236 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



book be rejected only because it contains a few 

 fallacious ideas. 



Without a preparation of the mind, there are 

 but few men who can retain a fortune suddenly 

 bestowed on them ; so in like manner there are 

 but few earths which can retain a sudden gorge 

 of manure. 



Choose wisely, and apply as you may need. 



Argus. 



Amherst County ; Va., Sept. 1843. 



RED MAY WHEAT. 

 A gentleman who has a great repugnance to 

 appearing before the public in his proper person, 

 but whose name is only needed to any state- 

 ment, to secure it the entire confidence of the 

 public, placed at our disposal the following com- 

 munication : 



Mr. C. T. Botts, 



Sir, — I see the opinion expressed in your 

 September number, that the Red May is a deli- 

 cate wheat, and will not stand an ordinarily 

 hard winter. My opinion and experience are 

 directly opposed to this idea. Six years ago I 

 purchased from the Messrs. Haxall, from wheat 

 which they had bought from a farmer in Ame- 

 lia, the first of the variety sown in this vicinity. 

 The winter succeeding the seeding was the se- 

 verest that had been known for 30 years, not- 

 withstanding which this wheat came out splen- 

 didly. Three acres well improved, sown about 

 10th October, yielded I am confident, at least 

 ninety bushels. It got a good start and looked 

 beautiful at the commencement of the winter. 

 We had two long and severe spells during the 

 winter; one in January and another in February, 

 and at each spell every spire seemed to be entirely 

 killed ; it appeared as if a fire had passed over 

 it. After the first spell it soon recovered and 

 presented a beautiful green appearance; the se- 

 cond spell appeared to have destroyed it again, 

 but it soon grew out and yielded as above 

 stated. The whole quantity sown, (26 bush- 

 els) considering the land, yielded more than 

 any wheat I had ever sown. I am perfectly 

 satisfied 1 never saw better wheat, but the re- 

 ported weight was from 61 to 62 only. During 

 the same fall, I procured from Mr. C. C. on the 

 Mechanicsville Turnpike, a neat, practical far- 

 mer, 25 bushels of as fine looking old fashioned 

 White May Wheat as I ever saw, and seeded 

 it about the 1st November, in corn land, nicely 

 prepared, which I expected to bring 10 bushels 

 at least, to the acre, by the side of the Red 

 May. It came up badly, and wore a sickly ap- 

 pearance from the start, and did not yield two 

 bushels for one of seeded — it was so inferior, 

 that I doubted at one time whether I would cut 

 it. The seed might not have been good, but no 



one would have judged them to be damaged — 

 they presented not the least sign of the slighest 

 injury. The 26 bushels of Lied May yielded 

 upwards of 500 bushels of as fine wheat as I 

 ever saw. 



The next }^ear I sowed the Red May en- 

 tirely, but only 21 bushels — as I set out with a 

 firm determination never to sow a bushel of 

 wheat, except on land capable of growing at 

 least 10 bushels to the acre. This crop was 

 ruined the year of the 21 successive days of 

 rain, during the blooming of the wheat. I 

 sowed 13 bushels on poor land, manured on the 

 fallow, and raked in, and 8 bushels on corn 

 land, manured for corn, that ought to have 

 brought under ordinary circumstances from 10 

 to 15 bushels to the acre. The fallow ripened 

 10 days before the other, and commenced bloom- 

 ing before the rains set in, whereas the other 

 did not. I made upwards of 200 bushels from 

 21 seeded, the corn land not yielding more than 

 30 measured bushels of extremely light and in- 

 different wheat — that from the fallow weighed 

 from 58 to 59 — the heaviest I knew of that 

 year. It was all sold in the neighborhood for 

 seed, except what 1 kept for my own seeding. 



My third crop was divided between the Red 

 May and the Goose Wheat. The fall of this 

 seeding was the driest ever known, perhaps — 

 the crop was put into ground as dry as powder, 

 there was not a particle of moisture in it. It 

 did not rain from the time of seeding till some 

 time in December, when very cold weather com- 

 menced, and did not come up, much of it, till 

 spring. This being a new case to me, I of 

 I course despaired of making any crop at all. It 

 came up very thin, but the weather proving fa- 

 vorable in February and March, it grew off to 

 my utter astonishment. About the last of 

 March, or first of April, I planted corn, after 

 I which we had a pretty good rain, and from that 

 time to harvest, there did not, to the best of my 

 knowledge, enough rain fall to wet the wheat 

 land a half inch, and during this time heavy 

 winds prevailed to a greater extent than I had 

 ever observed before. I expected, of course, to 

 make no crop, either wheat, corn or oats, with- 

 out good seasons, but I was most agreeably dis- 

 appointed. For a long time I disliked to see 

 the wheat crop. In the morning I was a little 

 cheered by its improved appearance, since the 

 afternoon before. When the heat of the day 

 came on, the blades would twist like the blades 

 of corn in very dry and hot weather, (and some 

 of the lower blades be<ran to turn yellow and 

 dry up,) but in the morning, from the dew of 

 the over night, they would be out of twist 

 again — and so it continued until ripe. The 

 heads were very large, and the grain as fine as 

 I ever saw. I made this year from 85 of seed, 

 upwards of 900 bushels. Neither kind, the 

 Red May nor the Goose, came up as thick as I 



