58 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



show, even under one of the most unfavorable years which we 

 ever have, that many crops yielded twenty and twenty-five, not 

 a few exceeded thirty, and some rose to forty bushels per acre, 



I shall now proceed to speak of the causes of failure, and of 

 the improvements which may be made in the cultivation, by 

 which, in my opinion, the certainty of the crop in ordinary cases 

 may be secured, and its product vastly increased. 



Causes of Failure. — The causes of the failure of the wheat 

 crop are various. It fails from rust, smut, mildew, blight, the 

 wire-worm, the Hessian fly, the grain insect, drought, wetness, 

 character of the soil, condition of the soil, improper or imper- 

 fect manuring, and sundry errors of cultivation, which I must 

 class under a general head. I shall speak of these in detail ; 

 and then proceed to point out the improvements which are de- 

 sirable in our cultivation. 



Rust.— The subjects of rust, smut, mildew, and blight, 

 have occupied greatly the attention of intelligent observers ; 

 but the true causes have as yet eluded their inquiries. Rust is 

 a well known disorder, in which the wheat-straw or culm be- 

 comes covered with a red powder like the rust of iron ; the 

 growth of the plant is stopped, and the grain is shrivelled and 

 imperfect. This is found to occur under two conditions. The 

 first is in severe drought, when the plant appears to suffer from 

 want of nourishment. There is of course no remedy for this, 

 unless the plant should be grown like corn in drills, and at such 

 distances that the ground could be cultivated between the 

 drills. This is a mode not likely to be adopted ; and which is 

 scarcely practicable for wheat on any large scale.* The second 



* Of course no one can think here of cultivating wheat in drills, and 

 ploughing between it ; nor is it likely that the expensive scarifiers or culti- 

 vators used in England ior stirring the land between the drills of wheat will 

 be soon introduced among us; but 1 may here with propriety allude to the 

 ascertained effects of such operations, and leave the principle implied in it 

 to be considered and a])plied as any iarmer may think best.f 



Speaking of a crop of cabbages, Mr. Curwen says — " In the first week in 



June, the ploughs were set at work. As they started, Mr. was present 



and saw the crop. It was with difficulty the ground was fii-st broken ; but 



t Appen<1ix B. 



