152 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR, 
®l)e 0outt)mt CultiDatau 
AUGUSTA, GA. 
VOI,. III., KO. 10 OCXOMER, 1845. 
Wheat. 
In the course of this month, those who intend 
to plant wheat will be getting their ground in 
order, and towards the end of the month they 
will be putting the seed in the ground. Very 
much of the success of the crop and of the 
quality of the grain will depend on the manner 
in which the ground shall be prepared for the re- 
ception of the seed, and on the proper selection 
and preparation of the seed itself. In the form- 
er particular — the preparation of the ground — the 
practice of Southern planters has been very es- 
pecially careless: so much so, indeed, as to 
have occasioned the remark that if, in those 
States where wheat is a main crop, the ground 
were prepared and the seed sown in a manner as 
slovenly as by many Southern planters, nothing 
at all would be made. The great defect in our 
practice in preparing for this crop, as well as all 
others, consists in our shallow plowing. This is 
to be remedied by subsoiling, about which there 
has been so much said in the Cultivator. 
Then, as to the soil itself, the defect, in most 
parts of the South, is the deficiency of lime and 
potash. Every wheat grower ought, by all 
means, to put on his wheat land, where this defi- 
ciency exists, at least ten bushels of lime, and 
the like quantity of ashes, to the acre. These 
both contain essential Ingredients of both straw 
and grain, as has been repeatedly shown by anal- 
ysis. And where they are liberally supplied to 
soils deficient in them, other things being proper- 
ly attended to, there will be produced large heads 
of wheat filled with large, plump grains, and 
straw of strength suflucient to hold such heads 
up. If the lime and ashes cannot be applied 
when the wheat is sown, it will answer as well 
— some say bett..r — to defer it till winter. When 
the land is poor, the American Farmer says, “ the 
cheapest as well as the best manure that could be 
used would be Guano, in the proportion of 150 to 
300 pounds to the acre, to be mixed with about 
ten times that quantity of mould, and one bushel 
of plaster. The whole to be mixed together, 
sown broadcast, and lightly harrowed in at the 
time of sowing the grain, or any time during the 
winter omitting the use of the harrow in the 
latter case, of course. 
Where Guano cannot be had, the American 
Farmer recommends as a very excellent substi- 
tute, the following mixture:— “ Take 2 bushels 
of ground bones, 2 bushels of ashes, 10 bushels 
of rich loam or mould, 1 bushel of plaster, 2 bu- 
shels of salt, and 20 gallons of urine ; mix the 
whole together well ; let the mass remain for a 
few days, when it will be fit to sow. The quan- 
tity here named is intended for an acre, and 
would, we have no doubt, tend to increase the 
yield thirty-three per cent, in the crop of wheat, 
besides greatly improving the succeeding crops 
of any rotation which might follow, and leaving 
the ground in a meliorated condition.” 
Where are we to get the bones? you ask. 
Yes, there is the difldculty in making use of this 
prescription. We in the South are not poor 
enough yet to begin to save bones, but we soon 
will be, going on as we do now. Let any one, 
how'ever, think for a moment of the quantity of 
bones he might save on h’s plantation if he were 
to set about gathering up what are thrown out to 
bleach in the sun, or be consumed by the abom- 
inable race of sheep-stealing dogs with which 
the whole country is infested, and the difficulty 
will vanish. Besides, you have only to create a 
demand for ground bones, and the demand will 
be speedily supplied with the article from abroad. 
The field of Waterloo, for many years after that 
battle, supplied not only many of the wheat 
fields of England with bones for the improvement 
of the soil, but also many of the English millers 
with bones for the improvement of the weight of 
their flour, in the same way as some Northern 
millers are said to use Plaster of Paris to improve 
the weight of buckwheat flour for our Southern 
markets, producing, in this buckwheat case, re- 
sults very surprising indeed, and profitable be- 
yond anything that could be accomplished by the 
application of the same quantity of plaster to the 
soil where the buckwheat grew. 
“ To prevent smut,” — we quote from the Ame- 
rican Farmer — “all seed wheat should be well 
washed in clean water, so that all the lighter 
grains and the seeds of weeds may be skimmed 
off. To insure this, the wheat should be put in- 
to a hogshead, in small quantities at a time ; 
kept stirred, so that the impure grains and extra- 
neous matters may be floated to the top. This 
process should be continued until all such are re- 
moved, and the water, which should be drawn 
off and replenished occasionally, ceases to be co- 
lored by the operation. After this has teen ef- 
fected, let a brine be made of salt or lye of ashes, 
sufficiently strong to bear an egg; cover the seed 
wheat with it and let it soak for twelve hours ; 
then draw off the soak, spread the wheat on a 
floor, sprinkle slaked lime or ashes over it, and 
stir up the mass so as to coat each grain with 
the substance used. When this is done the 
wheat will be ready for sowing. No more wheat 
must be taken out of the soak than can be sown 
each day, and care should be taken to plow it in 
as sown, not more than about three inches deep. 
The harrow and roller should follow the plow. 
Seed thus prepared and put in, will, besides be- 
ing exempt from smut, come up quicker, grow 
more rapidly, and, of consequence, obtain a much 
better series of roots before winter, than would 
such as may be sown without preparation, and 
therefore be better able to withstand the effects of 
frosts and thaws.” 
Sir John Sinclair recommends, to prevent 
smut, to run the grain very gently through a rid- 
dle into clean water, when not only the smut 
balls, but the imperfect grains and the seeds of 
weeds, will float, and may be skimmed off at 
pleasure. As a further means of preventing 
smut, he recommends steeping the seed in any 
oneof the following preparations : 1. Pure cold 
water and lime. 2. Boiling water and lime. 3. 
Water impregnated with salt. 4. Urine pickle. 
B. Lye of wood ashes. 6. A solution of arsenic. 
7. A solution of blue vitriol. 
Arthur Young sowed beds with wheat seed 
that was black with smut. The first bed sown 
with unwashed seed had 377 smutty kernels. A 
bed with seed washed in clean water had 325 bad 
kernels — washed in lime w'ater, had 43 kernels ; 
in lye of wood ashes, had 31 ; in arsenic and salt 
mixture, 28; steeped in lime water, four hours, 
had 2 ; in lye, four hours, had 3 ; in arsenic solu- 
tion four hours, had one smutty kernel ; steeped 
in lye 12 hours, had none ; in lye 24 hours, none ; 
in lime water 24 hours, none ; in arsenic 24 hours, 
had five smutty grains. 
Smut, then, can be gotten rid of. Everybody 
knows how to escape, to a great extent, the ra- 
vages of the fly. We wish the same could be 
said of rust, the only other serious malady wheat 
is liable to. On this subject, notwithstanding so 
much has been written, very little, we believe, is 
known that is really useful. Both the cause and 
cure are nearly as much involved in mystery as 
ever. Sir John Sinclair, in his Code of Agricul- 
ture, discusses the subject at length, and recom- 
mends as remedies that were most efficacious in 
his time : 
1. Cultivating hardy sorts of wheat. 
2. Early sowing. 
3. Raising early varieties. 
4. Thick sowing. 
5. Changes of seed. 
6. Consolidating the soil. 
7. Using saline manures. 
8. Improving the course of crops. 
9. Extirpating all plants that are receptacles of 
rust. 
10. Protecting wheat plants by other crops. 
Mr. Colman’s attention was directed to this 
subject, in New England, and after experiments 
carefully made, and extensive reading and obser. 
vation, he came to the conclusion that, early 
sowing, from the best observation he had made of 
wheat crops that had come under his notice, from 
the united and decided opinion of the British 
wheat growers and from many American autho- 
rities, is to be strongly advised as a preventive of 
rust. This may do in New England, but in the 
Southern States early sowing exposes the crop 
to the ravages of the fly. 
Of late, it has been confidently asserted that 
charcoal dust spread liberally over the ground is 
a sure preventive of rust. But here we want 
more light, and careful experiment alone can 
furnish it. Who will not be willing to undertake 
the experiments necessary to test not only this 
matter, but also many others connected with this 
crop? 
“Now then, farmers” — to use the language 
of 4he Ohio Cultivator — “one and all, what 
will you do towards accomplishing this de- 
sirable object ? It is vain for us to wiite or talk 
or travel amongst you, if you donot put forth the 
necessary efforts to carry into effect the measures 
that may be recommended, or to test by experi- 
ments the plans -of improvement that may bp 
suggested by the discoveries of science. Here 
then is work for you all ! Some of you we know 
have already engaged in it, and are acting upon 
the numerous suggestions that have been made 
throughout- columns, in regard to the manner of 
tilling and enriching the soil ; but there is need 
of much more being done, and we want every 
one to take a part. In the first place all should 
try to put in their wheat a little better this year 
than formerly — this all can easily do, without 
much additional trouble, if they have made a pro- 
per use of their own powers of observation, or 
have given any attention to the published ac- 
