NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



327 



troublesome in its application, or may be used -with, 

 greater facility and expedition. Some prefer oil to 

 tallow, as it is a vegetable substance, and, as some 

 suppose, less injurious to trees. But its being a vege- 

 table substance is no evidence of its being harmless 

 in its application to trees. The tallow in the ox was 

 once a vegetable substance, and has been extracted 

 by secretion. By the application of art, and by fire, 

 certain powerful and concentrated substances may 

 be obtained from vegetables that are as destructive 

 to living plants, as those produced by animal secre- 

 tion. We think that linseed oil applied to trees 

 would be more destructive than tallow, as it is a 

 liquid substance, and would more readily penetrate 

 the bark and wood. 



EXPERIMENTS IN RAISING WINTER 

 WHEAT. 



Friend Holmes : In the Farmer of last week, 

 I noticed thy remarks in favor of cultivating winter 

 wheat in Maine. Having experimented a little with 

 this crop, and being well satisfied with the result, I 

 wish to make a brief statement of the same, hoping 

 that some few individuals at least, who have not 

 heretofore, may venture to commence the growing 

 of winter wheat the present season, and thereby save 

 the state a few dollars that would otherwise go into 

 the great purse to carry west for flour. 



The .first sown by me was in the 8th month, 1846, 

 — soil, partly clay, and the other part gravelly loam. 

 A crop of oat:i and peas had just been taken off; the 

 •tubblc was ploughed and to])-dresscd, about five 

 eighths of an acre, with five double horse wagon loads 

 of staole manure and litter made the winter previous. 

 Oil one fourth of an acre adjoining, twenty-five 

 bushels of leached ashes were spread. Two quarts 

 less than a bushel was sown on the 18th of the 8th 

 month, aird well harrowed in. When winter and 

 spring frost was over, the wheat plants were green 

 and thrifty, except a few all over the piece, which I 

 concluded were frozen to death for want of sufficient 

 de])th of covering. The season of 18i7 was remark- 

 able, as well as 18-18, for heat and wet; and this crop 

 suffered materially thereby, both at the time of grow- 

 ing, and whilst in shook ; it even began to sprout, 

 and all the bundles had to be opened, thereby oc- 

 casioning a considerable waste. Sixteen and one- 

 half bushels were obtained from the seven-eighths 

 acre. 



In the spring of 1847, I commenced with two 

 acres for this crop, by sowing half a bushel of buck- 

 wheat to the acre. When in blossom in the 6th 

 month, it v/as ploughed, and sowed again to buck- 

 wheat. It was ploughed again on the 20th of the 

 8th month, when so many witch grass roots were 

 found still living in the soil, which we expected to 

 kill by these several deep ploughings and the buck- 

 wheat, that we omitted sowing the wheat, being 

 fearful that the gras-; would overpower it. In con- 

 versing with my friend William A. Drew, of Augusta, 

 he informed me that ho had several times grown a 

 good crop on ground infested with this troublesome 

 grass, but he would not recommend sowing wheat 

 when it was very thick. This year, 1847, I did not 

 sow any winter wheat, not having any other ground 

 that I could prepare in season ; and I only mention 

 the foregoing particulars to show that I was not dis- 

 couraged by the first experiment from sowing the 

 next year. 



In 1848, soon after the hay was taken from an old 

 mowing field, I ploughed about five eighths of an acre 

 of it — soil, stifi' clay, clay loam, gravelly, and a few 



furrows on one side of a watercourse, a black soil. 

 Few lots of the size contain as many different varie- 

 ties of soil. A heavy roller was run over the inverted 

 sward, and manure was spread on very light, as fol- 

 lows : First, a strip with compost, made of sods 

 ploughed up to make watercourses in cold, springy 

 land, quick lime, about one half cask to the cord, 

 and animal manure, about one load to fifteen of 

 earth ; next, swamp muck and leached ashes com- 

 posted ; then, horse manure and litter that had been 

 made during the summer ; and last, lime in very 

 small quantitj', perhaps at the rate of four or five 

 casks to the acre — the whole well harrowed in. On 

 the 20th of the 8th month, I sowed five eighths 

 of a bushel of wheat on this ground, and covered it 

 about two or three inches deep with a single horse 

 plough. With the exception of a few rods of ground 

 that was flat, this crop stood the unusually severe 

 winter, and the spring frosts, well ; though a part 

 of it was not covered with snow all winter. 



The same week I sowed a piece of high interval — 

 the soil a free, yellow loam, on which peas had 

 grown. Mistaking the strength of this soil, as two 

 crops had been taken off since it was manured, I 

 sowed at the rate of one and a half bushels, which 

 proved too thick, much of it falling about the time 

 it attained its full height, and consequently it filled 

 but little. 



This crop is not threshed yet, but we think, taken 

 together, (the lodged patch excepted,) it will yield 

 from twenty to twenty-five bushels to the acre of as 

 white and plump grain as I have ever seen raised in 

 New York. 



The time of sowing is from the middle of the 8th, 

 to the 20th of the 9th month. On greensward, or 

 land lightly manured, we prefer to sow from the 15th 

 to the 2oth of the 8th month. On lands in fine 

 tilth and highly manured, winter wheat has done 

 first rate, when sown as late as the 18th or 20th of 

 the 9th month. My friend, J. jNIorrill, of Watcrvillo 

 village, who has cultivated v/inter wheat more than 

 any other person of my acquaintance in this county, 

 informed me that he raised last year nearly thirty 

 bushels to the acre from seed sown the 18th of the 

 9th month. In previous years, he has raised fine 

 crops on land, after taking off a crop of corn. The 

 corn was cut up and taken off the ground to dry. 



If sown early on rich land, it will be necessary to 

 feed off a part of the fall growth with light stock, 

 else it may smother and mould, so as very much to 

 injure the grain. Friend Morrill thinks any dry 

 soil, sufficiently sloping to turn off the heavy rains, 

 will produce winter wheat, if suitably prepared ; 

 and further, that greensward, with top-dressing, is 

 preferable to old land. 



In my haste, I forgot to mention the result from 

 the different manures used last year. The two com- 

 posts gave a much better crop than the horse manure 

 or the lime. Of lime, there was too little put on to 

 give a fair experiment. Muck, with lime or ashes, 1 

 am satisfied, will make a cheap and excellent manure 

 for wheat. 



The seed I have sown was imported direct from 

 Poland, in 1846. It is a w^hite variety, fully equal 

 to the best I have seen from the Western .States. 

 Whether it will withstand the cold any better than 

 seed brought from the Southern and Western States, I 

 know not, having never tested the matter ; but I have 

 thought it possible that it might, it having been 

 brought from a climate several degrees north of us. 

 At any rate, it bears cold as well as winter rye, and 

 with me it produces as many or more bushels to the 

 acre. 



I have been particular in detailing trifles, to en- 

 courage others, if such there are, who know less 

 even than I do about this crop, to try it, if it be even 

 on a small scale, as we have ; and more than this, 



