The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1850-02-16
For The Cecil Wig.
The Wheat Crop and the Market.
WHEATLAND. February, 1885,

Mr.. EplroR.-C. P. Holcomb, ESQ.,,
Corresponding Secretary of the New Cas-
tie county Agricultural Society, in an
able article, first published in the American
Farmer, and re-published in most of the
papers Of the Union, has shown that Mary
land, with Delaware and Virginia, is the
great centre OF the wheat growing district
of the United States. Now 1t would seem,
that that discovery which is quite as plain
ly traced on the map of the land, and
much in the same style too, as Lieut..
Maurv has traced the currents on the map
Of the ocean, should be followed by one
other discovery, OF equal if not greater
Importance, to the American farmer, if
not 70 the American people that is, how
that valuable crop Can be produced in
the greatest abundance, and where the
best market Can be had Tor it,
With the view Of contributing my mite
on such an important SUBJECT l send the
accompanying paper, which prepared in
part for the Patent Office Report Of 1878,
and partly Tor the Maryland Agricultural
Society's premium for an Essay on the
best mode Of sowing wheat, by broadcast,
or by the drill. The Hon. Edmund Burke
published the first part, or moduS opcrrndi
of producing, but thought The statistics too
delicate subject for an ordinary cIodhop-
per to touch, and thereupon drew black
lines through and expunged the most i'm
por'ant part of the paper.
Notwithstanding the fact of his having
computed the surplus Of the amount Of
breadstuAs, annually, at 200, 900, 900 BUSH
els, or about one fifth of the entire crop
for exportation-l73,0 100000 bushels Of
which he put down as Indian corn and
that too after much calculation and by
elaborate tatles--Lewis c. Beck, Professor
in Rutgers College estimates the surplus
for expectation for series of years, at
60O,000,000 bushels "a most egregious
blunder as | will show in another article,
from official reports, if you think these
matters worthy of an insertion in your val
liable paper. The truth or error of either
OF the statements maybe gathered from the
fact, published in the same Report, that the
entire expectation of corn IN 81 years, from
1871 to 1878 inclusive, was but 1855 ,000,-
600 bushels. Resp'y Yrs,
JOHN JONES.
Here follows from Patent Office Report
for 1913 page 1861
After my first experiment in sowing
wheat with the drill. in which was sue
cessful, was further encouraged by
reading the experience of Jethro Tull,
who was practical farmer, and wrote
about $50 years ago. Up TO that time,
farming IN England was at a low ebb, ow
ing &c the low price Of wheat the aver
age product not being ten bushels to the
acre. The small quantity yielded indu-
ced Jethro Tull to experiment with ma
chlnery and improved culture, as the
price of grain at that dav would not JUS
tily the farmers in purchasing manures.
His experiments We're eminently sue
cessiul; for in a very few years he had
brought up his yield to rs bushels per
acre from + gallons sowing with the drill
upon lard that but a lew years before he
could not get 10 bushels from by the old
mode OF culture. His neighboring farm
ers were then,as many OF our farmers are
now, prejudced against book and exper-
imental farming. and viewed him as an
innovator upon their old established Gus
toms. They finally came into TULIPS
plan, and now drills are there extensive