186 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[December, 



WHEAT GROWING. 



Of all the cereals, Wheat is the most valu- 

 able, and decidedly the most interesting to 

 the experimenter. He can cultivate it with 

 more satisfactory results and with greater 

 remuneration than any or all the rest. To 

 manage it successfully in all its stages re- 

 quires much intelligence and skill. 



The improvement that has been made upon 

 it the past few years shows conclusively that 

 half is not yet known, not only about 

 raising, but milling it. Much, in every way, 

 is still to be learned before all its powers 

 can be understood and developed. 



Wheat has never received that attention ; 

 required to make it a success in both field 

 and mill. This fact is clearly shown in the i 

 deterioration of the old standards. The 

 Diehl, for instance, Gennesse, Treadwell, 

 and others, are almost worthless. Their 

 places are being taken by newer kinds and 

 better. 



Many successful attempts have been made 

 to improve Wheat by selection, as is seen in 

 Hallet's Pedigree, the Fultz, Clawson, etc. ; 

 but few attempts have as yet been made to 

 go beyond mere selection. Those few con- 

 sist in crossing one variety upon another, — 

 a much higher art — the results of which are 

 most wonderful and important. The im- 

 provements by this means are as manifest 

 and valuable as those the stockman realizes 

 in crossing and breeding fine animals. 



The operation of crossing Wheats is very 

 simple ; but to know what to do before and 

 after crossing is quite another thing: that 

 is, if the experimenter desires to make a 

 better variety. 



Before, he must know the elements in his 

 Wheat essential to good flour ; he must 

 know the characteristics of it essential to 

 the culture of both products, as well as the 

 probable results of combining them ; lie 

 must know what kinds suit both farmer and 

 miller best. 



After crossing, and after a crop has 

 been produced, the experimenter begins a 

 most careful selection. As in the animal 

 kingdom, so in the vegetable— the offsprings 

 are of all grades, sizes, and colors. The 

 stock-breeder selects and saves his best, be 

 it pig, pup, or chick. So, with the offspring 

 produced by crossing two kinds of Wheat, 

 select and save the best. 



I attribute the success attending the pros- 

 perous culture of Wheat much more to 

 the seed than to soil and climate. Perfect 

 and genuine seed of any kind is absolutely 

 necessary — it insures more than fifty per 

 cent, of the farmer's, gardener's, and florist's 

 success. 



My method of growing Wheat and Com 

 begins with the seed and ends with the seed. 

 The soil is not much more than a recep- 

 tacle to hold it and the atmosphere a feeder. 

 In this expression I do not wish to be under- 

 stood as ignoring or undervaluing the ele- 

 ments of the soil and air, but I wish to 

 explode the idea most farmers entertain, 

 viz. : that large, heavy, and tall foliage must 

 he maae to produce the best grain. 



Why not exercise the mind a little, and 

 make less straw and more grain — longer 



heads and shorter stalks ? This can be done 

 by selection and "breeding up," as the 

 stockmen call it. 



I find as much difference in heads of 

 Wheat as the farmer does in ears of Corn. 

 Why, then, does he not select and save in i 

 the same way ? It will pay. 



There have been some very fine crosses — \ 

 hybrids they are called — made lately. E. C. 

 Pringle, of Vermont, produced the Defiance 

 and his Hybrid No. 5, which are among the 

 finest Wheats I have ever seen. The former 

 produced on these grounds, this year, over 

 forty-two bushels, with but thirty pounds 

 seed per acre, field culture at that. The 

 latter, with but twenty pounds seed per 

 acre and a little cultivation, yielded nearly 

 sixty bushels. 



In a subsequent number of the American 

 Garden I shall take occasion to extend my 

 remarks on Wheat growing, making them 

 more practical. 



Prof. A. E. Blount, 

 State Agricultural College, Colorado. 



I 



EARTH WORMS AND LIME, 



I see the statement in circulation that "Mr. 

 •T. J. H. Gregory carefully collected the cast- 

 ings of earthworms daily for one season over 

 a given area, and they measured nearly a quart 

 to the square foot, or enough to raise the 

 surface of the land half an inch. He also, 

 by experiment, shows that an acre of land 

 may contain six tons of worms." 



Now, all florists know that lime-water kills 

 earth worms, and have we not here an expla- 

 nation of at least one way in which liming 

 land produces such a sudden access of fer- 

 tility, — in some cases out of all proportion 

 to anything we can account for, considering 

 lime merely as a plant food ? It is on land 

 rich m organic matter that liming shows its 

 best results. Now, this is also the very land 

 that is rich in earth worms, and it seems to 

 me nothing extraordinary that the killing of 

 six tons, or even a very much less quantity 

 of these worms, to the acre, would result in 

 a wonderful augmentation of its fertility. We 

 j are always glad when a mystery is explained . 

 ' and a problem solved. 



Perhaps even the good done by gypsum, 

 which so puzzles agricultural chemists, may 

 be due to similar insecticide properties. It 

 might be worth while for some of our agricult- 

 ural experiment stations to investigate the 

 matter. 



Dr. T. H. Hoskins. 



MEN AND SOIL, 



" Separated from the soil," said Mr James ' 

 Parton, the historian, in a recent lecture, 

 " man never yet has succeeded in thriving. 

 At best, without it, he is a potted plant, and 

 ! some of the pots are miserably small. I have 

 visited many factories in New England, and 

 I find that wherever the operatives have a 

 good sized garden, with access to pasture for I 

 a cow, the people are healthy, contented, and 

 saving. Whenever this is the case, the fac- 

 tory population is able to live without actual 

 starvation or extreme destitution in the event 

 of the mills being closed for even a very long 

 period. Whenever they are separated from 

 the soil, as m some of our large and crowded 

 cities, there is squalor, demoralization, and 

 despair. " 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, 

 Plants for Name.— L. M. 0., Waterville, N. Y. — 

 The plant is Asclepias lini folia, a pretty green- 

 house plant, indigenous to Mexico. 



It. L., Mount Vernon, A 7 . Y.— The plant described 

 is, Eranthis lu/emalis, Winter Aconite, one of the 

 earliest and most interesting spring flowers. It is 

 entirely hardy and would make a fine edging for 

 a bed of Christmas Roses, described on another 

 page, blooming about the same time. 



Oleander.— Mrs. T. T. H., Alexandria, Minn. — 

 Oleanders need but little pruning, except when 

 they grow straggling or too large for the place 

 where they are wintered. If cutting back be- 

 comes necessary, it should be done immediately 

 after the period of blooming. They should be 

 wintered in a cool place ; a cellar, even if dark, 

 will answer very well. 



Hotbed Sashes.— (i. M. A., Denver, Gol.^TTae 

 sashes ordinarily used for hotbeds and cold 

 frames are three feet wide and six feet long. 

 Professional gardeners do not use cloth instead of 

 glass, as it forms but a. very poor substitute, and 

 costs more in the end. Any kind of muslin dipped 

 in linseed oil and dried will do for the purpose, if 

 any one desires to try it, but we do not advise its 

 use. 



Whitloff.— W. P., AshviUe, N. C— This new 

 vegetable resembles the, Chicory, and its root 

 might probably be used for the same purpose, 

 but the part used as a vegetable is the leaves of 

 the heart, as a Cos Lettuce. They are eaten 

 boiled, or prepared as a salad, which latter is the 

 usual way. We have never eaten them though, 

 and cannot, therefore, speak from personal ex- 

 perience. 



Keeping Jerusalem Artichokes. — F. D., Litch- 

 field, Conn. — Tubers, for use during winter, 

 may be dug at any time before the ground 

 freezes hard. They are not injured by frost, when 

 covered with soil. They may be kept in a cellar, 

 exactly like Potatoes. They dry out and shrivel 

 easier though, and if the cellar in which they are 

 stored is very dry, it is better to cover them with 

 earth or sand. 



Lilies.— A.F. W., Gilbertsville,X~, Y.— Where the 

 ground is dry, it is always better to plant Lilies 

 in the fall, and mulch well during winter. Other- 

 wise the bulbs should be preserved m moderately 

 damp soil or sand in a cool cellar, and planted in 

 the open ground as early in spring as the ground 

 is tit to work. They should not be taken up again 

 in the fall, as they improve by not being disturbed 

 for a few years. 



Tuberoses. — Miss M. A S., Toccoa, Ga. — With 

 good bulbs there can be no diffioulty in obtaining 

 flowers. Plant in spring after all danger of frost 

 is over and the ground is thoroughly warm, in any 

 good, mellow, garden soil, about four inches deep. 

 Keep the ground around them loose and clean, 

 and water during long continuing dry weather. 

 The bulbs planted were probably cither wintered 

 in too low temperature or they had already 

 bloomed the previous year 



Japanese Ivy. — E, W. H., Fairfield, Conn — 

 This beautiful plant, A mpelopsis Veitchii, is the 

 Japanese sister of our Virginia Creeper. It is 

 one of the most elegant and valuable hardy 

 climbers in cultivation, taking a firm hold on 

 wood or stone, covering a wall or trellis in ashort 

 time. The plant is deciduous, and would, there- 

 fore, not make an attractive climber for the house 

 in winter. Yet by drying it off m the fall it would 

 probably bear moderate forcing in winter. 



Tigridias and Anemones.— Mrs G- W. B., 

 Milwaukee, Wis.— Tigridias are tender bulbs, and 

 should be taken up in the fall after the first frost, 

 and not planted out in spring before the ground 

 is warm. 



Anemones may be planted outdoors in the fall 

 or early spring ; in the first case the ground should 

 be well drained, and sufficiently mulched to keep 

 the frost out. They may also be grown in pots 

 or boxes in the house, giving them the same 

 treatment as Hyacinths. 



I 



