THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



3Debotefc to Agriculture, horticulture, unXi the ^otiseliolir girts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the 

 Arts . — Xenophon. 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts 

 of the State. — Sully. 



Vol. VII. 



RICHMOND, OCTOBER, 1847. 



No. 10. 



■ 



P. D. BERNARD, 



PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. 



C. T. BOTTSj 



EDITOR. 



i^-All Communications, concerning the 

 Planter, must be addressed 



P. D. BERNARD, Richmond, Va. 

 l^fFor Terms see last page. 



WHEAT. 



This great and important crop now occu- 

 pies the attention of all those whose lands and 

 situation lead them to cultivate it. We need 

 not say that the best soils for it are the strong, 

 well-prepared clay and heavy loams. But the 

 very best wheat may be also obtained from 

 many light, and from all marly and calcare- 

 ous soils. Indeed lime, in the land, in any 

 form, is the great thing for wheat. The great 

 amount of silicia in the straw of such grains 

 as wheat, rye,- oats, &c, (it is about four-fifths 

 of the whole ashes when burnt,) requires an 

 ample provision for it in the soil, in a form 

 susceptible of a ready assimilation by the 

 plant. This is afforded by the action of lime 

 upon the soil. It is also afforded by ashes. 

 Lime is also advantageous to wheat by check- 

 ing an exuberant growth of the weak loose 

 straw, with which the rust makes its appear- 

 ance. On the contrary, fresh barn yard ma- 

 nure on wheat land, not only sows a quantity 

 /Jbf foreign seed among the wheat, but it indu- 

 ■^fjFes this rapid growth of weak straw; and thus 

 causes the rust. There is the same objection 

 to lands rich with decaying vegetable matter. 

 But wheat may be successfully obtained from 

 this last mentioned soil, and also from land 

 enriched with fresh manure, if prepared with 

 Vol. VII.— 10. 



lime also, which will prevent the eviUmen- 

 tioned. A dressing of charcoal, it is said, is 

 also an effectual preventive, and it is now ex 

 tensively used in France for the wheat crop 



There is another indispensable to a large ' 

 wheat crop besides good soil, and that is depth, 

 of soil. If the reader will take the trouble to 

 examine the roots of his wheat, he will find 

 that there are two sets of them; one of which 

 pushes along the surface of the ground, and 

 the other extends deep into the earth, penetrat- 

 ing downwards. Thus this grain extracts its 

 nourishment from every part of the soil, and 

 to produce it in abundance, the soil must not 

 only be good, but deeply ploughed. It should 

 be thoroughly turned up with the plough, and ' 

 underdrained ; for wheat on clay lands is al- 

 most certain to be winter-killed, unless the 

 lands be well drained. By successive freez- 

 ings and thawings, the roots are broken and 

 thrown out. But when the ground is plough- 

 ed deeply apd thoroughly, the water on the 

 surface has an opportunity for percolation to a 

 depth which renders the wheat in a measure 

 safe from it. An intelligent cotemporary re- 

 marks . " In grounds not naturally wet, we be - 

 lieve that this evil would be remedied by sub- 

 soil ploughing. We mean the passing of a 

 subsoil plough in the furrow of the share- 

 plough, at the time of the latter operation, so 

 as to pulverize some six or eight inches below 

 the depth of the furrow slice, and not to turn 

 up, or invert the subsoil. There are ploughs 

 to be had of most of the manufacturers, ex- 

 pressly made for such a purpose. The prac- 

 tice? of subsoiling does not much obtain in our 

 country, but has never been tried but with the 

 best effects, resulting invariably in the 

 provement of the quality, and the in 

 grain. In England it has obtained^- 

 larity, and it is said, together with' 

 have added one-third to the ' f 

 realm. It gives, in fact, two 



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