Constantine republican. [volume] (Constantine, Mich.) 1836-1838, 1836-11-30
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
TO THE FARMERS OF THE u. STATES


From the Philadelphia Inquirer
TO THE FARMERS OF THE u. STATES.
That care and skill have improved fruit
trees, vegetables, and our domestic animals,
are facts known TO all classes of husband
men; and the advantage Of rearing cattle
from the best Breeds is now well understood
all over America. The advantages that &C.
company procuring the best grain for seed
are as yet but partially understood and but
very little attended to.
Repeatedly sowing some kinds of grain
on the same land is, in many cases, follow
ed by an evident decline in the quality;
still this, it must be observed, is not an uni
form consequence; there are many and well
authenticated instances where the change
to new soil and climate is accompanied
with deterioration, and in others as great
an improvement has taken place.
| AS it is known that grains, &C., in some |
climates and soils, degenerate to minimum,
sometimes in quality, in others in quantity,
and frequently in both, practice calculated |
TO remedy these disadvantages is Of great |
importance to the agriculture of the United |
! I
object to point out what may be done here,
by showing what is done in other countries, |
and under circumstances far less favorable |
to the husbandman. or to the operations Of
husbandry, than in America. In Scotland,
for example, the climate is cold, wet, and
stormy; yet, by care and industry, crops
are produced, remarkable both for quantity
and quality. There the greatest attention
is paid 10 the changing of seed. The low
countries procure their seed potatoes from
the high districts at great expense of money
and labor. The whole oat crop of some
districts is bought and sowed for seed this
is the case with portion Of country called
Blainsley, that lies south Of Souiria Hills.
In no country has the culture Of clover
been more beneficial, or attended with bet
ter success, than in Scotland yet the eli.
mate is so unfavorabe to the ripeEing of
clover-seed, that nearly the whole has to be
procured from England or Holland. The
farmers Of that country frequently change
the wheat seed, and procure the best that is
to be had, paying little respect to price, and
the greatest attention to quality.
Ii would appear that the principle by
which the Scotch farmers are guided to the
results they obtain, is to select their seed
from those districts where it is grown in the
greatest perfection, from the climate and
soil being best adapted TO the plant. Thus
they choose seed oats and potatoes of their
own growing, these being plants best adapt
ed to mountainous, cool and moist regions:
and clover and wheat seed from England
and Holland, which are comparatively low,
warm and dry, and better adapted to their
production.
II is well known, that, in America, our
oats are not good they have little kernel
or meal; and the quality OF our barley is
not what it ought to be.
tits to the following circumstance the
following address owes its existence:
In the year 1888, well-informed prac.
teal farmer visited Pennsylvania with the
object of seeing as much Of our practice Of
farming, soil, and climate, as short stay
here would permit. On his return 10 Scot
land, he procured and sent to his friends in
Philadelphia some Angus Oats, Hope,on
Oats, Barley, Wheat, and Rye grass the
cask containing the seed miscarried, and
; did not arrive here until the fall of 1895.
Some Of each kind Of these seeds have
been sown here; the wheat came up very
thin; it is presumed the seed suffered from
the long voyage. On the 18th day of
April. 1886, the oats and the barley were
sown on rather poor but fresh loan. 1t is
true the season had been cool, damp and nu-
favorable TO these grains, still their success
has surpassed any thing that could have
been calculated on. The barley and both
kinds of oats are of superior growth IN
strength Of stem, as well as thickness on
the ground they would lose nothing IN
comparison with the crops of oats or barley
of any country, and are likely to suffer loss
; from excessive growth, causing them to
lodge. One kind of oats commenced
, shooting into ear about the first of July, and
The other about the tenth the marks which
. were placed TO distinguish the one from the
other got displaced, and this accident pre-
vents knowing whether it is the Angus or
IIopeton oats that first puts out the ear.
: Now let us inquire into the economy OF
farmers adopting the practice of annually
supplying themselves with new seed grain
4 and found our calculations on farm where
o about twenty bushels Of oats are sown eacn
wear; the farmer of such piece OF land
!. could supply himself with an annual change
in his oat seed in tho following manner =
!. Il is presumed that each bushcl OF import
e ed oats he sows will produce ten bushels
r then, by annually buying two bushels, their
produce would yield tho twenty bushels re-