344 
HINTS ON THE CULTIVATION OE WHEAT. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
HINTS ON THE CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 
Buffalo , October 25th, 1843. 
There are four conditions that modify the value 
of a wheat crop. One may not only be larger in 
measure than another, but heavier for the same 
measure; yielding more flour from a given weight; 
and lastly, affording a greater proportion of gluten 
from the same quantity of flour. It is necessary 
for the farmer to have each of these considerations 
in view, if he would attain the utmost success in 
the cultivation of this invaluable grain. My ob¬ 
ject, in this brief article, will be, to afford some 
helps to the agriculturist in increasing the ultimate 
value of his crop. As a starting point, it will, 
perhaps, be most instructive to inquire, what are 
the constituent elements of wheat ? 
Sprengel has analyzed both grain and straw, 
and the following is the result:—1000 lbs. of 
wheat afford 11*77 lbs. and of wheat straw, 35T8 
lbs. of ash, consisting of 
Grain of wheat. 
Straw of wheat. 
Potash...... 
0*20 lbs. 
Soda. 
•29 
Lime.. 
. -96 
2*40 
Magnesia.. 
•32 
Alumina with a 
trace of 
iron.. 
•90 
Silica. 
28*70 
Sulphuric acid.... 
•37 
Phosphoric acid.., 
1*70 
Chlorine. 
0*30 
11*77 
35*18 
This analysis shows an amount of ash far below 
the average. Davy found 15*5 lbs. of ash in 100 
lbs. of ripe wheat straw; and Johnstone, in one 
variety, grown on a soil abounding in limestone, 
16*5 per cent, of ash. 
Thus it will be seen, according to the above 
analysis of Sprengel, that of the total of grain, less 
than T} per cent., and of straw, rather more 
than 3^ per cent, is earthy or inorganic matter; 
while all the remainder is composed of the or¬ 
ganic materials, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and ni¬ 
trogen, of which carbon alone constitutes about one 
half. All these constituents are absolutely essen¬ 
tial to the perfection of the crop. In the natural 
condition of a fertile soil when first reclaimed, 
these materials are usually found in sufficient abun¬ 
dance to produce wheat. Such was the condition of 
nearly all the land in New England, and the east¬ 
ern portion of our own state; but a few years of 
careless, unscientific cropping, has exhausted one 
or more of those constituents which may have 
existed in an available form; and much of it, after 
a very few of the first years of its cultivation, has 
been of little or no value for wheat, under the 
system of tillage there adopted. It has been as¬ 
serted by Dr. Dana, that in a soil purely granitic 
(and much of the land in that region partakes of 
this character), there is potash enough for suc¬ 
cessive crops of wheat for 3,000 years, and lime 
enough to last more than twice that period. Eut 
the result is the same for the growing vegetation, 
whether the materials do not exist at all, or are 
locked up beyond the reach of it. It is absolutely 
certain, if wheat will not grow with care and in¬ 
dustry, and all the usual appliances of good hus¬ 
bandry, where it once flourished successfully, 
there is one or more ingredients wanted, in such 
a condition, that the plants can appropriate them 
to their own nourishment. And first of the inor¬ 
ganic matters. 
The proportion of straw will vary from 2 to 3} 
times the weight of the grain. Suppose the quan¬ 
tity taken off the land be estimated at 2} times 
the weight of the grain. In a series of crops 
averaging 20 bushels of wheat per acre, for 30 
years, we shall have as the result 36,000 lbs. of 
grain, and 90,000 lbs. of straw carried off the soil, 
charged with all the materials above enumerated, 
and probably sufficient to reduce the land to a very 
small capacity for production. 
Some limited portions of the earth, as the plains 
of Babylon, when under skilful cultivation, the 
valleys of the Indus and the Nile, and the fields of 
Sicily, almost since the days of the flood, have 
produced luxuriantly, without the aid of manure 
to any extent; but it must be remembered the 
former have their fertility annually renewed by 
the rich overflowings of the rivers, which are 
charged with all the materials necessary to restore 
exhausted nature ; while the soil of the last, being 
wholly ofbasaltic origin, is rich in the alkalies, 
which a year or two of rest, is sufficient to replenish 
in a soluble state, to be again taken up by the luxu¬ 
riant crop. Hence, we have witnessed a drainage ot 
nearly all the products from these fertile regions, 
for thousands of years, with impunity. But they 
are exceptions which only go to prove the general 
rule. The farmer must look to it, that all the in¬ 
gredients that enter into his crops, are supplied by 
the materials in his soil, or a deficiency, or en¬ 
tire failure, will be the inevitable result. 
Although all the constituents entering into the 
straw and grain, are absolutely essential to their 
perfection, they are not all equally essential to be 
contained in the soil. It is indispensable, how ever, 
that the earthy or inorganic portion of them be 
there, for these can not be obtained elsewhere. 
How shall they be best supplied ? Ashes, it is 
believed, afford the cheapest, as well as one of the 
most effectual applications that can be made for 
grain. Of the ten fixed ingredients enumerated as 
entering into wheat, ashes yield potash, soda, lime, 
magnesia, sulphuric and phosphoric acids, in large 
proportions, and silica and iron in smaller. The 
chemical operation of the potash, and carbonate 
and sulphate of lime, however, when added to the 
soil, is to supply the silica, in a soluble state, from 
its natural condition, (it being found in abundance 
for this object in every soil, except in such as are 
formed almost exclusively of peat,) for the de¬ 
mands of the crop. 
An increased supply of lime and gypsum, be¬ 
yond what is found in the ashes, is frequent¬ 
ly advantageous; and when the latter is bene¬ 
ficial, as it generally is, it should never be with¬ 
held to an extent in the highest degree useful. 
Of the operation of this last material, beyond yield¬ 
ing a portion of its sulphur to the gluten, we have 
as yet no satisfactory explanation. In respect to 
