 

 handsome, and last year weighed well; this 

 year more than half the grains had no kernels. 

 They ripened early and had weak, broken 

 straw. The white Scluenen came from West- 

 ern Pennsylvania, is a good white oats with a 

 strong straw, but late. 



The l.,yell oats came from Richmond, Va.; 

 is a dark bearded oats with .short, stifl" straw. 

 It was .sown several days after the other varie- 

 ties and ripened at least a week sooner. It 

 W"as too early to be affected liy the heat or 

 drought, and made a fine yield. The appear- 

 ance of the grain is the principal thing 

 against it. 



THE WHEAT CROP IN THE NORTH- 

 WEST. 

 The rUmcer-Prcss editorially cunimenlH 

 upon the reports it has obtained the pa.st ten 

 days respecting the damage to the wheat crop 

 in Minnesota. The damage is mostly con- 

 lined to the southwest part of the .Slate, anil 

 even there the la-sl reports are not so discour- 

 aging its those sent out earlier. The ilaiiiage 

 doiK^ there the I'iiiiurr-I'nas estimates at 

 from 2.") to .'!() per cent. olV from a full crop, 

 but in tint State at large not over lH per cent. 

 Ih'Iow the average. Tlie same paper estimates 

 that the increased acreage will make up for 

 the loss in yield, and that .Minnesola will 

 afford as much bread to the eater in ls7H ;us 

 in 1S77. The reports of the Chicago Trihintt 

 confirm the above in every |iarlicular. Por- 

 mer reports have been highly ciilored and ex- 

 aggeralecl. The farmer with all his excellent 

 (|ualities, is inclliiiil to be a croaker, says the 

 Tribune, and to look at the dark side of things. 

 Well informed grain buyers put the loss at 10 

 per cent., chiefly by blight. They ]>redi<;l 

 that, with an increased acreage of 2.") i>er cent., 

 Minnesota will exceed her IJS.tJOO.tKXJ bushel 

 crop of 1S77. 



THE PRICE OF FLOUR. 



One of those things which no one seems to 

 unihrsland. and which no fellow can find out, 

 is Ihe peculiar nallion which exists between 

 our home Hour market and that of Philadel- 

 phia. .Someliow the millers are enabled to 

 make tlour here in l<aiicaster county, ship it 

 to I'hiladelphia, paying freight, .storage and 

 commissions, and even then .sell it at a less 

 Iirice than they are willing to .'■ell it to us here 

 at home. In the ordinary course of events 

 one Would think lloiir ought to be piiichii.sed 

 cheaper at the point of production than after 

 being sent a considerable distance by rail and 

 incurring very material charges by the way. 



Millers are not paying more than one dollar 

 per bushel for wheat, and a good many refuse 

 to ]wy even that. Now, on an average, four 

 and a half bushels of grain will make a bariel 

 of Hour, making that the cost to the millei'S — 

 $4..')0. Family flour, the kind we have selected 

 to illustrate our remarks, is to-day selling in 

 Philadelphia at from S.'i to $.")..')0' per barrel. 

 From that figure must be deducted the follow- 

 ing items.of cost : 

 Barrel, -------40 rents 



Freiglit, ------- 24 " 



Expenses (eucli as commissions, etc.,) - 2X " 



giving us a total of !t3 " 



If we take the highest figure we have the 

 following : 



Prlie nf flour per barrel, - - . - tUM 

 Deduct ex|)CU6C6 as above, - . - - .9.5 



wliloh leaves llie miller jtist - . - fi..^ 

 for Ills tldur. But wlieu \vc lake tlie lower rule 

 Klour, per liarril, ------ $.5.00 



Deduct expenses, .... - ,vz 



the miller gets just - ----- $4.08 



jier barrel for his Hour sold in Philadelphia. 

 If the mean between these two ligures is taken 

 we have ?4.:!:f per barrel, which is no doubt 

 very nearly the (irice tlour sent to I'hiladel- 

 phia is now netting our mille|-s. Yet for this 

 .same Hour they compel us hert^ at home to pay 

 for at the rate of ?l> per barrel, that being to- 

 day the price of gootl family lloiir in this city. 



Ilere we have iiresenteii to us the very curi- 

 ous anomaly of Lancaster couiily inillirs .senil- 

 ing their )>roducl to Philadel|iliia, anil selling 

 it at a loss of fiom seventeen to forty cents 

 per barrel, while of their customers here at 

 home they ask nearly §2 per barrel moi-e, or 

 a profit of nearly 10 jier cent. Why such 

 should be the (-ase we are at a loss to under- 

 stand. It actually jiays to buy Lancaster 

 county flour in Philadelphia, and we know of 

 one large consumer who, with mills near his 

 door, can buy the Hour they make in Phila- 

 delphia, and bring it up from that city at a 

 less cost than from the millers at their own 

 doors. 



In this calculation wc liave omitted the cost 

 ineuiTcd in converting the wheat into flour, 



