AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



POULFSHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aoricultdral Warehouse.) 



iroi.. X vni.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 27, 1840. 



[NU. '17. 



FARMER. 



•"rom ihe Third Report on the .Agriculture of Massachusetts. 

 ON THE CUL riVAI'ION OF WHEAT. 



BY EI.IAS PHINNET. 



Lexington, Feb. 1, 1S40. 



Dear Sir — Your fiivor of the 2.5111 ult. was duly 

 •eccived. You ask my opinion. as lo the probable 

 success of the wlioat culture in Massachusetts, and 

 •equest nie also to give the results of my own ex- 

 3erience in the cultivation of tlii.5 crop. Allow me, 

 cny good sir, the Yankee privilege of answering one 

 luestion by asking another. Why may not wheat 

 e-successfuliy cultivated in our State ? It suc- 

 secds cast, west, north and south of us, and why 

 Dot liere .' Our climate is certainly as favorable 

 lat of any part of the country, and as far as at- 

 mospheric causes have a bearing, we have as little 

 to fear from that source as the most favored region 

 on eartli. I am aware it may be objected that our 

 ilands are not so new as tliat of many parts of our 

 country where wheat is grown, and that nioi-t wri- 

 ters upon the subject consider a granite or light 

 free soil as less favorable to the growth of this crop 

 than a strong, deep aluminous or clayey soil. Sup- 

 iposing those objections to be well founded, they 

 can be at once obviateU ; the first by deep plough- 

 ing and the secofid by t'le application of manure 

 and lime. Our old fields which have been subject- 

 ed to the immemorial usage of shallow ploughing 

 and stinted manuring, will neither produce wlieat 

 nor any other crop that will pay the expense of cul- 

 tivating. The farmer suffers no greater loss from 

 a bliglited field of wheat, than from a starved crop 

 of corn. I would reconjrjiend then, to farmers who 

 would succeed in the cultivation of wlieat or Jiny 

 other crop, to plough deep, turn up and keep at the 

 surface a liberal portion of the subsoil which our 

 fathers have left undisturbed — let them nourish 

 their hungry and e.xhausted fields with a bountiful 

 supply of manure and lime, and rely upon it, they 

 will no longer complain of blighted crops and un- 

 productive harvests. 



The par.ible of the " sower who went out to sow," 

 contains much agricultural as well as moral and 

 religious instruction. 'Ihe seed that "fell upon 

 stony ground which hud not much enrlh,^' like that 

 which is sown upon our shoal-pluughed fields, 

 sprung up and grew the better at first, "by reason 

 of its having but little depth of earth," but as soon 

 as the sun was up and the season advanced, "it was 

 scorched, and because it had n i root it withered 

 away." Here is an admirable lesson for farmers, 

 and the reasoning of the sacred teacher is as sound 

 and unanswerable in an agricultural, as it is. in a 

 moral and nligioiis point of view. Let the far- 

 mers then sow their seed upon "good ground," 

 deeply ploughed and liberally and rightly manured, 

 and we shall hear no more of the necessity of legis- 

 lative bounty as an inducement to the culture of 

 wheat. 



My opportunities, liowever, for iioticing the re- 

 sults of the attempts of others ir; the cultivation of 



wheat, and my means of judging of the causes of 

 their failure, where they have been unsuccessful, 

 may perhaps be considered too limited to author- 

 ize me to e.xpress a decided opinion or enable me 

 to become a safe adviser on this subject. It is, sir, 

 to your e-xperience, to your careful and laborious 

 researches, that the agricultural community must 

 look for much valuable and satisfactory information 

 in a matter in which their interest as farmers is so 

 deeply involved. Allowing me, however, to judge- 

 from my own experience, I say without hesitation, 

 I have no doubt as to the successful culture of this 

 valuable crop in all parts of the Commonwealth; I 

 mean with a due application of skill in the man- 

 agement and cultivation of our grounds. 



The soil of my farm consists of a thin loam upon 

 a hard, gravelly subsoil, being what geoloijists call 

 a gran-te soil, and is similar to that of a great part 

 of the Commonwealth ; and I believe by adopting 

 a correct mode of culture, is capable of producing 

 wheal with as much certainty as any other crop. 



My first attempt in the culture of wheat was 

 twelve years ago, upon a fTeld of two acre.?. The 

 soil, a pretty deep loam upon a gravelly subsoil. 

 The field had been planted fur two or three years 

 previous with corn and potatoes. I ploughed shoal, 

 and not knowing the necessity of lime, I used none. 

 'I he crop failed, yielding mo me but little more 

 than twice the quantity of seed sown. The seed 

 nas a common kind of wlieat procured in the neigh- 

 borhood. Three years after, I commenced again 

 sowing wheat, but with a different method of cul- 

 ture, and for nine years past have not failed in a 

 single ir.stanoe of having a good crop. I will give 

 you the result of my practice for the three years 

 past. 



In the spring of 1-837, 1 sowed a field of six acres. 

 The field having been then recently set lo an or- 

 chard, had been under the plough for two or tliree 

 years and planted with corn and roots. Early in 

 the spring the field was ploughed deep, bringing to 

 the surface a considerable portion of the fresh earth 

 which had never before been disturbed. Two bush- 

 els of Black Sea whc"at having previously been 

 steeped twentytour hours in strong brine, and rolled 

 in slacked lime, were sowed to the acre upon the 

 furrow. At the Fame time I had spread upon the 

 field 100 bi.ishels to the acre of lime and peat ashes, 

 an equal part of each, which had been mixed and 

 lay in a heap for some. weeks. The field was then 

 well harrowed and rolled. There was no appear- 

 ance of blight or rust. .At the time of harvesting, 

 I gathered and threshed one acre, probably the 

 best, and it yielded 25 bushels of remarkably hand- 

 some grain. 



In 18.38, I sowed a field of the same number of 

 acres, which was in grass in the spring of 1837. 

 'i'he s.iil, a ihin vegetable nionid resting upon a 

 gravelly subsoil, and alternately under the plough 

 and in grass for near a century. In the spring of 

 that year, 1837, tho sward was turned over flat, the 

 plough running deep and bringing lo the top from 

 one to two inches of subsoil, which had never be- 

 fore been disturbed, and by never cross-ploughing, 

 this fresh earth was kept at the surface. The field 



was then rolled and harrowed, and twenty loads of 

 compost manure spread -to tho acre, harrowed again, 

 and phiutod with corn. I put in the drills which 

 had been marked out for the corn, twenty bushels 

 of lime and plaster of Paris. I had a pretty good 

 ciop of corn, seventy bushels to Ihe acre. In the 

 cultivation of the corn, not a foot of the sward was 

 suffered to be turned back or disturbed. In the 

 spring of 1838, the fit Id was made smooth by the 

 use of the cultivator and harrow, and two bushels 

 of Black Sea wlieat, prepared as in the previous 

 year, three pecks of herds grass and one bushel of 

 red top seed sowed to the acre. I then spread on 

 fifty bushels of slacked lime to the acre, and the 

 whole was harrowed and rolled. The straw was 

 large and clean. In consequence of heavy rains, 

 followed by strong winds, about the time of filling, 

 it lodjied in some places, and the produce was in 

 some measure thereby lessened, ll gave me, how- 

 ever, over twenty bushels to the acre of well filled 

 grain. 



In 1839, I sowed a field of eight acres, which un- 

 til 18)8 had been pastured for Iwentyfive years. 

 The soil, an exceedingly thin and light one, with 

 gravelly bottom, yielding hardly herbage enough 

 to form a sward. Thin as this soil was, in the 

 spring of 1&J8 I had it ploughed fi-om four to six 

 inches deep, turning it over as flat as ihe nature of 

 the ground would admit. So much of ihe gravelly 

 and appare.itl;' unproductive material was brought 

 to the surface, that it gave the field a very unprom- 

 ising aspect. After ploughing, it was rolled and 

 harrowed, about twenty loads of manure from my 

 hog pens put on each acre, and planted with corn, 

 which- was cultivated without breaking up the 

 sward. I had forty bushels ofcorntothe acre. A 

 small crop, but considering the very poor quality 

 of the soil, it was as great as might reasonably have 

 been expected^ The method of cultivating this 

 field was more with a view to future operations 

 than for the immediate crop. In the spring of 

 1839, I broke up the coru-stulible, and loosened 

 t'.ie surface with the cultivator and harrow, spread 

 one hundred bushels to the acre of barilla ashes, 

 fifty per cent, of which was lime, sowed two bush- 

 els of the same kind of wheal, to the aero, having 

 previously steeped it fourteen hours in a strong 

 pickle, and rolled it in lime. Intending the field 

 for pasture, I sowed a large quantity of all the kinds 

 of grass seed that could be procured, and finished 

 with the harrow and roller. There was no ap- 

 pearance 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 while and fine flour as tho best Howard 

 street. I cannot state the quantity produced on 

 this field, as it is not all threshed. I judge there 

 will be at least iVuiri Mlcen to twenty bushels to 

 the acre. 



I have now given you, my dear sir, all tho prac- 

 tical 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, tlie wheat crop lias as seldom failed, aa 



