46 



THE ILLIIS^OIS F^I^]Sd:ER. 



son for fall plowing as a general thing; 

 we will next consider the effect of 



THE PRECEDINQ CROP. 



Wheat, of all the cereals, requires the 

 largest amount of potash, and hence 

 the crop that will retain the largest 

 quantity in a free state is the best to pre- 

 cede it. Thus the crop of corn, of 

 potatoes, of beans and of roots or green 

 crops, as they are termed, by the cul* 

 ture required and the exposure of a large 

 part of the surface, are admirably 

 adapted to prepare the soil for a wheat 

 crop; 80 also of a clover or timoth.v 

 meadow, which always retaining the free 

 potash near the surface are of no small 

 value, and when our farmers resume the 

 culture of winter wheat, which they will 

 at no distant day, it will be on under- 

 drained meadow land turned over in 

 August and sown immediately after. 



if the corn crop has been well culti- 

 vated it is of little consequence whether 

 the land is again plowed before sowing 

 or not, so far as regards the yield, pro- 

 vided that the seed is thoroughly har- 

 rowed in. When the corn is husked 

 early in the fall, the entire crop of 

 stalks can be plowed under by applying 

 our weed-hook to the plow-beam, and 

 they will not be in the way of the har- 

 row, when sowing in the spring. The 

 stalks thus plowed under will serve to 

 drain the soil and to keep up its fertility 

 by returning to the soil the whole amount 

 of potash drawn from it by the preced- 

 ing crop. Potatoes, beans and green 

 crops have the effect of summer fallow 

 without absorbing the potash, hence the 

 luxuriant growth of spring wheat after 

 all these crops; but these crops are often 

 put upon the black loamy soils, and in 

 such cases the growth of straw is increas- 

 ed and the grain is often shrunk. Flax 

 is another crop deserving of attention, 

 as valuable to precede wheat. At 

 present so little is grown as hardly to be 

 worth noticing, but we have reason to 

 know that American genius is not sleep- 

 ing over the idea of flax-cotton as a 

 myth, but is slowly yet surely perfect- 

 ing the process that shall ere long 

 place it among the triumphs of the age. 



WHBN TO sow. 



This will depend much on the latitude 

 and the season. As a general rule for 

 this State, we would say as soon after 

 the first of March as the weather will 

 permit. We would not wait for the 

 frost to get out and the land to settle, 

 but so soon as the top was sufficiently 

 thawed to harrow well, would put on 

 the seed, no matter if a sudden freeze 

 should close up the ground for a fort- 

 night after; if the land is well drained 

 the seed will not rot if well covered in. 

 In sowing thus early, the ground will 

 be for a long time encrusted with frost 

 in the morning; in the meantime the 



wheat will come up and will extend its 

 roots ready for a vigorous start when 

 the warm April showers shall fall on it. 

 After harrowing, the ground should be 

 rolled so as to crush all the clods. The 

 night freezing and morning thawing 

 process will pulverize the surface and 

 leave it in fine tilth, its pores will be 

 open to heat and air, and the dense foli- 

 age thus stimulated will smother out the 

 weeds and the wheat crop will monopolize 

 the soil. The land being well drained, 

 the heavy spring rains will soon pass off 

 and leave the soil in good condition, and 

 as the luxuriant growth will cover the 

 soil and prevent evaporation, along con- 

 tinued drouth would have little power 

 to check its growth. 



ENEMIES AND DRAW BACKS. 



Among these are weeds, oats, cockle, 

 wild mustard, rust, smut, the chinch bug, 

 and other insects. The weeds we have 

 already disposed of in the course of cul- 

 ture recommended. 



The oats should be washed out, or 

 rather swam out in brine made sufficient- 

 ly strong to float an egg ; after being 

 put in a basket to drain, mix with the 

 yet damp wheat a small quantity of dry 

 slaked lime, just sufficient to whiten the 

 grain ; this will prevent any smut on the 

 crop and need not be repeated every 

 year. Cockle and wild mustard must 

 be destroyed by cultivating hoed crops. 

 By sowing early and keeping the crop in 

 a growing condition through the spring, 

 it will have attained such a state of ma- 

 turity before the hot weather of July, 

 that the danger from rust will be mate- 

 rially lessened. On the other hand, if 

 the growth is checked by winter, heavy 

 rains or drouth, a favorable condition of 

 things so stimulates the growth, that if 

 followed by hot showery weather, or by 

 clear hot days, the crop will be in dan- 

 ger. The chinch bug seldom damages 

 the early sown spring wheat, while the 

 late sown or that in which the growth 

 has been checked by bad culture, falls a 

 sure prey te its ravages ; and in view of 

 this we can only again urge early sow- 

 ing and such culttire and preparation of 

 the soil as will induce early maturity of 

 the crop. 



CHANGE OP SEED. 



Much stress has been laid on the change 

 of seed; that is, bringing seed from 

 distant points. To some extent this is 

 of value ; seed from heavy timber land 

 or the stiff clay of the burr oak opening, 

 transferred to the prairie, and vice versa, 

 we would commend, even if the distance 

 was less than a mile ; we would prefer 

 seed from the South rather than from 

 the North, as tending to more early 

 maturity, but the changes need not be 

 made oftenor than once in three or four 

 years. 



VARIETIES. 



Here doctors will disagree, and it seems 

 quite necessary that enterprising seeds- 

 men should rename and introduce old 

 sorts that have for a time been superse- 

 ded by others. Some years since the 

 "Red River'' was all the go, but it be- 

 came, from some cause, perhaps the want 

 of change, unproductive. It has been 

 returned to us rejuvenated and made 

 popular under the name of " Canada 

 Club,'' and we have the old ** Siberian" 

 under the cognomen of '*Eio Grande." 

 The bald wheat make pure white flour 

 when of good quality, while the bearded 

 wheats all give a yellow tinge to it, but 

 without impairing its value. 



SPRING WHEAT VS. WINTER. 



Under our present system of farming, 

 labor applied to the culture, harvesting, 

 thrashing and marking of winter wheat, 

 is of the most expensive kind, being at 

 that season of the year when farm labor 

 is most in demand ; besides, winter wheat 

 is a biennial, and is at the expense of 

 two years' rent. We do not say this is 

 a matter of necessity, for we think it is 

 not, but it is the common practice. On 

 the other hand, the plowing for spring 

 wheat is done after the hurry and heat 

 of summer, when both man and team are 

 capable of a large day's work, The 

 seeding is done before any other spring 

 work can be accomplished, and hence at 

 a cheap rate. The wheat will stand well 

 in the stack, as the upright heads are 

 better for stacking than the bending 

 heads of winter wheat, and should be left 

 in the stack until winter, when labor is 

 cheap, and the straw and chaff is valua- 

 ble for fodder; for these, if no other 

 reasons, spring wheat will pay a better 

 net profit than winter wheat, even if the 

 same number of bushels per acre should 

 be grown, but which is not the case.. 



CROPS TO FOLLOW. 



Oats are an excellent crop to follow, 

 as the growth of straw will be moderate 

 and the yield large, with little danger of 

 lodging, but when oats are not desirable, 

 almost any crop, except wheat and bar- 

 ley, will do well, and even these will do 

 well, if the ground is broken deeper and 

 a successive layer of clay brought up, 

 for this clay holds the latent potash. 

 Corn is a favorite crop to follow after 

 spring wheat, but to our mind the great 

 crop should be clover and timothy for 

 meadow and pasture, which might lie 

 over two or three years, then broken up 

 for corn, to be followed again with spring 

 wheat. 



We have thus aimed to call the atten- 

 tion of our readers to both the scientific 

 and practical facts in the culture of this 

 grain which is now occupying so promi- 

 nent a position among the great staples 

 of the North West. Rural. 



Our readers in the north and centra^ 



.*. 



