THE CULTIVATOR. 
179 
be a curiosity in any civilized country. I do not blame the inhabi¬ 
tants here for not making a better road, for if I may judge from their 
looks, they will soon need to Iravel but a short road, and that upon 
a conveyance that never jolts the rider. Although much of this 
county is very rich, and produces great crops of corn and some 
wheat, yet there is so much swamp that it is decidedly sickly. 
On Monday, and in a dull, gloomy and rainy day, I had to drag 
through 14 miles more of swamp and overflowing land to reach the 
Missouri; and this is the only road by which half the inhabitants can 
reach Benton, their county seat. And over this same road, the em¬ 
igrants from Kentucky, Tennessee, &c., going to Missouri and Ar¬ 
kansas, have to drag their loads of “ plunder.” I met many of them 
in wagons, in North Carolina carts, and on pack horses—the latter 
being generally packed with a most liberal snpply of children and 
their mothers—“ I reckon”—and as it “ takes all sorts of folks to 
make a world,” I am constrained to think that some of those I met 
are some of the “all sorts.” “ The ladies” in particular, riding in a 
very primitive way, such as was common before the invention of 
side-saddles, looked a good deal “ sorter like” the coarse filling with 
which the great western web of wilderness is woven. 
After a toilsome day’s work of 18 miles, I was under the necessi¬ 
ty of stopping 2 miles short of the ferry at the “ iron banks,” where 
I was to cross the Missouri. It had been my intention to have gone 
from Benton to New Madrid, by which I should have avoided these 
16 miles of swamp, but I learned that if I crossed at New Madrid, 
that I should be caught in a trap in a district of country lying be¬ 
tween there and Memphis, that is known as the “ shakes,” from hav¬ 
ing been shaken by earthquakes into sundry very uninteresting 
goose ponds. And from New Madrid down on the Arkansas side to 
opposite Memphis, there is “ no road nor nothing.” The only good 
highway—high enough sometimes—in the country, is the Missouri, 
but not a very good carriage road. 
WHEAT CULTURE. 
At one of the weekly agricultural meetings held du¬ 
ring the past winter, the subject of discussion was the 
culture of wheat. Mr. McVean, member of the Assem¬ 
bly from Monroe county, made some very interesting and 
valuable remarks, which, at our request, he has furnish¬ 
ed us for publication. 
In offering a few remarks, said Mr. McVean, on the 
cultivation of wheat, I deem it most proper,—-deferring 
the minor details of special cultivation, manures, disea¬ 
ses, and different varieties,—to introduce the subject by 
an exposition of the general principles and circumstan¬ 
ces of soil, natural adaptation and climate, which will 
ever control the production of this most important crop. 
An examination of the geological map of the State, 
will at once and most readily indicate to the intelligent 
observer, what portions of the State are most naturally 
adapted to wheat. 
First in value, and occupying a large surface, is the 
Onondaga salt group. The rocks of this group are some¬ 
times denominated the gypseous limestone, or shales; 
connected with which, are the plaster quarries, the water 
lime, and the salines of the State. This group, as a 
whole, embraces the most natural and enduring wheat 
soil of the State. It includes, and extends from Grand Isl¬ 
and eastward, narrowing to a point in the county of Sco • 
harie. Its soil is composed of diluvial swells, chiefly 
resulting from and based upon the limestone—a subsoil, 
susceptible of fertility at any depth, and which, with the 
substratum of lime rock, is adapted to absorb the supera¬ 
bundant moisture. Hard water, a prevalent growth of 
oak timber, also upon much of its southern line a com¬ 
parative absence of vegetable accumulation, and often of 
timber, consequent upon the annual burning of its natu¬ 
ral product the opening grass, characterize this group. 
With a surface at once beautiful and accessible, few por¬ 
tions of the State presented a more unpromising appear¬ 
ance of soil to the first settler. Its unsurpassed and per¬ 
manent value has been demonstrated by time and experi¬ 
ence, and it is due to the mineral character of its soil, 
and (he fertility and adaptation of the subsoil. 
Although I have dwelt on this group more at large, 
because of its natural peculiarities, I am far from claim¬ 
ing for it exclusive natural adaptation to wheat; and only 
mean to say that it is more generally and permanently so 
adapted than any other, as a whole—that as a whole, it is 
more certain and enduring; and better resists every unfa¬ 
vorable vicissitude of season, climate, or defective culti¬ 
vation; and that under continued cultivation, there has 
been little, if any falling off, in its annual product of 
wheat, except when managed with great imprudence. 
I am aware that there are large portions of superior 
wheat soil embraced in the collateral geological groups, 
very much of which is but little, if at all, inferior to the 
above, in natural adaptation to wheat. 
Of these, extending north to lake Ontario, are the Ni¬ 
agara, Clinton and Medina groups: and towards the south, 
the Helderberg, Hamilton, and of the Chemung group, 
more or less of the northern portion, according to the ex¬ 
tent of the northern lime drift; for it is an important fact 
that the diluvial current from the north, has conveyed 
and intermixed beneficially, the rock of each of these 
groups with all the others; conveying the fertilizing lime 
far south of the actual exis'ence of the rock, in place. 
These various groups contain collectively a very large 
portion, perhaps one-fourth, and the most valuable soil 
of the State. 
When the important question arises, where have occur¬ 
red, and to what causes are due, the evident and conce¬ 
ded diminution of the wheat crop of the State? it 
will be found that it has occurred chiefly, in the last men¬ 
tioned groups; and generally in the ratio of their distance 
from the first; owing, in some instances, to the deficien¬ 
cy of lime, deficient mineral qualities, and excess of ve¬ 
getable matter and humus in the soil; very frequently to 
the too level and wet surface; but more specially and in¬ 
juriously, to the tenacity and imperfection of the subsoil; 
resisting ihe escape of the superabundant moisture, 
whereby large surfaces are often supersaturated with wa¬ 
ter; inducing winter kill, debility, and various diseases 
of the plant, especially under the action of sudden and 
extreme frost, or heat anti drouth. Collectively, these 
results become more manifest and injurious as the soil has 
been retained under long continued cultivation, so that 
only in the most favorable seasons can a full crop be re¬ 
alized in much of these soils; and in these have occurred 
the principal falling off in the wheat product of the State. 
As there are large portions of soil thus circumstanced, 
in the wheat region of the State, and especially in the 
last named groups, it follows, if the premises are correct, 
that in no way can the area of wheat growing be so ad¬ 
vantageously extended, in no way can capital and means 
be so profitably applied, as in improving and adapting 
these lands, by open and thorough draining, where the 
mineral qualities of the soil are in other respects proper. 
Tt is an indisputable fact, that very large surfaces under 
cultivation, scarcely yield a remunerating return, from 
the causes here indicated. 
In further illustration, and in order to a more compre¬ 
hensive view of the whole subject as connected with the 
above general principles, I desire to remark briefly upon 
the influence of climate upon the production of wheat, as 
I am not aware that the importance of the subject is ge¬ 
nerally appreciated. 
Perhaps there is not on earth a better wheat soil, than 
is to be found in New-York; so far as the natural capa¬ 
bility of the soil is concerned; and yet it is only when 
the most favorable circumstances of season and tempera¬ 
ture combine with a proper condition of the soil, that we 
obtain products approaching those of Great Britain, from 
lands under no better cultivation, and inferior in natural 
adaptation to ours. The cause of this is to be found in 
the excessive character of our climate. Our growing 
crop has to surmount the extreme severity of our winter, 
and the more injurious and frequent spring frosts, acting 
upon a wet surface, producing what is called winterkill. 
The succeeding heat and drouth, acting with sudden 
change on the same wet surface, upon a plant flourishing 
only in a dry soil, and naturally incapable of resisting 
these adverse conditions. And finally, encountering the 
excessive heats of summer, (often in connection with 
moisture,) stimulating the plant to premature and diseas¬ 
ed ripeness. Or, if the foliage is very dense, enfeebling 
and lodging it, so that the grain is deficient in proportion 
to the straw. It is a frequent occurrence, that the crop 
is heavier than can be carried to profitable maturity, un¬ 
der (he influence of our climate; and practical farmers 
have long since learned that crops of a medium weight 
are generally the most profitable. 
These influences of climate apply not only to this 
State, but with more or less injurious force, to all the 
United States, in one extreme or the. other of heat or 
cold; and it is probable, that in the south-western States 
of the Union, the cultivation of wheat is limited, more 
