South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1837-04-22
a AGRICULTURAL.
From The Genesee Farmer.
N THE CULTURE OF WHEAT

THE CULTURE OF WHEAT
n | see by your papers that some con-
4roversy yet remains in regard to the
fransmutation of wheat to chess The
idea is unphilosophical, and l would
almost say ridiculous. 1t was thirty
nine wears last October since moved
into the town now called Dandy, and
commenced farming. Finding what
little wheat there was in the country
WAS mixed with more or less of chess, |
Inquired how it should be SO in new
country. They told me that the wheat
when hurt by the winter produced
chess, and also if it was fed off'by sheep
pr geese; and one man told me that it
MOULD not grow from the seed. /
therefore picked out little chess and
sowed it in mellow spot of ground,
and in few days found it up & -four
ishing. had prepared new fallow and
went l6 or Is miles to fine clean seed,
Eand foand it. The winter was very
hard and killed several little patches OF
wheat. watched the vacant spots with
kcare, 10 see the chess appear if winter
killing would produce it; but not one
sstool appeared, and from that day to
this I have not been troubled with
Schess, without it was sown with the
Ewheat.
H Smut and the Hessian fly have been
my greatest wheat enemies; yet for 10
years have had but one crop spoiled
by them, or even injured. A gentle
imam, Quaker, was at my house, to
whom was relating that my wheat
crops had been somewhat injured oc-
OCCASIONALLY by the above two enemies.
Tile said they were easily overcome. 1t
sseemed with him rather secret, but at
! last he condescended to inform me. 1t
was to soak seed wheat in strong
brine of common salt and nitro for IL
hours or more then after draining, sift
on the wet seed fresh Stacked lime suf-
ficient to cover the seed all over, which
was done by working it through with
rake or shovel, and is better to lie until
thoroughly dry before sowing. From
that day to this have prepared my seed
as above. Except in one instance
have had no trouble with smut or the
fly since.
1t would be we'll to communicate
the circumstances of the above excep-
ton. My seed had been prepared IN
the above way for several years, and
one of my farmers finding that he had
no trouble from the smut Or fly, sowed
five acres without preparing his seed,
ESon a fine piece Of fallowed ground. 1t
made fine growth before winter, pass
lsng the winter uninjured, and on the
first of May appeared very fine; but on
the Goth ofMay it began to turn yell
low, and after the first of June went
into the field to see what had befallen
i the wheat. 1t had lost its beautiful ap-
pearance, and found itinfested by the
i Nv and so fully that one third OF new
er headed out; and it did not produce
five bushels to the acre. Since that
time | have uniformly prepared my
seed as above, and my crops have new
CT been injured. i,
I have seen some accounts in the
Genosee Farmer HERETOFORE, OF prepar-
inc seed wheat as above stated, but not y
With 50 long repeated results with such
Sarfect uniformity, with the striking
sxception above noticed. As to the
rider in which the fly propogaates IT.
u oaa,, ro+hinp satisfactory,
but Thave supposed that the h nlr T bv
deposited on the new forming s perry os
winged insect. l have SUPPOSE sota
hat the chrysalis remains IN the Sta'e
we find it at the time ofand before mar
vest, until the following sprlng g, or un-
i about the time the wheat blossoms,
when It burts its bonds and becomes a
winged insect, and deposites its MT Oh