369 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
AFTER CLAYING. 
Cost of plowing, «fec., as above.$10 00 
Cost of seed and^lanting. 7 00 
Cost of hoeing, &c.._. 12 50 
Cost of harvesting & husking 388 bus. 25 00 
Interest on land, at $40 per acre. 14 00 
Total cost.$68 50 
388 bushels, at 40c...155 20 
Net profit on 5 acres.$86 70 
Net profit per acre..... 17 34 
In the above calculation, we have not 
taken into account the increased value of 
the corn stalks for fodder. 
The yield of 774- bushels per acre was, 
however, a large one, due in part to an unu¬ 
sually good season. To bring it within sure 
limits, let us suppose the average yield to be 
only fifty bushels per acre on the improved 
land. Allow still that the unimproved land 
would yield 30 bushels per acre, and place 
the profit as before, at $3 per acre. The 
account, after the improvement, will stand : 
Cost of preparing land...$10 00 
Cost of seed and planting. . . 7 00 
Cost of cultivation. 12 50 
Cost of harvesting 250 bushels.20 00 
Total.. . .$49 50 
250 bushels, at 40C. . .. 100 00 
Profit on five acres....... 50 50 
Profit per acre... 10 10 
Deduct profit before improvement... 3 00 
Net profit per acre for improvement. _ 7 10 
As all the expenses of plowing, seed and 
cultivation, are the same in both cases, and 
we have allowed $8 for the expense of har¬ 
vesting and husking the extra yield, this 
$7 10 per acre may be put down as so much 
profit on $30 expended in improving an acre. 
This is equal to over 23 per cent. The in¬ 
creased value of the fodder would raise the 
profit to over 25 per cent. 
In the above calculations, we have taken 
the lowest figures for the benefits arising 
from the improvement of the land. In the 
case given in illustration, the profits were 
far greater, and so they will be in nine 
cases of every ten. A crop of corn, grass 
or wheat, may be secured from such land 
annually, and the average profit will be 
quite as large as we have estimated for-corn. 
The only chance for lower figures is where, 
from the difficulty of procuring clay, $30 
will not suffice to add 150 heavy loads of 
clay to the acre. But suppose the expense 
be $50 per acre, and the annual increase be 
but 20 bushels, at 40 cents per bushel, the 
profit would still be equal to $8 on $50, or 
16 per cent. 
Now, what bank or railroad stock pays 25 
per cent., or even 15 per cent, per annum ? 
Suppose even that we could readily find 
such stocks; the banks or railroads may 
fail, or meet with severe losses, such as al¬ 
most all of them have experienced. A 
sandy field improved by giving it a thorough 
admixture of clay, is improved for a dozen 
generations, as nothing but a long-continued 
flood of running water can remove the clay 
and reduce the soil to its former sandy, bar¬ 
ren condition. The same amount of prepa¬ 
ration, seed and cultivation, will ever after 
produce a much larger amount of crop. 
Further, whatever manures or fertilizers 
are afterwards added, will be much more 
effective on the improved than on the origi¬ 
nal soil. 
The considerations we have presented, ap¬ 
peal to the capitalist as well as the farmer 
in moderate circumstances. Another view 
might be taken of this subject, viz., the 
economy of cultivating small farms well , in¬ 
stead of adding acre to acre, which is all the 
rage now-a-days among the possessors of 
both small and large farms, but having al¬ 
ready made this article longer than we de¬ 
signed, we leave the subject now, intending 
to often recur to it again.—[E d. 
SUGGESTIONS ON SOWING WHEAT. 
Some of our correspondents tell rather 
pitiful stories respecting the Wheat crop 
in their several localities, and they speak 
strongly of its culture being wholly aban¬ 
doned. But such reports are confined to a 
very few sections, and these of limited ex¬ 
tent. So far as we can learn, the past crop 
has been comparatively a good one, and 
farmers are preparing the ground for sowing 
quite as largely:-as in past years. This we 
believe to be good policy. Wheat is still a 
safe crop when compared with other staple 
farm productions. It is so well adapted to 
universal consumption that it will always 
find a ready market. No other product of 
the farm is better adapted for transportation 
to any part of the world where it may be 
needed. Few places are so remote from 
market that Wheat can not generally be 
converted into cash at all seasons of the 
year; and no other crop has uniformly 
maintained so high comparative prices as 
this. The partial decline during the present 
year has led many to fear a return to the 
low prices of former years, but we think 
this can not be reasonably looked for. The 
great increase of gold in our country has 
changed the old ratios of value, and all kinds 
of farm produce have felt the influence much 
more than manufactured goods. Wheat is 
now but little higher, compared with other 
crops, than it was five or ten years ago, and 
we see no reason for its sinking any lower 
in the comparative scale. Temporary 
causes may produce a general depression of 
prices in farm products as well as in every¬ 
thing else, but every consideration leads us 
to believe that farmers may calculate upon 
receiving remunerative if not decidedly 
profitable returns for all the Wheat they 
can raise hereafter. We have annually 
given a chapter of suggestions at this 
season, in reference to the time, mode of 
sowing, &c., of Wheat, and we can not do 
better at this time than to repeat in sub¬ 
stance what we stated last year. 
So far as our observation has extended, 
limestone lands, or clay lands limed, have 
generally been found to be the best soils for 
Wheat. The best Wheat soils in the 
“Genesee Country,” are good loams which 
are filled with encrinitic limestones, that is, 
limestones filled with organic or animal re¬ 
mains. Experience, however, is a better 
test of the adaptability of the soil of any par¬ 
ticular locality to Wheat growing than any 
arbitrary rules that can be laid down. There 
are comparatively few farms which do not 
contain more or less Wheat land. There 
are on almost all farms, many acres which 
may be sown to Wheat with the prospect of 
only half a crop, to better advantage than to 
let them lie in stubble or poor pasture. The 
opinion that all grass land must be plowed 
previous to harvest, and lie sometimes as 
Summer-fallow, is erroneous. A meadowor 
pasture may be turned over in September, 
and Wheat sown directly upon the inverted 
sod. Such land should be well harrowed 
after plowing, and if very poor, a light coat¬ 
ing of rotted manure or guano be worked into 
the surface to supply the necessities of the 
plant until the decay of the underlying sods. 
Stubble lands, whether of Oats, Wheat or 
Barley, may also be sown probably, if a 
coating of manure or guano be applied; and 
it is even better to obtain a half or two- 
thirds crop, than to let such ground lie idle 
for a whole year. Those who understand 
well the philosophy of manuring, find no 
difficulty in remunerative crops of Wheat 
every year from the same field, though a ro¬ 
tation of crops is always advisable, where it 
can be done without contracting the amount 
of the more important crop. 
SELECTION OF SEED. 
This should be attended to before as well 
as after threshing. The Wheat ripening 
earliest should invariably be saved for seed. 
The manner of threshing is important. 
When Wheat is crowded through a machine 
with close-setting, sharp teeth, a great num¬ 
ber of the kernels are broken, or crushed so 
as to destroy the germ, though the fracture 
may not be perceptible to the eye, at least 
without careful inspection. We have count¬ 
ed ten to twenty-five in a hundred kernels 
thus spoiled for seed. Wc have latterly 
recommended to place the whole sheaves 
upon the barn-floor, and beat off with the 
flail the largest and best kernels for seed; 
and then lay aside the sheaves to be run 
through a machine afterwards. Two men 
will readily beat off thirty to sixty bushels 
of seed in a day, if the threshing-floor is ad¬ 
jacent to the Wheat-mow, since a very lit¬ 
tle beating will take out half or more of the 
grain. 
Select the largest , plumpest kernels for seed. 
—To pass over the generally established 
principle, that“ like produces like,” there is 
an important consideration that we have not 
seen referred to by writers on the selection 
of various kinds of seed. Every seed con¬ 
tains not only the germ of the future plant, 
but also a supply of nourishment for the first 
wants of the young shoot. The germ of the 
Wheat seed is very small, and the great 
bulk of the kernel is composed of what 
must nourish the germ until it has sent forth 
roots into the soil and leaves into the air. 
If now the kernel be small or shriveled, the 
young shoot wiil lack for nourishment, will 
get a poor start, and for a long time have 
but a comparatively feeble growth ; while, 
from the full, plump kernel, the shoot will 
