THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
to thinking, and while some have thought to 
good purpose, some have been led astray for 
want of figuring reasonably. It is easy to 
figure up almost anything, and make the most 
untruthful results appear, notwithstanding 
“figures never lie.” For instance, a farmer 
with pencil and paper figures in this way. 
nit. 
Plowing- 2 acres.6 00 
Harrowing 2 “ . 1 oo 
Manure—25 loads.25 00 
Seed—3 bushels. 3 00 
Sowing and harrowing. 1 50 
ltent of 2 acres.. 10 00 
Taxes .,... 60 
Harvesting and drawing in.5 00 
Thrashing 25 bushels. 2 50 
44 50 
on, 
25 bushels wheat. 25 00 
Loss...19 50 
He eon eludes that it will never do to grow 
wheat at that rate, and he buys five barrels of 
flour for $35 dollars to last bis family through 
the year. 
These figures lie grossly, as may be shown- 
Let us figure up reasonably. In all this list of 
cost there is but one item of actual money ex¬ 
penditure which ought really to be counted ; 
and that is for the seed, ?3.00. Every other item 
would remain as a charge upon the farm, 
although the land remained unsown. If the 
ground were not plowed, the farmer and his 
team might be idle; or, if the manure were not 
used for this special crop, it would either 
remain in the yard and depreciate, or it would 
go to some other crop, where it would do no 
more good than if used to grow 30 or 40 bushels 
of wheat. In short no reasonable farmer will 
deny that he could put. in two acres of wheat 
the present week, if he had the seed, without 
knowing that he has spent one dollar. The 
figures might then be put in this way : 
DB. 
Cost of seed... 3 00 
CB. 
40 bushels of wheat.40 00 
Money saved by not purchasing flour,... 35 uo 
75 00 
Profit for labor, Szc .72 00 
and an invaluable amount of satisfaction to 
boot. These may be thought two extreme 
cases, but the extremity of the former is far 
beyond that of the latter case. 
THE CULTURE OF WHEAT. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
We are undoubtedly entering upon a new 
era in the growing of wheat. In the older 
States its culture was generally abandoned 
about thirty years ago. owing to the ravages 
of weevil and the Hessian fly more than any 
other insects, hut chiefly because the soil 
seemed to be depleted of the properties which 
insured a good crop. A few clung to the idea 
of raisiug their own bread, and by care and 
plenty of manure continued to grow fair crops. 
From their experience we learn that pains¬ 
taking is essential to success. Wheat also has 
POWERS. DIEHL. 
its peculiarities which must bo considered. 
The long rest which has been given to the 
land has resulted In restoring its wheat-pro¬ 
ducing ability, not to the degree of newly- 
cleared land, but to a degree which will war¬ 
rant the general culture of this most import¬ 
ant cereal. In some countries, and in some 
parts of our own, whore the soil is nattirally- 
adapted to wheat, successive crops have been 
growu for long periods. This is where both 
soil and climate are especially favorable, and 
the demands of the crop have been carefully 
heeded. These demands must be attended to, 
or else failure will be sure to follow. 
No crop goes through a more trying ordeal 
than winter wheat. It has nearly a year of 
combat with all sorts of enemies, animate and 
inanimate. A half dozen foes, either as in¬ 
VEI.VET CHAFF. LANCASTER. 
sects or maggots, prey upou its vitals, begin¬ 
ning in the autumn and renewing their attacks 
in the spring and summer. The elements 
combine either to lavor or to destroy it. It has 
to pass through the rigor of winter and the 
trials of summer. It must endure the destruc¬ 
tive frosts aud the trying droughts. No crop 
calls for more intelligence in its management 
or furnishes a more necessary reward than 
wheat. 
The Soil for Wheat 
must have substance, or, as some farmers 
would term it, body. Clay loam comes the 
nearest to the porfeotiou of wheat soil; saud 
is the farthest away. There mu6t be compact¬ 
ness and a degree of mellowness. Wheat will 
produce well on clay land, if the surface is 
made mellow, aud manure will do this. The 
clay lands in early days produced large yields 
of wheat; but that was when the vegetable 
mold was abundant and the clay was lightened 
by it. Clay soils manured on the surfaee, 
will grow good wheat uow, if they are worked 
when in a condition to be friable and not to 
pack. They must be under-drained so that 
the water will drain of freely; for clogged 
and water-soaked land will not produce wheat. 
At the same time a moist soil is friendly to 
wheat, such as the loams. Gravelly loam and 
sandy loam, unless too poor, will produce fine 
wheat. Such soils should be well manured 
aud always ou the surface, and then pressed 
dowu us compactly as possible with a heavy 
roller. This should not be doue when the soil 
is wot, but when it will pack without sticking. 
This work should be doue after the ground is 
fitted for the seed and before the seed is put 
in. Wheat wants a mellow surface, but the 
ground under that must be compact. The 
roots then take a firm hold aud the winds 
aud frosts and heavings do not so much affect 
them. A mellow surface should be some¬ 
what uneven, which will afford protection 
better than when rolled smooth. By rolling 
just ahead of seeding, the good effects of the 
roller may be had in the soil, and its bad ef- 
effects ou the surface, avoided. A drill 
will leave the surface in a condition to check 
the snow before the wind and secure the pro¬ 
tection it may afford. The same desirable re¬ 
sults may be obtained by broadcast sowing, 
provided the seed is covered with a cultiva¬ 
tor. us it always should be. Harrowing in 
does not cover deep enough. Whch harrowed 
in, the rooting is too near the surface, and the 
young plaut is far more liable to be thrown 
oat by the frosts, and also to 1 become exposed 
by the winds blowing the. dirt away from it. 
This is a trial the crop is liable to in the early 
spring—hence deep rootiugis important. Some 
farmers used to plow their wheat under in 
order to secure a deep rooting. This was be¬ 
fore drills aud cultivators were in use. Stand¬ 
ing water is destructive to wheat; all the hol¬ 
lows should have an outlet to allow the surface- 
water to run off freely. 
Treatment of Wheat. 
Early sowing, take one year with another, 
is best. When sown with a drill on rich 
land, a bushel of Beed is enough for an acre, 
and a bushel and a half when covered with 
a cultivator. This gives room for tillering, 
which is helpful to a good crop, as it pro¬ 
longs, somewhat, the blossoming time and 
makes a more complete impregnation of the 
grains. When harrowed in, calculation is 
always made for seeds not well covered and 
not covered at all, and two bushels of seed 
are required. More seed is always required 
when the land is lumpy and full of clods or 
stones, and much is lost ou these accounts. 
A stone, a lump of dirt or a clod of any 
sort is a wasteful covering foi seed of any 
kind. It is an excellent plan to soak the 
wheat in brine for a few hours before sow¬ 
ing, to destroy the germs of smut or the 
eggs of insects, which may be clinging to 
the kernels. Rolling In plaster will fit them 
for sowing, and at the same time furnish a 
stimulant for the young plant. The prepara¬ 
tion of the ground is all-important. The old- 
time farmers used to think it, wise to sum¬ 
mer-fallow the wheat grouud. A sod was 
turned over in the early spring and replowed 
twice afterwards. This was done to get the 
land into a fine tilth or condition of mellow- 
uess, aud to clear the laud of weeds. They 
also had the idea that the frequent plowing 
made the land richer. It did, so far as it 
caused the decay of all the living vegetation 
and put the soil in a condition for more 
complete absorption. The same result may 
be obtained now after a crop haB been gath¬ 
ered—and the use of the land, for one season, 
will not then be lost—by plowing immediately 
after harvest and then dragging the ground, 
and, before the time of sowing, plowing it 
agaiu, aud, if required, cultivating it with a 
two-horse cultivator at the time of sowing the 
grain. Another cultivating to cover the grain, 
or going over it with the drill, will give ul) the 
good results of the old summer-fallowing, be¬ 
sides an extra crop. Thorough subduing and 
pulverization are requisite, aud these are ob¬ 
tained by the newer method with the improved 
machinery farmers now possess. 
The Manure 
should he well rotted and flue, so as to mingle 
with the soil and be immediately available as 
plaut-food. It must be prepared before¬ 
hand, and should be kept, if possible, under 
cover, and have been forked over so as to be 
well broken up and mixed. The manure spread 
upou the surface should be harrowed in so 
that the plant can reach it as soon as it puts 
out its roots. This will cause the rootlets to 
grow strong and to take a rank hold in the 
ground. Barn-yard manure will supply all of 
the requirements of a wheat crop, aud by barn¬ 
yard manure is meant a combination of the 
refuse of the vegetable materials gathered at 
the barn, and the droppings of the animals fed 
upon them and grain. The more there is of 
the latter mingled with the manure, the butter 
for the wheat. 
Wheat may be grown by the sole use of com¬ 
mercial manures, provided they are genuine, 
and really contain a large percentage of the 
stlmnlauts aud fertilizers that are claimed for 
them, aud if the Boil has a natural strength ; 
baru-yard manure gives strength to the soil. 
Commercial fertilizers stimulate this strength ; 
hence wheat-growing should be based upon 
baru-yard manure. 
A good growth of clover is an excellent 
preparation for a good crop of wheat. The 
clover may be pastured the tore part, of the 
season and then allowed to grow up, to be 
plowed under at sowing time. A clover sod, 
from which the hay has been takcu off, is de¬ 
sirable for wheat, as it usually puts the ground 
in a mellow condition, aud the decay of the 
roots, and the litter from the tops supply a 
liberal amount of enriching substance for the 
crop. Clover and wheat, are natural friends 
and may follow each other with mutual bene¬ 
fit. The wheat crop is the best sort of a bed 
to sow clover-seed upon for a sure catch. 
A common practice is to tarn over an oat 
stubble for the wheat crop aud coyer the 
ground with manure. This is the custom of 
many of the best farmers, rotating with corn, 
oats, aud wheat, aud then going back to sod 
again. Forty bushels of wheat have been grown 
ou otic acre. A field well fitted for wheat will 
show the effects foryears, as the thorough till¬ 
age and the manure make a strong grass crop, 
and this in turn insures good crops to follow. 
Varieties. 
The best and most successful wheat for growth 
and yield, is undoubtedly Clawson. It cau- 
uot be so generally recommended for bread¬ 
making. It is the hardiest and is adapted to 
more varieties of soil and climate than any 
other wheat now known. Millers do not agree 
as to the cause of its making poorer bread 
than other kinds. Some of them say it is be¬ 
cause it contains too little gluten ; others that 
it is a coarse-grained wheat; others that the 
bran is so thin that they cannot separate it 
from the flour. 
The chemical constituents of this wheat do 
not seem to be evenly combined, and it does 
make a kind of flour different from the best 
brands. A careful chemical analysis might 
determine its precise character. It will not 
bear close grinding and bolting like harder 
varieties, but when plenty of coarse flour is 
returned by the miller, the smaller quantity of 
fine is of good quality, and in the hands of 
skillful bakers will make good bread. 
The Fultz has not been cultivated iu this re¬ 
gion, but is commended as excellent in quality, 
but not equal to the Clawson in hardiness nr 
in yield. The old standard varieties of wheat 
which make first-class flour, and which have 
clone, well in this latitude, are Michigan White 
and Canada Flint. 
The past season all kinds of wheat have 
yielded light crops, owing to the drought in 
May. Rye. also, suffered equally. Twenty 
bushels of wheat to the acre are more than au 
average yield, one year with another. This 
season the yield has not reached more than 
half this amount; still the breadth of wheat 
sown will be largely increased. A bin of wheat 
makes a farmer nearly independent, and 
home-made flour will help, on account of Us 
lack of extra fineness, to beep away dyspepsia 
and to build up more stalwart men and women. 
-♦- 
DIFFERENT KINDS OF WHEAT. 
The Velvet Chaff wheat has been grown 
for years in southwestern Ohio, where it is 
much esteemed by the farmers on account of 
its freedom from disease, earliness in ripening, 
and comparative stiffness of straw; and by the 
millers on account of the excellent flouring 
LINCOLN. CLAWSON, CULTIVATED. 
character of its grain. Its name is derived 
from the numerous short hairs covering the 
outer glumes, and giving them a velvety ap¬ 
pearance. Tt ripens in this vicinity by the 
25th of June. 
The Golden Straw originated in Tennesee, 
and was distributed by the Department of Agri¬ 
culture. The straw is short, stiff aud of a 
beautiful golden yellow color; the grain is 
