124 THE FLORIST AND 
Mr. S. C. Willitts had observed the Wheat in his neighborhood, the 
northern part of Philadelphia County, to be killed at the top, but still 
strong at the root. Fields which had been drilled appeared better than 
those sown broadcast, and those drilled early looked the best. 
S, G. Fisher, Esq., reported the appearance of the Wheat in that part of 
Maryland in which his estate lay, to be very unfavorable. This he attri- 
buted, in great part, to the severe drought, which lasted from June to 
November, of last year, and the effects of which were still visible, as very 
little rain had fallen this season, and the springs and streams were unusually 
low. Wheat sown early was the least unpromising. Fields sown in the 
latter part of October were almost entirely bare. The drill was generally 
used in his vicinity. 
Mr. Aaron Clement had recently visited Lancaster County. There, too, 
the Wheat fields were bare. He ascribed this to the fact, that the drought 
had caused late ploughing and sowing. It was no unusual thing to find the 
fields witho\it signs of a crop, early in the season, and after a warm rain, 
the ground covered with verdure. 
Dr. Emerson acknowledged the advantage of early planting. In Kent 
County, Delaware, where his farm was situated, the Wheat Crop generally 
looked badly, but the importance of the drill was never more manifest ; all 
the fields where it had been used bid fair to be many fold more productive. 
In others, the soil appeared to have been blown away from the young roots. 
A dry winter was not unfavorable to Wheat, as the absence of excess of 
moisture prevented the efi"ects of thawings and freezings, by which the 
young plants were thrown out. 
Mr. Gustavus Engle stated that his eighty acres in Wheat, near Bustle- 
ton, looked quite promising. He had plowed five inches deep, and sown 
early. The field was upland. In Bucks County, where he had been 
recently, well cultivated Wheat lands appeared well. Some, on which four 
hundred pounds of Guano had been spread to the acre, he had never seen 
surpassed, at this season of the year. 
Mr. Clement contended, that however well farmed the land might be, 
nothing could compensate for late sowing. Wheat sown early was always 
better. 
Dr. Emerson insisted that early plowing was more important than early 
sowing. On his farm, a portion of a field had, from motives of convenience, 
been ploAved two months earlier than the remainder ; the whole was dressed 
with super-phosphate of lime, and drilled at the same time, yet the early 
plowed portion now exhibited a perfect marl of vegetation, as if it alone had 
