Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1845-09-18

crops Of wheat as they formerly did, but
the labor and cost Of restoring would be
infinitely more .han would have been re-
CURED TO have kept them continually fer
Tile and productive. Crops have speci.
fic food, which may be more or less plen.
tiful in soil, and without which they
cannot DO brought to perfection. Take
for instance a worn out eastern FARM
A liberal supply of fresh manures will
give oil the growth necessary TO- great
crop of wheat but will it fill the berry 7
will il make such -four as the wheat OF
western New-York We know it will
not. The principal essential to the per-
fectien of grain can only be restored by
time and skillul cultivation to such soils /;
il would be wise then, where i. exists, 10
prevent its decrease or its exhaustion.
1t is unhappiiy too true, that on large
portion OF our best cultivated wheat lands,
the soil has become so infested with va.
rIety Of foul ant noxious plants. that a
course Of naked summer fallow, thorough
ly performed, has become necessary to
counteract them, and prevent their in
crease and spread. On clean soils this
would not be required, but some valuable
crop might take its place, and thus add
essentially to the profits, while It lessons
the labor OF the husbar oman, SO far as
the operation OF summer blowing was con-
cerned. The only alternative oil such
fallows is hoed crops, and these must OF
necessity for the reasons before given, be
too limited, to seriously affect the proprie-
ty OF fallows on weeded land. Spring
crops, such as barley, oats, spring wheat,
or even peas, do not allow Of sufficient
cultivation to check the spread of weeds.
The sowing Of sucn crops on land where
the Canada thistle for instance abounds,
is precisely the treatment to make it
spread and flourish. The hustle, stein
krout, charlock, &C., will succumb only
TO plow:ngs and hoeings SO oft repeated
that the mutiiated plant has no time to
recover from one blow before another is
gwen.
The preparation of seed, and the guam.
tity of that sown, are objects Of the great.
est consequence. In the most favored
sections Of our country there are but few
fields of wheat in which smut cannot be
detected, and IN country so favorable
to the perfection and purity of this grain,
as the best wheat districts in the United
States are, none at all should be suffered.
Ia Europe, continual care is requisite to
keep their wheat free, and in the best
wheat countries the crop is almost wholly
exempt from smut here but triiling
attention is requisite, and the consequence
is, it is found almost every where, and in
some places to the serious injury Of the
crop. Now it is well understood, that
soaking or washing wheat IN brine, and
drying it with caustic slaked lime, will
efectually proven. smut, as well as ben
eft the crop in other respects; to SOW
wheat therefore, without such preparation,
is voluntarily to incur the risk of smu,ted
wheat, and the inevitable consequent loss.
There are some other substances that,
used as a wash for wheat, appear to
possess the power Of destroying smut,
such as copperas, vitriol, arsenic, &c.,
but as none are more certain in their
operation or can be used with less trou.
BILE or danger than lime, the application
of that substance is undoubtedly TO be
preferred to any other.
The kind of seed used, and its quality,
are things Of too much consequence in
the culture Of wheat to be left 10 chance.
There are many varieties Of wheat cult.
waited, some very productive, and some
verp hardy some ripening later and
others earlier; and these kinds in sowing
should be chosen with reference to the
soil and location. Varieties which ripen
at the same period, may sometimes be adj
vantageously mixed, for sowing in the
same field; but those that ripen unequal
ly should be carefully kept SEPARATE
Some varieties of wheat may stand in The
field longer than others before cutting,
without danger of the seed Smelling or
wasting. Thus of the two kinds Of fl Mt
wheat, the white and the Canadian, {the
latter comparatively new Variety if the
las, should be allowed to stand after ar
rivIng al maturity as long as the first can
be permitted with IMMUNITY to do, the loss
by Smelling would amount to no small
portion of the crop. The first may stand
almost 10 suit the convenience of the hus.
bandman, while the last must be cut as
soon as its maturity will admit, or certain
loss will be incurred and nearly the
same remarks will apply to some other
kinds. There are some farmers who
seem TO think that any thing that is in the
shape of wheat, however imperfect or de-
feciive the berry, if it will only grow.
may be used as seed. This is very mis-.
taken policy. 1t is impossible that the
young plant should be as vigorous and as
perfect, when springing from defective
and shrunken seed, as when growing
FROM that in which the peculiar prnci.
plies of the plant are fully developed, and
the termination commences without check
or hindrance. The seed that rpens first
in the ear, and is separated with the
greatest ease, is the most proper for seed,
as these circumstances show it is the most
mature. A farmer 10 one of the northern
States, a few years since was in the habit
of selling large quantities of seed wheat
annually and at high prices, as his wheat
was of a superior quality. yery heavy,