THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
plow a two or three year old sod on strong, 
gravelly loam land, after harves f , at a time 
when the ground was wet enough to hold the 
furrow well together, using a jointer to place 
all surface growths well under the soil. I 
would then immediately proceed to work it 
up fine, three or four inches deep, to break 
up and kdl all the roots that would so soon 
begin to grow if not prevented. 1 should 
want the ground moist enough to favor the 
starting of these lively roots and foul seeds; 
then if I prevent such growth by thorough 
cultivation I have mastered the situation. 
But if the ground is very dry, and breaks up 
in clods and lumps the roots remain dormant, 
and I effect nothing by disturbing their posi¬ 
tion, even though it be done every day. It is 
very discouraging to a plant, however, when 
it is making efforts at growth to have any 
disturbance about its roots. A young tree 
shaken by the wind and thus straining at its 
roots, will fail, when its staked neighbors will 
live. The best of land plowed when it is dry, 
and left exposed all summer to the sun, I be¬ 
lieve loses much of its energy and vitality (I 
will not say its fertility) by such unshaded 
barrenness. Some form of wheel cultivator I 
believe to be the best to mellow up a soil: then 
a good fine-tooth harrow to pulverize, mix 
and compact the soil well before sowing are 
about all the tools needed to prepare wheat 
ground. I use the cultivator for Juue-grass 
and sorrel, and the harrow for killing com¬ 
mon weeds that start from the seed. 
In my experience, and I think for Southern 
Michigan generally, commercial fertilizers 
every seed is perfect, and is given an equal 
chance to grow. The possibilities of one kernel 
of wheat show that there must be a great 
loss somewhere, which is worth looking after. 
One hundred grains from one stool is not an 
uncommon yield, but a yield of a hundred' 
fold would be phenomenal. 
I have not much faith in doctoring seed be¬ 
fore sowing for possible germs that may 
liDger about the kernel. Rust and smut 
spread themselves so universally, that the 
effort to trap them in one place seems to me 
utter folly. There is very apt to be generated 
in the mind of the experimenter a belief in its 
efficacy, to compensate for the trouble and ex¬ 
pense of the undertaking, and so the hallu¬ 
cination spreads, to tax the credulity of ex¬ 
perimenters another year. 
A crop of wheat is so dependent upon a crop 
of clover that preparation for a seeding to the 
latter should begin at once. But difficulties 
begin to multiply and dangers to threaten as 
soon as our clover field is plowed. If it is im¬ 
portant that the wheat ground be seeded, it 
gives two chances for a catch to sow clover 
with the wheat crop in the fall. The shoe 
drill, made at Dowagiac, this State, is ar¬ 
ranged to run the clover seed into the shoe, 
where it is covered with the grain. Where 
clover comes in the drill, along with the 
wheat, it is more likely to withstand severe 
freezing, as the wheat plants prevent the roots 
from pulling out. Often all the plants between 
the drills will fail, and only those accidentally 
falling in the drill mark will get through 
alive. I usually sow Timothy at the rate of a 
some particular kind, to the exclusion of 
others, that do well on different soils. In 
Southern Michigan there is a demand for a 
white wheat that shall meet the requirements 
of good milling quality, a hardy plant and a 
good yielder. Two varieties that come near, 
est to the ideal, are what is locally termed 
Velvet Chaff, and Australian White. The for. 
mer is a white-chaff ( bearded kind, and the 
latter a bald, red-chaff variety. They both 
yield well, and millers call them both No. 1. 
Velvet Chaff is two or three days earlier, and 
needs cutting when quite green, as it shells 
freely, if left until dead-ripe and dry. Some 
of this variety was cut on the 5th of July, 
and I began on the Australian on Saturday, 
the 7th. Clawson and Fultz were banned by 
millers, who met in convention at Grand 
Rapids last winter, and denounced them as too 
poor in milling quality to meet the demand 
for Michigan white-wheat flour. There are 
many claimants for popular favor, but the 
milling test should be considered as among 
the first in the catalogue of good qualities. 
Van Buren Co., Mich. 
FROM COLONEL F. D. CURTIS. 
I have raised 35 bushels of winter wheat to 
the acre, by the following culture. The pre. 
vious crops had been corn and oats. This is 
the usual rotation in this section of the State. 
Sod ground is plowed for the corn and the 
land is manured with barn-manure either 
plowed under or put on the autumn before. 
The last is the best way. If a farmer has 
barn-manure it is put on the surface and har- 
plowed, manured and sown with flat turnips 
The weather being very dry, the turnips did 
not come up soon enough to make a good 
crop. Enough wheat came up to make it an 
object to let it grow, and in this way a good 
crop was obtained o volunteer wheat. The 
best way to prepare the ground for a good 
crop of wheat, is to make it rich. Barh man¬ 
ure is the best. The so-called “phosphates’’ 
will do, in the absence of the other ; but the 
wheat-groWer on old lauds, must enrich all 
the soil if he wants to get a good crop. A 
clover sod, or land in a high state of culti¬ 
vation, will usually bring good wheat ; but 
even on such land the chances will be im¬ 
proved by using several hundred pounds of 
a commercial fertilizer per acre. Any old 
sod land may be fitted for wheat by plowing 
in July and several harrowings. This is a 
shorter cut than the old method of summer¬ 
fallowing, in which our fathers had so much 
faith, and by which they grew good crops of 
wheat. 
Saratoga, Co., N. Y. 
FROM SAM’L B. HOEFGEN. 
After plowing to get my ground very fine I 
used the Acme harrow and a roller pulverizer 
mainly. The two-horse corn cultivator was 
used to level the dead furrows, and the Acme 
to level and break the clods, but to reduce the 
clods to a fineness almost equal to road dust, 
I used a roller of my own make with iron pins 
of %-inch iron, screwed into the roller, and 
projecting about five inches. The pins would 
act like a wedge on the large clods, and the 
PLANTS SHOWING THE EFFECTS OF SOWING AT DIFFERENT DEPTHS.—From Nature. Fig. 281. 
prove of no value whatever. If.there are thin 
places in the field, I scrape up what manure 
I can to cover these spots, but prefer to have 
the manure spread on the surface the year be¬ 
fore, to strengthen the seed, and thus act in a 
double capacity, for the active force of the 
manure seems to remain, while it has added to 
the vegetable matter to strengthen the wheat 
plant by its decay. 
I drill in about a bushel and a peck of seed, 
to the acre with a shoe drill. I would sow 
only a bushel if I was sure the winter would 
not be severe on young plants. I have noticed 
that the principle of “in union there is 
strength,” applies to wheat plants. Isolated 
stools suffer worse from heaving than where 
the plants stand thicker on the ground. Less 
than a bushel of seed will furnish plants 
enough to occupy all the space of an acre, if 
peck to a bushel of clover. That is a sure 
thing, sown in the fall. Where clover has a 
fair chance it often gets so large by harvest as 
to injure the wheat crop, but our farmers 
would be pleased to stand such an affliction for 
a few years. It seems as though nature had 
been conspiring to thwart efforts of seeding to 
clover for several seasons. Cut-worms have 
stripped many fields bare this year, while 
drought prevented growth last. We usually 
sow a bushel of seed, mixed as above, on eight 
to ten acres. I know of a good stand, this 
year, in oats, where only three quarts of clover 
were sown to the acre. If clover is sown thick 
it is too short and fine for a good yield of 
either hay or pasture. 
As to the best varieties of wheat to sow, local 
opinion is of small advantage, as soils vary in 
the same township, and seem k best adapted to 
rowed in with the wheat, and if he has none, 
commercial fertilizers are used. No one 
thinks of getting a good crop of wheat with¬ 
out some extra fertilizer. In my own case a 
heavy coat of barn-manure, made during the 
summer, was put on and well harrowed in. 
The wheat was sown broadcast, and as the 
land was a clay-loam it was not rolled, as it 
was not necessary for securing the needed 
compactness of soil. If the land is mellow and 
light it is always best to roll it, as wheat will 
do better in a firm and compact soil. The 
roots take a stronger hold and the plants will 
not rise up so readily when pried by the frost. 
In the spring, if the ground is baked, crusty 
and hard it should be gone over with a square 
toothed harrow. 
In my crop, no extra work was done. After 
the wheat had been harvested, the land was 
weight of the roller would fine them after 
they were broken. I then used a common 
harrow to rake up the clods that were pressed 
down without breaking, and rolled again, 
then harrowed to loosen the soil and sowed 
with the Strowbridge broadcast seeder; then 
harrowed with the Acme and finished with 
the roller. This working made the ground 
very fine for a depth of about four 
inches and made a well-packed seed-bed. 
Farmers here generally use harrows, rollers, 
and drags to prepare their ground. 
The varieties that have been most in use here 
for some years past are the Fultz and Long 
berry Red. Almost all our wheat is drilled. 
The exception is when wheat is sown in 
the corn, and the greater part of that is 
drilled with the one-horse drill. We use no 
commercial fertilizer in this county, to speak 
