46 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



August 31, IS'2; 



NEW ENG LAND FAR MER. 



^.BOSTON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 18-27. 



grains from such ear or ears, to sow tliem in suit- 

 ; able soil in an open airy part of a garden. When 

 tlie pioduce is ripe, select the best cars, and from 



choice till a bushel or two of seed is procured. — 

 This operation has been successfully performed 

 by T. A. Knight, and though it may be reckoned 



SOW WINTER RYE. 



I those the best grains, and sow these, and so on too delicate for farmers in general, it will be 



ed on by the philosophical agriculturist as not iin 

 probably leading to important results, as has at 

 tended the practice in the case of garden fruits 



i till a bushel or more is obtained, which may then 

 You cannot sow your winter rye too early in , be sown in a field apart from any other wheat. In 

 September. If it be sowed early, its roots will get this way, many of the varieties of the common 

 such firm hold of the soil before winter, that it will ; winter wheat have been obtained. Other varieties and flowers. 



be the lesa apt to be laid bare by the heaving ol ^ have assumed their distinctive marks from having I The manures best calculated for ulicat are al- 

 the ground by frost. In the Memoirs of the New | been long cultivated on the same soil and climate, lowed by all agricultural chemists, to be animal 

 York Board of Agriculture, vol. i. page 82, it is ' and take local names, as the Hertfordshire red, I matters and lime. The former has a direct influ 

 observed, that rye should be sowed the last week j Essex white, &c. ence in supplying that essential constituent to 



■'in August or the first v;ee'i in Scptember,at the i Marshall (Yorkshire) mentions a case in which whcaten flower, gluten ; and the latter azote and 

 rate of about OG quarts per acre, some sny 43 qts. a man of accurate observation, having, in a piece lime, both actually found in the straw of wheat. — 

 But if not sowed at tlint time, it ought to be do- of wheat perceived a plant of uncommon strength At all events, it is certain wheat will not thrive on 

 iayed until late in November, so that it may not and luxuriance, diffusing its branches on every any soil that does not contain lime. In this Sir H. 

 come up till Spring. Mr A. Worthington had a side, and sotting its closely surrounding neighbors Ddvy, Chaptal, Professor Thaer, and Grisenth- 

 good crop, which he sowed in a January snow- at defiance, marked it ; and at harvest removed it waite fully agree. 



storm. Rye raised on upland makes much bettor i separately. The produce was 15 ears, yielding R. H. Gardiner, Esq. in some observations on 

 fiour than that which is raised on low or damp ' G04 grains of a strong bodied, liver coloured the culture of wheat (originally published in the 

 land." j v/lieat, differing in general appearance from every Hallowell Gazette, and republished in the N. E. 



Rye may bo sown to great advantage for green j other variety he had seen. The chaff was smooth Fnrmer, vol. ii. page 35,) says " all that I have 

 fodder for cattle and sheep, particularly the latter, ' without awns, [beards Oi' bristles] and of the col- , sown on light soil, has looked well in the spring ; 

 in the spring. V't'hen it is meant for this purpose,'' our of tlie grain ; the straws stout and reedy. — ; but what was sown late, that is, after the middle 

 it should not only be sowed early in autumn, but ; These CO 1 grains were planted singly, nine inches of September, has been invariably struck with 

 should be sowed thicker than when it is intended j asunder, filling about 40 square yards of ground, 1 rust before it was ripe; while what was sown 

 to stand for a crop of seed. Some say that it may 1 on a clover stubble, the remainder nf the ground ' early has as invariably given a good crop. Most 

 well be mowed for hay two or three times in the ; being sown with wheat in the ordinary way ; by I of my experiments have''been made on green 

 course of tiie summer, and this piece of husbandry ] which means extraordinary trouble and deslruc- j swarJ. After haying I have selected a piece of 

 is recommended for farmers, whose lands are most- ' ;ion by birds were avoided. The produce was ground which required ploughing, and generally 

 ly dry and unsuitable for grass. I two gallons and a half, weighing 20J lbs. of prime i of a light loam. I have ploughed it once and har- 



The quantity of seed to be sown on an acre j grain for seed, besides some pounds for seconds. I rowed it twice or thrice, putting on between the 

 should vary according to tlis soil, and the time of One grain produced 35 ears, yielding 1935 grains; | harrowing, from 15 to 20 loads of manure to the 



sowing, and the purpose for which it is intended 

 If it be sowed in the latter part of August, or be- 

 ginning of September, and is intended to stand for 

 a seed-crop, the quantity should vary from 32 to 

 48 quarts, according to the goodness of the soi' 



so that the second year's produce was sufficient to i acre, and sowing the seed before tho last harrow- 

 plant an acre of ground. What deters farmers ing. I have always fed it in th^autumn, beliov- 

 from improvements of this nature is probaWy tho ing it would be less likely during the uinter to 

 mischicvousness of birds ; from which at harvest , mould or die, if eaten close, than if left long on 

 t is scarcely possible to preserve a small patch of the ground. I have found that the lighter the soil 



Later sowinrr requires ; -ore seed, and in some i grain, especially in a garden or other ground sit- ; the less liable was the wheat to be destroyed by 

 cases two bushels to the acre will not be too great} uated near a Iiabitation ; but by carrying on the i the winter. 



improvement in a field of grain of the same na- j "The cultivation of winter wheat- is prorcrable 

 ture, that inconvenience is got rid of. In this sit-; to that of summer wheat on a great variety of ac- 

 uation, however, the botanist will be apprehensive counts. It is sown and tho ground prepared at a 

 haulm or stalks form the primary object, a much 1 of danger from the floral farina of thesi;rrounding season of much greater leisure. One of the great 

 larirer proportion of seed is requisite than when! crop. But from what observations Marshall has disadvantages of our northern climate is the cx- 



a qaantity. Bannister's Husbandry says "when 

 this grain is sown for sheop-feed. it is proper to 

 allow 3 bushels to the acre, for where the blade 



the crop is meant for harvesting 



made lie is of opinion his fears will be groundless, trenie shortness of our spring, so that it is diffi- 



No evil of this kind occurred, though the cuUiva- cult for our farmers to complete the work, which 



tion of the new variety was cirricd on among is absolutely necessary to be done, after the frost 



uhhc wheat. is out of the ground, and before the season of 



But the most systematic mode of procuring new planting is over. If therefore any work, as the 



ON THE CULTURE OF WHEAT AND 

 OTHER CULMIFEROUS PLANTS. 



Culmiferous plants have two sorts of roots.- 

 The first originate with the germination of the j varieties is by crossing two sorts, as in breeding : sowing of wheat can be postponed till the autumn 

 nrain and are always under the soil, and are call- that is by impregnating the female organs of the it is of great importance. The winter wheat is 

 ed the seminal roots : the second spring from the blossoms of one ear with the fecundatinj; matter less liable to injury fiom insects than the summer ; 

 first ioirt which is formed above tiie surface of the ' or pollen of the male organs of the blossom of an- mine has never sulforrd from them. It afford:- 



soil, and from that joint strike down into the soil ; 

 these are" called the coronal roots. The coronal 

 roots appear chiefly intended for drawing nourish- 

 ment from the soil, the richest part of soils being 

 on or near the surface. From these facts some 

 important hints may be derived as to ih.c culture 

 of wheat, rye, &c. The use of stirring the sur- 

 face in spring 'to facilitate the entrance of the 

 coronal roots is obvious ; the immediate effect of 

 a top dressing is also apparent, and abo that ma- 

 nures may be ploughed in too deep to give the 

 full amount of their beneficial eflects to grain 

 crops or grasses. 



To procure new varieties of wheats, (says Mr 

 Loudon,) the ordinary mode is to select from a 



other variety of a different quality. Thus, suppos- ' good fall food, and the larger quantity of roots and 



ng a farmer wished to render a very good variety 

 which he was in the habit of cultivating somewhat 

 earlier. Let him procure in the blossoming seas- 

 on, from a very early soil, ?omc spikes of nn early 

 sort just coming into blossom, and let him put the 

 ends of those in water and set them in the shade 

 so as to retard their fully blossoming till the plants 

 he has destined to become the females have come 

 into flower. Then let him cut out all the male 

 organs of the latter before they have advanced so 

 far as to impregnate the stigmas ; and having 

 done this, let him dust the stigma with the blos- 

 soming cars of the early or male parent. Tlie 

 imrregnated stalks must then be kept apart from 



field a s-pike or spikes from the same stalk, wliich other wheats so as the progeny may be true.— 

 has thequalities sought for; such as larger grains, VVhen the grains ripen, sow the best, and from 

 thinner chaff; stiffer straw, a tendency to earli- the produce when ripe, select the earliest and 

 iiessor lateness, &c. : and picking out the best j finest spikes for seed. Sow them and repeat tlie 



tubble to be ploughed in make the land in a bet- 

 ter state for the next crop. The grain is heavier, 

 and the same number of pounds will yield a larger 

 quantity of flour, and of a' much superior quality. 

 For these reasons, it cannot be too strongly urged 

 upon the attention of our fanners. From my ex- 

 perience 1 should recommend that winter wheal 

 should not be sowed later than the middle of Sep- 

 tember, and the soil on which it is sowed should 

 be a light loam, and that about five pecks of seed 

 be sown to the acre. I have also found the use of 

 l)laster on wheat advantageous, as also rolling the 

 wlieat after it is well up. Winter wheat might 

 probably do better after peas and beans than on 

 green sward." 



An able article " on the cultivation of wheat in 

 New England," written by Judge Buel. of Albany, 

 was published in the New England Farmer, vol. 



