Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1832-08-20

! Nh e,,,r,,. PcnPark, -E6emo''e ca, Va. !
~ ,jHae i3tt 1882. ,
! should have answered your letter sooner, bu
hlye forsomc time intended To repy to soune o
your numerous correspondents ON the subject o
tleat or chess. My experience in tue farming
Inc has been about forty five years NY frs! ne
quantancc with cheat was ol vcrv carly date, whcf
but boy. Ny fathers custom was to have all ths
rye, cookie and cheat cleaned from that part of his
whcat-fcld intended for seed This vas probably
orc ofthe first pieces of labor 7 was called on Il
assist in, and therefore made the more lasting inn
preston on my mind and this practice be contin
ned 10 his death, and having something of the
, Dutch blood in me, thought Of course whatever
my father did wesright; ana never having heard
him complain Of the cheat increasing on him, OF
course believed that 1t was produced from its own
seed and that by keeping the whea, clean i would
not increase have been 50 fully convinced Of
this that on farm which produced sayrwo or
three thousand bushels Of wheat per year, | have
passed some years without Sccius scarcely one
stalk Of cheat Eut Tor the practice tina, we have
gotten into ofimporlng our seed trom the north, we
might still have been without this now great pest
for myself know that my FIRST cheat was brought
| IN some OF the red chat bearded whcat that had
brou -ht from Baltimore some - Yeas ago | also
heard one ofnlY ucighbors, who was complaining
of the cheat, say that he had o; ii until he
sent to I.oudoun county for some purple straw
wheat and that it had stocked his farm with cheat.
From tie oft repeated, If lot the current opinion,
that cheat was de.cncrated wheat either from bad
husbandry, bad seed from improper grazing, OF
some other cause, had almost become convert
from my original Saith from some two or three cir
c,mstahccs that happened under my own obserya-
ton VI iGA really staggered my faith, aud | was
hating between two opinions Tor some time. The
first was patch OF cheat appeared III my meadow
where wheat had never been sown, ond which
spread so rapidly that il was likely 10 orcrrun the
whole meadow, and IN some places had almost de-
s,royed the tlnoh" This led me to examine for the
first cause, or from what It had originated, which
led to two discoveries the first was, that | had
been in the constant practice OF making cap or
hood for the hay stacks out oiryc straw those
bundles ofstraw had been thrown on this very
Ground where the cheat first made It's appearance !;
the hoods were also thrown on this ground, after
the hay was hauled away, and suffered there 10
rot giving it double chance TO deposit every seed
of cheat that might be IN the rye straw, oil winch
thew were made The meadow had a considcra-
bic stream running through It tor near mile, and
on all the low and sunken places Oh the creek The
cheat began to make It's appearance, have ac-
counted for this satisfactorily to my mind US 10 the
deposit, made at the hay stacks. There has long
been wagon camping ground at the head Of
the meadow, the cheat deposited in the horse
feed and manure, and washed down the stream ny
the floods. Those patches had 50 increased IN the
course of three wears as to inlnre the hay very
much for, by tie time the timothy and herds grass
were Fl, to cut the heat would be entirely dry and
almost rotten at least sufficiently 50 to deposit all
It's seed for the nextcrop determined on cutting
appearance and by ibis means alone ihase almost
Gs.r,yeiit il. NV. If wheat, ''nio'h%' Or herds