1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



223 



to proceed homeward. Our guard could hardly 

 believe his senses — certainly he doubted ours. 

 When at Nankan mine host inquired what we 

 were going to the Great Wall for? Our honest 

 answer met with no credit. Were there not walls 

 everywhere ? Was not the wall of Pekin much 

 better worth looking at ? And then, as for shoot- 

 ing, Avhy come so far for game when it could be 

 bought in the market at our very doors ? His 

 impression evidently was that we had some sinis- 

 ter project in view ; but when we returned with 

 the brick, the good man simply burst out laughing, 

 and set us down for a couple of harmless maniacs. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WHEN SHALL WE SOW OUB WHEAT? 



Mk. Editor : — This is a question of great im- 

 portance, if insects appear again by millions, as 

 they did last year. Wheat sown in the spring is 

 not a very certain crop, it is so liable to be injured 

 by the nudge. For two years past, in this vicini- 

 ty, when wheat has been sown before the middle 

 of April, it has not been injured much by insects, 

 and has yielded from fifteen to twenty bushels per 

 acre. That which has been sown in the month of 

 May, in some cases, has proved an entire failure, 

 and in others, not more than from six to eight 

 bushels per acre have been harvested. The wheat 

 that I sowed the 14th day of April, last spring, 

 yielded at the rate of fifteen bushels per acre. 

 That which I sowed the 25th day of May, yielded 

 only eight bushels per acre. It was a clay soil, 

 favorable to the growth of wheat, and probably 

 would have yielded twenty bushels per acre, if the 

 insects had not injured it. The aphis did some 

 damage, but not so much as the old fashioned 

 midge. 



I never saw insects injure late sown wheat so 

 much as they did last year ; I speak with reference 

 to that which was sown the last of May. Some 

 of my neighbors had good luck last year, with 

 wheat sown as late as the 12th day of June. 



K these facts that I have stated here, ought to 

 guide us any for the year to come, we must sow 

 our spring wheat before the middle of April, if 

 the soil is dry enough, or sow it from the 5th to 

 the 12th of June. 



I think the new Black Sea wheat, imported by 

 Messrs. Nourse, Mason & Co., about three years 

 since, is the least liable to be injured by insects ; 

 indeed, it has proved itself so in this vicinity. 



WHEN SHALL WE PLOW ? 



This is a question that has been often discussed 

 in your invaluable paper ; but I find that there is 

 a great diff'erence in the opinions of farmers. We, 

 I mean the farmers of Addison county, most all 

 agi'ee upon this one thing ; that is, that clay land 

 ought to be plowed in the fall, so that the action of 

 the frosts thi'ough the winter will pulverize it and 

 fit it for cultivation in the spring, without harrowing 

 over clay nubs as large as washtubs. Fall plow- 

 ing, also, hastens the decomposition of vegetable 

 matter, and the team performs the labor easier, 

 than it does in the spring. Gravelly or loam 

 stubble land, if plowed in the fall, ought to be 

 plowed again in the spring, for there is no danger 

 of plowing such land too much ; the more the bet- 

 ter. The more we pulverize the soil, the more 



the roots will spread in pursuit of nourishment, 

 and the gases will enter the soil more freely. 



By the experiments of the chemists it has been 

 ascertained that at least nine-tenths in bulk of a 

 plant consists of the constituents of the atmos- 

 phere, which enter by the roots as well as the 

 leaves. Now if that is so, and we have no rea- 

 son to doubt it, the more we pulverize the soil, 

 the greater reward we shall get for our labor. 



MiddUbury, VL, 1862. Oliveu P. Mead. 



Remarks. — We are glad our correspondent has 

 called attention to the early sowing of wheat, as 

 no doubt rests upon our mind that many a crop 

 is lost by being sown too late. The rule should 

 be to get it in just as early as the soil is sufficient- 

 ly dry to be finely pulverized by our common im- 

 plements. Mr. Elijah Wood, of Concord, said 

 in an article published in the Monthly Farmer for 

 October last, "Do not be fearful of sowing the 

 seed too early on account of cold. Get it in as 

 soon as you can possibly work the ground." 



For the Neto England Farmer. 

 HOW TO GET A LABGE CORN CHOP. 



I propose to raise a field of corn, and to that 

 eff'ect have turned under eight acres of green sward 

 on interval land, upon which it is said one hun- 

 di*ed bushels of shelled corn has been raised per 

 acre in one season. I have hauled twenty cords of 

 muck, of good quality, into my cellar, which has 

 cemented walls, upon which falls the droppings 

 and leakage of seventy head of cattle. I propose 

 to mix the muck with the manure and spread nine- 

 ty-six cords broadcast, which makes twelve cords 

 on an acre, plow in with a harrow-plow, furrow 

 out and plant on the ridges. 



Will I be apt to succeed in raising a large crop 

 of corn, oats and grass with such quantity and 

 quality of manure, if not, wherein shall I change 

 my plan ? A Subscriber. 



East Berkshire, VL, March 5, 1862. 



Remarks. — Under the treatment you propose 

 to give your land, with a favorable season, you can 

 scarcely fail of securing seventy-five bushels of 

 corn per acre, perhaps more. We see nothing to 

 suggest but to add some quickener to the hill that 

 will give the corn an early start, so that it shall 

 be out of the way of September frosts, if they 

 should come. A compost of hen manure or night- 

 soil, or a gill of American guano or Coe's super- 

 phosphate of lime, would be likely to accomplish 

 this, if added to each hill, and thoroughly mingled 

 with the soil, over a space of ten or twelve inches. 



American Mech.\nics. — The improvements in 

 farming tools are exciting compliments toward 

 American ingenuity and enterprise throughout the 

 world. One of the best authorities in these mat- 

 ters — the London Mark Lane Express — declares 

 that "the Americans have driven our English plow- 

 makers out of the Australian, Indian and other 

 colonial markets, owing to their lighter aixd cheap- 

 er articles." 



