an RE a Oe gS ON SPORE SD SS SU ARIST PEST, VIPS 
| 
| 
| 
ures will even then but too often occur; but to 
cmraane 3c eee aOR aeeenlaunnna rm: 1 gemete se 
| ears. 
, W HEAT. 
may avail yourself of any opportunity or way you | only to prepare for half a crop, is an ill-judged 
please of showing to my brother-farmers how short 
a space of time is required to raise a good sort of any 
grain ,— 
Years. Produce. 
1838 dibbled in 50 kernels (80 of which only grew) 14 oz. 
1839 is 3 42 oz, “) = 1 bush. 1 peck 
1840 * a 1 bush. 1 peck » 45 bush. 
1841 = 0 45 bush, ,, » . 037 bush. 
And had this wheat not been as much red-gummed 
as my other sorts, I believe I should this year have 
had 100 bushels more.’ ” 
Soils and Tillage Suitable for Wheat Crops.— 
The soils most suitable for wheat are the argillace- 
ous; and so peculiarly suitable are these as often 
to be comparatively termed wheat-soils ; and they 
owe their suitableness partly to their compara- 
tively firm mechanical texture, and partly to their 
comparative richness in alkalies and salts. The 
soils least suited to wheat are either such spongy 
or excessively porous ones as do not afford suffi- 
cient anchorage to the roots of the plants, or 
_ such extremely light ones, whether Ssilicious or 
| calcareous, as do not contain enough of saline 
| matter for the secretions of the culms and the 
Yet some clay lands are either too stiff or 
too plastic to be eminently or even moderately 
| suitable without being ameliorated by means of 
draining, textural manuring, and very thorough 
tillage; and almost all light arable soils, except 
| the very worst, provided they enjoy sufficient 
amenities of climate, are capable of being ren- 
dered suitable by means of claying, marling, or 
some other special preparation, combined with 
appropriate tillage and with judicious rotational 
management, The production of wheat, indeed, 
ought never to be forced on any land which may 
be more profitably devoted to other crops; yet, 
whenever it promises superior profit on land 
which is naturally unsuitable, it can easily be 
rendered practicable by means of due prepara- 
tional appliances. Proper management in pros- 
pect of wheat crops, therefore, whether as to the 
selecting of land, as to the general rotation, as to 
the preceding crop, as to the preparatory tillage, 
or as to the prospective or immediate manuring, 
must exceedingly vary according to circum- 
stances, and requires the exercise of a clear and 
comprehensive judgment, and, in a general view, 
subject to variations and exceptions, and aimed 
more at making suggestions to intelligent farm- 
ers than at giving any very detailed instructions 
to ignorant or unreflecting ones, and based prin- 
cipally on a review of the best existing practices, 
without any predominant bias from theory or 
from untested science, it will be found very well 
stated in the following long extract from a recent 
Prize Essay by Mr. Edward Roberts, in the 8th 
Volume of the Royal Agricultural Society’s Jour- 
-nal:—“ Whatever may be the nature of the soil, 
it should always be the aim of the farmer to grow 
full crops: partial and sometimes extensive fail- 
notion, and has a direct tendency to unremune- 
rating farming. In order to prepare for luxuriant 
crops, the land, when of a wet nature, must be 
liberated from all surplus water by proper under- 
draining ; it must be clean from couch-grass and 
all other kinds of rubbish ; not tired out by cross 
or improper cropping; must be judiciously ma- 
nured, but not overdone with it, inasmuch as too 
much manure causes the growth of an unna- 
turally large quantity of straw, which, if the | 
season happens to be wet or stormy, will be crip- 
pled and flat on the ground before the ears could 
come to perfection. When this happens, it both 
lessens the quantity and very much deteriorates 
the quality of the grain. The land being other- 
wise well prepared, it is perhaps upon the whole 
more desirable to have a little deficiency of ma- 
nure than too much, as, if necessary, a partial 
top-dressing may always be added in the spring. 
The land must not be wheated oftener than the 
soil will admit. Some soils will bear it more fre- 
quently than others; and it is essentially neces- 
sary that the kind of seed should be adapted to 
the description of soil upon which it is to be pro- 
pagated. An entire change of seed from hot 
land to cold, and from cold land to hot, will al- 
ways be found advantageous, and especially from 
hot to cold soils, in which case it will frequently 
bring the harvest nearly a week earlier. In both 
cases, it is generally allowed to increase the yield, 
improve the sample, and preserve the stock in | 
greater purity. It has now become very general | 
to sow wheat after clover upon all classes of soils. 
This is doubtless one of the best systems of 
growing wheat. The roots of clover after be- 
coming decomposed afford much nutriment to 
the growing wheat ; and the firmness given to the 
land is another great recommendation. It has 
been frequently observed when the plant of clo- 
ver has been deficient that the wheat-plant fails 
also. 
the same time it serves to show a peculiar adap- 
tation, on many soils, to the growth of wheat 
after clover. 
“There are several other methods of preparing 
land, varying according to the nature of soils, 
which oftentimes produce crops of the first order. 
Some of these are as follows :—First, upon clayey 
soils, a full summer’s fallow is occasionally re- 
sorted to asa preparation for the wheat-crop on 
much of the land in Essex, Hertfordshire, Bed- 
fordshire, and other counties, particularly when 
the land becomes foul with couch- grass, &c., and 
cannot very well be brought into a thorough 
clean state of cultivation by partial fallows, con- 
nected with the growth of green crops. Consi- 
derable benefit is also derived from summer fal- 
lowing upon this kind of soil, as it causes a more 
perfect decomposition of its constituent parts. 
This latter effect has been proved in many cases, 
by experienced farmers, and has come under the 
neglect making the best-known preparation, or | observation of the writer. For instance, when 
681 
This, however, is not always the case: at | 
