1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 179 



harrow and roller. There was no appearance of blight nor rust upon 

 the wheat. Though the heads were short, owing to the thinness of 

 the soil, the kernel was plump and well filled, and makes as white and 

 fine flour as the best Howard street. I cannot state the quantity pro- 

 duced on this field, as it is not all threshed. I judge there will be at 

 least from fifteen to twenty bushels to the acre. 



I have now given you, my dear sir, all the practical information 

 which I possess on the subject of the wheat culture, and leave it for 

 you to judge whether my opinion as to its eventual success is well 

 founded. 



With me, the wheat crop has as seldom failed, as any crop which I 

 am in the habit of growing. Less liable to be injuriously affected by 

 the vicissitudes of the season, or the alternation of dryness and mois- 

 ture, than a crop of corn or potatoes. 



With great respect, 



Your obedient servant, 



E. PHINNEY. 

 Mr. Henry Colman. 



Exti-act from a Letter of Z china Stehhins, of Deer field. Mass, 

 " Mr. H. Colman : 



Sir, — Agreeable to your request, I transmit you some particulars of 

 my success in raising wheat. In January, 1838, I was induced to send 

 to Oneida county, N. Y., for some of the Italian spring wheat. I pro- 

 cured and sowed nine bushels upon six acres, soaking it in brine and 

 rolling it in lime; and harvested twenty bushels per acre, of very fine 

 plump berry, though the land was rather inferior, having received very 

 little manure the previous year. 



I was induced to extend the cultivation still further the last year. 

 At Lockport, N. Y., in the fall of 1838, I purchased ten bushels of 

 seed, of the Indiana winter wheat. In October, I sowed six bushels 

 of this seed on three acres of new land, merely dragging it in, (har- 

 rowing.) From this I harvested 92 bushels of as handsome wheat as I 

 ever saw. This wheat I sowed without any preparation of the seed. 

 I also sowed, the same fall, about six acres more with winter wheat, on 

 old land turning under a second crop of clover. This wheat was very 



