48 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
A Remarkable New Spring Wheat. 
In the wheat tables on the opposite page it will 
be noticed that spring wheat is but little grown as 
compared with that sown in the fall—for the reason 
that in many sections it has been tried and failed to 
be profitable. This failure, while resulting largely 
from the climate, is also due to lack of good va¬ 
rieties of spring wheat, as compared with fall- 
sown, most of 
the improve¬ 
ment in the seed 
of this great 
staple having 
been made in 
winter wheats. 
The demand 
among wheat- 
growers for a 
spring wheat 
that will pay 
for the grow¬ 
ing, seems, par¬ 
tially at least, 
to have been 
met by the “De¬ 
fiance,” a fine 
engraving of 
which embel¬ 
lishes this page, 
and which we 
have already 
mentioned sev¬ 
eral times. This 
engraving is 
from an exact 
photograph as 
to size and ap¬ 
pearance, of a 
bunch of heads 
grown by Mr. 
A. J. Riekerson 
of Greenville, Cal., which 
took the first prize of $10 
offered for “the best 20 
heads of DefianceWheat,” 
by Messrs. B. K. Bliss & 
Sons of New York, (see 
page 33, January num¬ 
ber). The “ Defiance ” 
is a white “ bald ” wheat, 
in which characteristics it 
is like the popular “ Claw¬ 
son,” and yields are re¬ 
ported of 128 bushels per 
acre. Our Publishers have 
procured a 6mall amount 
of this prize wheat for 
distribution (see Premium 
89), and if they do as 
much for wheat farm¬ 
ers in the introduction 
of the “Defiance ” spring 
wheat, as they did to West¬ 
ern and Southern farmers years ago in the improve¬ 
ment of the sorghum crop, and later to the country 
by helping introduce the EarlyRose Potato,etc.,they 
may feel that they have indeed done a good work. 
Interesting Reports on the Wheat Crop. 
Best Varieties.—Soil.—Fertilizers.—Price, etc. 
In the American Agriculturist for September last 
was printed the following list of questions, ad¬ 
dressed to all wheat growers : (1.) What variety of 
Winter Wheat has succeeded best with you ? (2.) 
What variety of Spring wheat ? (3.) What is your 
soil ? (4.) What manure and other fertilizer do you 
use ? (5.) What manure or fertilizer has given the 
most satisfactory results with you, and how much 
have you used per acre where such results were ob¬ 
tained ? (6.) Uow much seed per acre ? (7 ) What 
is the yield? (8.) Does the Hessian Fly or Wheat 
Midge trouble your crop? (9.) When do you sow 
winter wheat? (10.) When do you sow spring 
wheat ? (11.) What price do you obtain per bushel ? 
We have condensed the responses to these 
questions into the table on the opposite page, ar¬ 
ranging the States mentioned according to locality. 
The many reports from which this table is made 
up, in a large proportion of the cases, speak for the 
locality of the writer as well as his individual ex¬ 
perience,and are of additional value on that account. 
In the table only averages are stated, though the 
amount of seed, the yield, and the prices obtained, 
often vary on each side of the figures named. 
Many interesting facts were stated in the letters, 
inconvenient to arrange in tabular form. In regard 
to seeding, it appears that there is a quite general 
tendency to lessen the amount of seed, and there 
is more used for spring than for winter wheat. In 
fall seeding it is getting to be the geueral custom 
to plant later than formerly, in order to escape- 
the Hessian fly; 
when any date 
is stated in the 
table earlier 
than Sept. 18th, 
it will be seen 
that this insect 
hasnotyetvisit- 
ed that locality, 
and in the ma¬ 
jority of cases 
where it has 
been trouble¬ 
some it is now 
defeated by late 
sowing. The 
wheat midge is 
rarely trouble¬ 
some, except in 
dry seasons, but 
then it is often 
very destruc¬ 
tive, especially 
in the West. It 
is interesting to 
notice also, that 
where drilling 
is practised, in 
connection with 
thinnerseeding, 
larger crops are 
generally ob¬ 
tained, and that 
the drill is coming into 
more common use. In 
many cases where spring 
wheat is not grown, es¬ 
pecially in the north-west, 
it has been tried in pre¬ 
vious years, and proved a 
failure; it also usually 
brings less in the market, 
and yields 25 to 50 per cent 
less than winter wheat. It 
is the universal custom to- 
sow springwheatas “early 
as the ground will per¬ 
mit,” which varies from 
February to May accord¬ 
ing to the season and lo¬ 
cality. As the table shows, 
the new and improved 
varieties of wheat, such 
as the “Clawson” and 
“ Fultz,” are rapidly com¬ 
ing into general favor. From the reports it appears 
that the “Clawson ” is the best of these two in the 
north-west, and the “Fultz” in the more Southern 
States; while in the East both are liked. The 
“ Odessa ” is getting to be a favorite in many sec¬ 
tions, and has the rather peculiar quality of being 
adapted both for fall and spring sowing. Where 
several varieties were named in the reports, only 
the one or two which produced the best or most 
interesting results have been entered in the table. 
As to manures, the kind specified in the table is 
not necessarily a superior manure, as in many cases 
it is the only manure used. It is an instructive and 
encouraging fact that the use of manures and arti¬ 
ficial fertilizers is increasing in the West, and they 
are often mentioned even in the newest settled 
sections. As indicating the kind of soil best adapted 
to wheat, the greater number of all the reports 
mentioned clay land, and the large crops are nearly 
all produced on soils where clay predominates. Wo 
are pleased to find the custom of fattening cattle 
to be on the increase on the grain farms of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Maryland, etc., and that, as a result, these 
farms often produce the largest crops of wheat- 
