126 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Of. No doubt the yield would be increased by 
them; but it is doubtful whether the increase 
would jugtify the expense. We sow about 
one bushel and a peck per acre, and give the 
seed no other preparation than to clean it well 
on the small fanning-mill as it comes from the 
thrasher. 
I have rolled after seeding and left spaces 
not rolled, and could see no difference, and 
this is confirmed by the report of Purdue on 
rolling after seeding. I have never tried har¬ 
rowing wheat in the spring, but I suppose it 
would help it. I was told of the dragging of 
a harrow across a wheat field in the spring, 
from where it was left in the fall, and so 
marked was the improvement that persons 
would stop to inquire what special treatment 
that strip had received that made the streak 
of good wheat. I don’t think there ft a per¬ 
ceptible difference in wheat, whether clover is 
sowed or not. If the clover makes a draft on the 
plant-food of the wheat, it compensates for it 
by the moisture it causes about the wheat roots. 
With Timothy it is somewhat different. The 
ground is generally favorable to Timothy in 
the spring, and when it is especially so, it will, 
to some extent, choke out the wheat. A 
bushel of seed to seven or eight acres of Tim¬ 
othy or clover is perhaps as near the average 
as is generally sown. This spring I sowed a 
bushel of clover to five acres, and on a part of 
the ground less. I would rather sow about 
one peck to the acre, and if it varies from 
that I would rather have it a little over than 
under. 
To make some few general remarks on 
wheat culture, let me say that taking the 
wheat fields of one of our counties, and com¬ 
paring them with the small potato plotsof the 
Rural, the yield varies quite as much. Our 
thrashers’ books are very instructive on the 
point. What they would call a fair average 
field, might yield 12 or 16 bushels ; but a dozen 
or more fields within a mile or two of such a 
field, might fall to five or six bushels on the 
one hand, or rise to 30 or 40 on the other, 
where neither soil nor cultivation would ap¬ 
parently account for the difference. On the 
farm adjoining mine, one field yielded over 30 
bushels to the acre, while another, not 400 
yards away, yitMed but 12, and the soil of the 
second field was quite as good as that of the 
first. The latter was drilled, and the former 
broadcasted— not froin choice, but because 
the wash prevented the drill from working 
properly. On the same section of land there 
was a still wider contrast some years ago. 
One field was noted for its promising appear¬ 
ance in the early spring and was accounted 
one of the best fields in the neighborhood, 
while another field on the same farm promised 
so poorly that the owner was inclined to sow 
it to oats, but decided not to do so; as he in¬ 
tended to sow it to clover he concluded to sow 
the clover at once,whether the wheat were fit 
to cut or not. At harvest time the latter was 
the better field, yielding over 17 bushels to the 
acre, while the former did not yield 16. If we 
should use commercial fertilizers I have no 
doubt these contrasts would be still more nu_ 
merous, but notwithstanding these wide con¬ 
trasts the best cultivation in the long run will 
make the best yields. 
It has been and still is a belief of mine that 
if one-half of our wheat acreage was seeded 
to clover and wheat and clover were raised 
alternately, in the course of 15 or 20 years the 
aggregate of wheat from one-half the ground 
would be as great as from the whole of it if 
cultivated continuously for the same length 
of time in wheat alone. This would be pro¬ 
fitable experimental work for our agricultural 
•colleges and national experiment stations. 
Mow the clover in June and let it mature a 
crop of clover-seed and then plow and seed to 
wheat. In this way the ground would be 
self-seeded to clover. Whether this mode 
would yield a greater return to the farmer 
than to mow the seed and seed in the follow¬ 
ing spring, could be determined only by 
actual experiments running through a number 
of years. I think, however, that in the long 
run the first-named ^ode would be the most 
profitable. Then, again, the mode of seeding 
might be drilling and broad casting alternate¬ 
ly to determine which was the best. Perhaps 
this was settled some 30 years ago by the 
Department of Agriculture. The question 
which was the best mode, was asked by the 
Department, and I think about eighty per 
cent of the answers were in favor of drilling; 
but since then almost all of our finder-draining 
has been done and the answer now might be 
different. 
Where the ground is liable to much freezing 
and thawing, wheat seeded three inches deep 
may come out better than wheat sown only 
three-quarters or one inch deep; but where 
the ground is well drained the conditions 
might be reversed and the percentage be in 
favor of broadcasting. The experiments 
might be varied by the use of commercial 
fertilizers, either alternately or continuously, 
nd in larger or smaller quantities. To make 
thorn still more prominent and satisfactory, a 
number of the colleges might carry on the 
experiments simultaneously on a pre-arranged 
order of procedure. 
Montgomery Co., Ind. 
FROM GENERAL W. G. LEDUC. 
The production of a large yield of wheat 
and how to do it has been the problem in 
Minnesota from the time the first furrow was 
turned, forty years ago, down to the present 
area of the prohibitory chinch-bug. 
The best soil is calcarious upland prairie, 
which should be prepared by turning under as 
heavy a growth of clover as the best breaking 
plow will completely and evenly lay down -side 
up. And the best breaking plow won’t do the 
work as it ought unless it is in proper order 
and kept so; and handled by an intelligent 
plowman. This is to be done in the autumn 
before heavy frosts have cut the clover. In 
the spring go over the field with any of the 
many good harrows, and sow broadcast with 
a rotary sower attached to the hind part of a 
wagon, or in any other way to secure an even 
cast of grain on the ground; then harrow 
again and roll or plank it firmly; or do as the 
majority of farmers do—use any of the many 
good broadcast seed-sowers over the field in 
the early spring and follow with harrow and 
roller or plank as before—any way to secure 
early sowing and a decided firming of the 
ground around the seed is desirable. What 
varieties? Minnesota Hard or “Scotch Fife,’ 
so-called, are sown here. Five hundred pounds 
of salt and plaster mixed are sown broadcast 
over the field when the wheat is two or three 
inches high. We sow with a Stowbridge 
whirling sower attached to the end-board of a 
w-agon, or a strong man sows right and left 
from the rear of a wagon as it is drawn over 
the field. How much seed per acre? One bush¬ 
el and a half. Treatment before sowing ? It 
receives no treatment except that we take care 
to know that our seed is free from smut and that 
every grain will grow if it has a fair chance. 
Never plant any farm seed and expect it to 
start well, if you don’t firm the soil around 
the seed; always roll or plank the ground, to 
finish planting. 
Is it best to sow wheat alone, or to seed with 
clover and Timothy, and any other grasses ? 
Always seed down with clover if you wish to 
keep up the fertility of the soil, and plow 
under the clover in the fall ; or, if the field is 
to be put into meadow, the practice then is to 
sow Timothy and clover, not the best combi¬ 
nation as I think, but the one usually made 
here, and the quantity of seed used varies in 
each neighborhood, and possibly with every 
farmer in a given neighborhood. There are 
many elements that enter into the question— 
the character of the seed, the condition of the 
land, the manner of sowing, whether with 
the grain as is more generally practiced, or 
broadcast by hand after the grain is sowed 
and once harrowed, or after the grain is 
sowed and twice harrowed, and before the 
roller or smoother is passed over the field. 
There is a great waste in sowing clover seed. 
Scarcely one seed in 100 will sprout and grow 
to the top, if covered one inch deep, and in 
sowing, if it is mixed with the grain in the 
seeder, the larger part must be covered 
from one to two inches. There are 
in a quart of clover seed about 500,200 
seeds ; there are 43,560 square feet in an 
acre ; supposing all the seed to be evenly 
distributed, and to grow, it is apparent 
that six quarts to the acre—the usual seeding 
of clover here—are too much. I have known as 
good a catch of clover as desirable from two 
quarts, and a failure from seven and eight 
quarts, owing to unfortunate weather suc¬ 
ceeding the sowing, and the weather is the un¬ 
known X of the equation. 
In my vicinage we have been compelled to 
abandon wheat growing. The chinch bug holds 
the field and has occupied it for four years 
past, to the infinita disgust and great loss of 
the farmers. Scattering two or three hundred 
pounds of salt on an acre of ground seems to 
drive the pests away, or rather to keep them 
away. They do not like salt. But they are 
here in immense numbers and must and will 
feed on something : rye, barley and wheat 
first; oats, pigeon grass and corn next, when 
they can choose, and they are in infinite num¬ 
bers in the air at this writing, so that no one 
at present in this part of Minnesota or in 
Wisconsin adjoining would venture to sow 
wheat or expect to harvest a large or even 
small crop. 
Dakota County, Minn. 
FROM H. L. WYSOR. 
With us the great bulk of this cereal is 
grown upon a corn stubble. This practice 
has come about mainly by reason of climatic 
conditions. To plow a worn-out sod, or 
other land which has not been broken for 
some years, is, in three out of four seasons, an 
impossibility. Occasionally an oat stubble is 
broken for wheat, but the general practice is J 
f.o sow down in grass with the oats. Com is 
cut here about the middle of September, 
which gives ample time to get in wheat suffi¬ 
ciently early—say from Oct. 1st to 10th. The 
corn is cut 32 rows by 4, and the shocks are set 
thickly in a row which is not seeded. The 
space between the shock-rows was, some years, 
generally turned over and harrowed before 
being drilled, but this practice is now aban¬ 
doned, it being ascertained that it left the 
seed-bed too loose, the interval between plow¬ 
ing and seeding not being sufficient to allow 
of the ground settling. The best farmers now 
simply fine the surface and drag down the 
corn-stalks by thorough harrowing. There is 
no necessity for using a roller as the soil 
is already sufficiently compact, and 
it is not thought advantageous to use 
one after seeding. The drill is put on imme¬ 
diately after the harrow, sowing one and one- 
half bushel per acre, with 200 pounds of 
fertilizer. By this method the crop is got in a 
week or ten days earlier than was formerly 
the case, and is far less liable to be thrown out 
by frost. Broadcast sowing is done only on 
lands where the drill cannot be used, or on new 
lands after tobacco. It seldom results in a 
good crop, except on virgin soils. Fertilizers 
are invariably drilled in, since little or no ef¬ 
fect is observed when they are broadcasted, so 
far as the wheat is concerned, although the 
catch of grass is better. Fertilizers consisting 
entirely of raw bone meal or flour, or con¬ 
taining a large percentage of the same—say 
1,200 to 1,500 pounds in the ton—are thought 
to be the best and are the kinds most com¬ 
monly used. In some instances larger yields 
are made with dissolved S. C. rock, but the 
sulphuric acid with which it is treated is in¬ 
jurious to the catch of grass, of which there is 
sometimes a complete failure- A failure to 
catch after raw bone is a rarity indeed. Clay 
soils are found to be best for wheat, and where 
fertilizers are used the best results are ob¬ 
tained on these soils, if only moderately fer¬ 
tile. It is useless to sow wheat on steep lands 
which face north or northeast, as even if it es¬ 
capes the winter it never matures. Such lands 
are better sown to rye or oats. 
Timothy at the rate of one gallon per acre 
is sown or drilled in along with the wheat in 
the fall, and the same quantity of clover seed 
is sown in the spring, sometimes, though not 
usually, harrowed in with a smoothing harrow. 
Except Orchard, no other grasses are sown, 
since after the clover disappears it is followed 
by “Wire,” Blue grass (Poa compressa), which 
is native to this section. 
From 20 to 25 bushels of grain are common¬ 
ly obtained on good soils, prepared thoroughly 
in the manner I have described. The varie¬ 
ties mostly sown are Fultz and Fulcaster, the 
latter lately introduced being a cross of Fultz 
and Lancaster. It is largely grown about 
Hagerstown, Md., and in the Valley of Vir¬ 
ginia. It is a good early variety, resembling 
in berry the Mediterranean types. Fultz 
still seems to hold its own everywhere, as ac¬ 
cording to the Department reports, it com¬ 
prises about one-third of all the winter wheat 
grown in the United States. Its popularity 
may be inferred from its frequent reintroduc¬ 
tion under new names, £uch as Finlay and 
Canda Flint, etc. 
Newbern, Va. 
farm (Topics. 
GROWING LIVE STOCK AND FRUIT 
IN DIXIE. 
Falling off in the production of fine stock 
in the South of late years; Tennessee and 
North Georgia excellently adapted to their 
growth both in soil and climate; nature of 
the land ; its adaptability to fruit culture. 
No insignificant portion of the early turf 
records took their origin in Dixie, and many 
of the early horses of note had their homes in 
the South. It was in South Carolina that 
Bertram ran one of the most exciting races 
of the earlier years, when nothing less than 
four miles and repeat was counted worth see¬ 
ing. It was at New Orleans, something over 
30 years ago, that Lexington made bis noted 
record against time. We have nothing in 
these days of races other than in heats of a 
mile or so, and outside of Tennessee where is 
there any good stock grown, except Jersey 
cattle and poultry, with a few good swine. 
Of course, 1 refer to the country south of the 
north line of Tennessee. Except in particu¬ 
larly favored spots in Tennessee, the mule is 
mainly the working beast, with a sprinkling 
of under sized steers, veritable mountain cat¬ 
tle, similar to those brought to the monthly 
“court day” markets at Winchester, Lexing¬ 
ton, and other points in Kentucky, from the 
mountain regions of Eastern Kentucky and 
AUG. 44 
Western Virginia. These cattle, when owned 
by men whose farms are in the vicinity of 
mountains, get their subsistence mainly upon 
the free range furnished by these mountains. 
Hence, while the steers weigh but little when 
fed upon the native grasses, say 700 to 000 
pounds gross, they ca'nnot be said to have 
cost much, nor should they, because beasts so 
bred and fed cannot make prime beef, conse¬ 
quently they take rank with three-cent cattle 
in the Chicago market. 
Is there any good reason why good cattle 
cannot be grown in Tennessee and Northern 
Georgia? No, none whatever. While it is 
true that a good deal of the country is better 
adapted to growing fruits and vegetables than 
to grain, hay and pasture grasses, still there 
are here farms and farming lands the equals 
of those anywhere, splendidly watered, and if 
they were in the hands of Northern farmers 
and tilled as men of industry usually till, they 
have capabilities not excelled by farms any¬ 
where, and are worth, for farming purposes, 
one-third to one-half more than the prices at 
which they can be bought. The best lands in 
Kentucky are in the Blue Grass region, and 
are known as maroon, or mulatto-colored 
lands. There are localities here where lands 
of this kind prevail. I have spent two winters 
and the present spring in this portion of the 
South, have carefully studied these lands and 
farms, the mode of treatment given them, and 
their products, and each added month of ob¬ 
servation more and more convinced me of the 
great opportunities that here await those who, 
by reason of needing to get away from frost 
and snow, incline to come hitherward. The 
lands I refer to rest upon a clay subsoil, hold 
any improvement put upon them equal to any 
land anywhere, and respond promptly to ma¬ 
nure, producing corn and other grains, and 
the grasses, in full crops. 
How as to fruit? The ridges and mountain 
lands are, as to price, called “ cheap lauds.” 
The ridges rating at, say, $5 to $10 as to qual¬ 
ity and location; and the mountain tops (fur¬ 
nishing areas of level land, in width, from 
one mile to ten), are offered $1 to $3 if unim¬ 
proved, with not a proportionate advance if 
supplied with bearing trees. The mountain 
lands are not valuable for the growing of 
grains and grasses; being sandy, and having 
a porous subsoil, they will not hold manure. 
But for the growing of fruits, and pretty 
much every sort of vegetable, they have a 
well-earned reputation. G. sprague. 
Lookout Mt., Tenn. 
Improvidence on the Farm, — Isn’t the 
story told by S. Mills (page 451) a case of the 
dark side of farming ? And is it not all the 
fault of the man himself ? He lost more time 
hunting that money and getting it, not to 
mention the cost of a law-suit, than the whole 
of the $6 was worth. Nearly all the misery 
in the world arises from such shiftlessness, 
idleness, want of foresight, thoughtlessness 
and mistakes. “ Pay as you go ” is the way to 
live in sunshine, and “a contented mind is a 
continual feast,” although by paying as you 
go, you must go without something you 
would like t-o have. * * * 
PERFECT FERTILIZATION OF THE 
STRAWBERRY. 
PROFESSOR J. L. BUDD. 
We grow strawberries on the college 
grounds with a view to furnishing a supply of 
fruit for the boarding halls and testing the 
promising new varieties. During the blossom¬ 
ing period this season we had continued light 
rains with the result of very imperfect and 
uneven distribution of pollen in the rows of 
pistillate varieties, which with us include our 
largest and best sorts. In picking the Cres¬ 
cent rows, for instance, we find patches favor¬ 
ably situated for perfect fertilization laden 
with fine fruit; while a few feet distant the 
berries are few and imperfect. This experi¬ 
ence, joined with that of preceding years, fa¬ 
vors the idea that every alternate row should 
be planted with a variety producing an abun¬ 
dant supply of pollen at the proper season. In 
the abundant discussion of new varieties too 
little is said about suitable fertilizers for spe¬ 
cial varieties. As an instance, we have a sec¬ 
tion of a row of Great Pacific, with less than 
a quart of berries to a rod of matted row. 
Yet I believe it will prove one of the most 
valuable market varieties when properly fer¬ 
tilized, but it is a very late berry and must 
have beside it a variety later in blossoming 
than Downer’s Prolific, James Vick, or Wil¬ 
son. Indeed, more attention should be given 
to perfect-flowering varieties that do their 
work perfectly and in season, yet bear a pay¬ 
ing crop of fruit for home use or market. 
With us Downer’s Prolific has proven our best 
