A CONSOLIDATION OF BUEL’S CULTIVATOR AND THE GENESEE FARMER 
_ "AGRICULTPRE, AT ONCE THE CA USE AND EVIDENCE OF CIVILIZATION." 
Cult. Vol. VII — -No. 9. ALBANY, N. Y. SEPTEMBER, 1840. Cult, and Far. Vol. I — No. 9. 
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i WILLIS GAYLORD & LUTHER TUCKER, Editors. 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Some of the readers of the Cultivator are aware that 
a proposition has been made, that semi-annual meetings 
of the State Agricultural Society shall be held in the au¬ 
tumn of each year, in connection with some County Agri¬ 
cultural Society, and at some central point in the seve- 
1 ral districts, as the means of giving greater efficiency 
and activity to the institutions respectively, and as a 
matter of course, conferring proportional benefits on the 
: agriculture of the state. We regret to state that the 
I late period at which the proposition was made, and the 
long time necessary to perfect the arrangement, has in¬ 
duced the officers of the State Society reluctantly to 
defer the fall meeting, at least for the present year. 
We are fully convinced that no better method has yet 
been proposed of awakening an interest in the prosperi¬ 
ty of the State Society, and reflectively in those of the 
counties, than the one of having fall meetings as has 
been proposed, at which premiums shall be liberally dis¬ 
tributed, and the show of animals, implements, &c. be 
'i such as to induce farmers from all parts of the state to 
i attend. We are the more convinced of the correctness 
of this opinion, from observing the effect which such 
ambulatory meetings has on other societies. There can 
be little doubt, that much of the intense interest which 
attaches to the semi-annual meetings of the British So- 
i ciety i or the promotion of Science, is caused by the fact 
i of their being held at different places. The first meet- 
1 ing of the Royal English Agricultural Society was held 
jat Oxford; the second at Cambridge,and the next is to 
} be held at Liverpool; and in succession all the princi¬ 
pal cities of the kingdom, or agricultural districts, will 
il thus be visited. 
It is this system of annual removal which has given 
such efficiency and energy to that noble institution, the 
i Scotch Agricultural Society. Last year the meeting was 
)at Glasgow, this year it is at Berwick; next year at 
Aberdeen; and so visiting the several counties of Scot¬ 
land, benefiting and improving all. We have now be¬ 
fore us a list of the premiums offered by this society for 
the present year, nearly three hundred in number, and 
varying from $2,500 for a steam machine for plowing, 
idown to five dollars for a cottage window. There is 
scarcely an article embraced in the whole circle of ru¬ 
ral economy, which is not here encouraged by premi- 
: ums. Essays on every important and debateable ques¬ 
tion of agriculture ; the best methods of breeding, rear¬ 
ing and training all our domestic animals ; the merits of 
the several systems of rotation and plowing shown by 
(actual experiment; the cultivation of wood and timber 
lands; grain, its enemies, and the means of avoiding 
them; domestic manufactures, cottages, gardens, in short 
all that can awaken attention to, or promote agriculture ; 
Jail that ca* give beauty, health, and prosperity to the 
(country, are here noticed, and the industrious occupant 
Sof the soil, or the ingenious mechanic, invited to avail 
themselves of the liberal and numerous rewards offered 
Tor their encouragement. 
| We are unable to see why similar beneficial results 
imight not flow from a corresponding movement here. 
(Confined to a single point, either of the societies we 
shave noticed would have effected little; now, they have 
‘done wonders; and we have seen enough of the meet¬ 
ings of agricultural societies in this state, and their in- 
(fluence, to believe that a movement of the state agricul¬ 
tural society’s meetings would be productive of essential 
iservice to the farmers of the state. They would stimu¬ 
late to exertion; they would bring farmers in contact 
with each other; they would, by their exhibitions of 
animals, implements, articles of domestic manufacture, 
J grains and plants, show the improvements that had 
been made, and encourage all to attempt much; and 
they would add to the funds of the societies interested, 
jso that premiums sufficient to call out the public, would 
he at once at the disposal of the managers. For these 
( reasons, we trust that such autumnal meetings, may be 
adopted. New-York, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Platts- 
'burg, Watertown, Utica, Syracuse, Ithaca, Rochester, 
and Buffalo, are points at which the farmers of the state 
hr the several districts might meet in rotation, we think 
with decided pleasure and profit, while the winter ses¬ 
sions of the state society might be continued as usual. 
WHEAT CULTURE. 
Of all the crops cultivated in the northern or middle 
part of the United States, the crop, par excellence, is 
unquestionably wheat. Its intrinsic value as an article 
of food, its importance as an item of export, its influ¬ 
ence on trade, and its vast sway in regulating the ex¬ 
changes and commerce of the world, render it every 
where a crop of the greatest consequence, and particu¬ 
larly so in this country. To raise good wheat many 
things must be kept in view; the nature and texture of 
the soil—its quality, so far as richness or poverty is 
concerned—the kind of wheat most suitable for cultiva¬ 
tion under the circumstances of the case—the cleanness 
and preparation of the seed—the time and method of 
sowing—and in short all the things that go to amelio¬ 
rate the soil and secure a crop, must be attended to, 
rendering the growing of wheat one of the most ardu¬ 
ous as well as profitable occupations of the farmer. 
A good wheat soil always contains sonsiderable clay, 
but it is so balanced and corrected by other ingredients 
as never to be cold and sour; if such is the character of 
any soil, good wheat need not be expected. Freedom 
from superflous moisture or stagnant water, is an indis¬ 
pensable condition of a good wheat soil; and when such 
exemption does not naturally exist, it must be produced 
by draining. A moist cool climate is found not to be 
unfavorable to avheat, if the roots are preserved 
from stagnant water, and are allowed to range in a per¬ 
vious soil; but in any climate wheat will fail -where the 
soil is saturated with -water that does not circulate. To 
give the requisite dryness and depth where they do not 
exist, draining and deep plowing may be relied upon, 
and where these go together, with proper manuring a 
soil can scarcely fail to improve, or to be productive. 
Deep plowing, on most lands as they naturally are, 
and on all lands as they should be made, is essential to 
good wheat crops. The roots of this plant penetrate 
in a permeable soil to a great depth, and spread to a 
considerable distance. The single fact of its being pro¬ 
vided with two sets of roots, one of which spreads near 
the surface, and the other strikes deeply, is a sufficient 
proof of the necessity which exists for deep plowing in 
its culture. In a few instances subsoils may be found 
which will not admit of deep plowing, being composed 
of materials injurious to the wheat crop; but great 
crops of wheat are not to be expected on such soils. 
The application of manures is a very essential point 
in growing the wheat crop. Land can be too rich, as 
well as too poor for wheat, or rather the manure in the 
soil may be in that condition which renders it unsuita¬ 
ble for wheat. There are some crops on which fresh or 
unfermented manure exercises a good effect, and to 
which it can scarcely be applied in too large quantities, 
corn for instance ; while on others they produce results 
of the most unfavorable kind. Nearly all the cerealise 
are injured by fresh manures, the stalk growing too 
vigorous, while the berry is usually imperfect. Com¬ 
post manures, or such as are made by layers of turf, 
stable manure, vegetable mold, lime, &c., in which the 
decomposition is already effected, can scarcely be ap¬ 
plied too abundantly to land otherwise well constituted. 
The great crops obtained around old barns, or other de¬ 
cayed or removed buildings, is a proof that large quan¬ 
tities of decomposed manure may safely be used, while 
a much less quantity of fresh or undecomposed would be 
fatal. One of the greatest evils of direct manuring for 
the wheat crop arises from the liability of the grain so 
manured to lodge. The rapid growth of the stem ren¬ 
ders it unable to suport its own weight, it is soft and 
flexible, contains much less silex than those grown in a 
poorer soil; the wheat does not usually perfect its ber¬ 
ry, and at all times, from the thinness and weakness of 
its skin or cuticle, is more liable to mildew or rust. 
These things render it certainly unadvisable, unless the 
land is very poor and reduced, to apply unferir ented 
manure to wheat. 
The rotation of crops, has furnished the means of ap¬ 
plying fresh manure advantageously to crops, and at 
the same time retaining its principal value for wheat. 
The cultivation of corn or roots in alternation with 
grain crops, clover, &c., gives the farmer the means of 
greatly increasing his crops, and at the same time con¬ 
stantly improving his soil. It may be considered as a 
settled maxim in agriculture, that land improves little 
or none while nothing is growing upon it. It is the 
general acknowledgment of this truth, that has substitu¬ 
ted hoed or green crops for naked fallows, in the prepa¬ 
ration of lands for wheat. Peas and clover are among 
the best green crops to precede wheat, and the latter may 
lie considered inseparable from the successful culture of 
this grain. Corn would be one of the very best crops to 
precede wheat, could it in all cases be removed from 
the land in season to get in the wheat properly. The 
thorough manuring and tilling required for corn, puts 
the ground in good condition for wheat; and should ex¬ 
perience prove that veny late sown whea‘t is more safe 
from danger in winter, and more productive than that 
sown a little earlier, a result said to be established in 
some of the best wheat countries of Europe, the crop of 
corn would cease to be objectionable, and might be con¬ 
sidered as nearly a clear gain. 
There is a practice which has prevailed to a consi¬ 
derable extent in our wheat producing districts, of grow¬ 
ing wheat after wheat several times in succession. 
Such a system of farming deserves the severest repre¬ 
hension, and will never be adopted, except by those who 
are in a haste to be rich, no matter at what price, and 
in defiance of acknowledged consequences. Farmers 
may have succeeded in raising gcod crops in this way, 
where the soil was of the fine quality and excellent 
adaptation to wheat of much of our western land, but 
nothing shortof the most imperious necessity can justi¬ 
fy this procedure, or tolerate such a departure from the 
correct principles of cropping. Land, which has once 
produced good crops of any kind of grain, may again 
be made to produce them; and under skilful treatment 
lands would never cease to yield good crops, where 
their first cultivation proved the adaptation of the 
soil to that particular one. The worn cut and exhaust¬ 
ed soils of New-England can be made to produce as 
good and as plentiful crops of wheat as they for¬ 
merly did, but the labor aud cost of restoring would be 
infinitely more than would have been required to have 
kept them continually fertile and productive. Crops 
have a specific food, which may be more or less plenti¬ 
ful in a soil, and without which they cannot be brought 
to perfection. Take for instance a worn out eastern 
farm. A liberal supply of fresh manures will give all 
the growth necessary for a great crop of wheat; hut 
will it fill the berry? will it make such flour as the 
wheat of western New-York? We know it will not. 
The principal essential to the perfection of grain can 
only be restored by time and skilful cultivation to such 
soils; it would be -wise then, where it exists, to prevent 
its decrease or its exhaustion. 
It is unhappily too true, that on a large portion of 
our best cultivated wheat lands, the soil has become so 
infested with a variety of foul and noxious plants, that 
a course of naked summer fallow, thoroughly perform¬ 
ed, has become necessary to counteract them, and pre¬ 
vent their increase and spread. On clean soils this 
would not be required, but some valuable crop might 
take its place, and thus add essentially to the profits, 
while it lessens the labor of the husbandman, so far as 
the operation of summer plowing was concerned. The 
only alternative of such fallows is hoed crops, and these 
must of necessity for the reasons before given, be too 
limited, to seriously affect the propriety of fallows on 
weedy land. Spring crops, such as barley, oats, spring 
wheat, or even peas, do not allow of sufficient cultiva- 
tion to check the spread of weeds. The sowing of such 
crops on land where the Canada thistle for Instance 
abounds, is precisely the treatment to make il spread 
and flourish. The thistle, stein krout, charlock, &c. 
will succumb only to plowings and lioeings so eft re¬ 
peated that the mutilated plant has no time recover 
from one blow before another is given. 
The preparation of seed, and the quality of that 
sown, are objects of the greatest consequence. In the 
most favored sections of our country there are but few 
fields of wheat in which smut cannot be detected, and 
in a country so favorable to the perfection and purity 
of this grain, as the best wheat districts in the Uni¬ 
ted States are, none at all should be suffered. In Eu- 
rope, continual care is requisite to keep their wheat 
free, and in the best wheat countries the crop is al¬ 
most wholly exempt from smut; here but a trifling 
attention is requisite, and the consequence is, it is found 
almost every where, and in some places to the serious 
injury of the crop. Now it is well understood, that 
soaking or washing wheat in brine, and drying it with 
caustic slaked lime, will effectually prevent smut as 
well as benefit the crop in other respects ; to sow wheat 
therefore, without such preparation, is voluntarily to 
incur the risk of smutted wheat, and the inevitable 
consequent loss. There are some other substances that 
used as a wash for wheat appear to possess the power 
of destroying smut, such as copperas, vitriol, arsenic. 
&c., but as none are more certain in their operation, or 
can be used with less trouble or danger than lime, the 
application of that substance is undoubtedly to be pre¬ 
ferred to any other. 
The kind of seed used, and its quality, are things of 
too much consequence in the culture of wheat to be left 
to chance. There are many varieties of wheat cultiva¬ 
ted, some very productive, and some very hardy; some 
ripening later and others earlier; and these kinds in 
sowing should be chosen with reference to the soil and 
location. Varieties which ripen at the same period 
may sometimes be advantageously mixed, for sowing in 
