204 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



invaluable lessons and practical doings, have impressed the 

 country with respect for the name, which will last while thorough 

 agriculture is known and honored, 



Mr. Orange Judd, of the American Agriculturist, presented 

 the following extract from his work : 



A FARMER'S EXPERIEN^CE WITH SPRING WHEAT. 



To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 



In response to the invitation in your April issue, I give you 

 my practice and experience in growing spring wheat, I plow all 

 the ground I can in the* fall, ten inches deep, keeping for the 

 purpose a team weighing from 1,300 to 1,600 pounds. My soil is 

 undulating, consisting of clay on the eminences, and muck in 

 the depressions. 



I have used three varieties of wheat of late years, viz : Fife, 

 China and Black Sea. I have about concluded to discontinue 

 sowing the Black Sea, thinking that I can raise the other two 

 varieties as cheaply and as safely against rust, while they will 

 bring me from one to two shillings more per bushel in market, 

 I have raised principally the Fife, the past season. I obtained 

 11.871 per bushel for 613 bushels, which was as much as was 

 paid for China at the time. The miller says that it does not 

 make quite as white flour as the China, but that it makrs enough 

 more to enable him to pay as much for it as for the China. 



The Fife variety has two advantages to the farmer over the 

 China: first, it does not shell so easily in the field, and second, 

 it is not so apt to crinkle down by wind and rainy weather. 



The past season demonstrated this perfectly. My Fife stood 

 tip nicely, while the China was down almost as badly as the 

 Black Sea. This was the case as far as my observation extended. 



I have a heavy cultivator, drawn by my " big team,*' which 

 mellows the ground almost as deep as it is plowed where it has 

 not packed down during winter (as is sometimes the case with 

 fall-plowed land, where it has been imperfectly drained.) Fall- 

 plowed ground should be as effectually drained by dead-furrows 

 or otherwise, as if sowed to a winter crop. Where the ground 

 is not perfectly mellow, I cultivate twice in a place before sowing, 

 and always follow twice in a place with the harrow after sowing. 



Grass or clover seed is sown after harrowing and before rolling, 

 which leaves the surface of my land in a beautiful condition — 

 much better than it can be made by spring plowing. 



I always aim to sow my wheat as soon after the first of May as 

 possible, and do not care to sow it any earlier, lest it should not 



