Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1819-09-07
AGRICULTURAL.


From the Herald of the Valley.
The following communication, forwarded
TO Judge Holmes, has been handed us
for publication:
Moorffld, Pa. July IA, 1919.
Dear Sir-As you are araiser Of wheat
enclose you alp ear Of the Chill kind
| II appears 10 me That il will be valuable
acquisition 10 this. country. Whether ii
will succeed best by being sown in the TALL
OF in the spring Of The year remains 10 be
proven by experiment. For my own
part, am fully persuaded that spring
sowing will answer. My son was III Bal
ltimore in March, and procured little
itl(perhaps half a sponnfnll Of the seed. and
came home on the cd Of April | had
Just read Mr.. Blapd's report, and had
drawn the conclusion that the wheat Of
| Chill must make Itself from tile moisture
| in the earth at the close Of the rainy sea-
son. / could not easily suppose that large
fields of wheat could be watered by
streams conducted to the high lands by
The labor Of man, for eighty or hundred
miles, 1.-THE length Of the vailies Of Chill
from the mountains to the Pacifc) with
out very dense population, which | did
not understand FROM Mr.. BANDS book,
existed. This circumstance, together
with the doubt whether the little we had
might be kept safe until the fall, induced
me to have it sown Immediately. TIE
place fixed upon for this purpose was
spot 10 my rye field, OF about five feet di-.
ameter, which was left vacant by the re-
movaI Of fodder stack. The beginning
of April was with us cold and dry, so that
il did not vegelate until the Goth Of the
month by this lime the rye had grown so
high as almost TO smother it; it however
continued to grow, with a broad strong
blade Of a darlsyfeen color. On the 9th
day Of June, observed some ears shoot
ing. and on the l4th they were fully out
i was much pleased with their appear
ance, and with sickle cut the rye from
around the wheat, and thus gave the air
free access TO il. II grew to the height Of
81 and A feet.--1he ears are short but
vel filled, and measure from to q inches
in circumference. The grains are ar
ranged FIVE abreast, and do not embrace
The stem, as our wheat does, but are sit.
uated with the end TO the stalk, and are
very irregular around the top. The
smallest ears have as many grains as the
largest ofmy crop Of wheat. The drought
for the last three weeks, with us was
very severe, and prevented some Of the
top grains from filling properly the
ground also, 10 which We had sown it was
poor and eravelIy. I think that gentle.
men who have the seed should keep a
part to sow in the spring mine is now
ripe, and my oats which were sown a
week before ii, are not. If il does not de-
teriorate, it will be valuable.
remain, dear sir, with respect, yours,
&c. ABEL SEYMOUR.
Unwilling on account of its curiosity, to
shell the ear scot me by Mr.. Seymour,
and thereby accurately ascertain its con-
tents, ! have counted the grains on the
ear, on the supposition of five being a
breast, as stated by him, (and | believe
correctly and found twelve in each row,
which makes the grains amount to 100
thus exceeding the best average of gol-
den straw about the same, and the Snyder,
der, Jones, or Lawler, about 80.
H. HOLMES.
Winchester, July 10, 1910.