The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-07-10
TIL E RE PU BLIC.
PATENT OFFICE REPORT-PART III.
The Culture OF Wheat.


walton Of which on the same soil. from generation
To generation, requires art than ID demanded
to produce good wheat. To grow this grain on
fresh land, adapted to the peculiar habits and
wants OF the plant, is an easy task But such fields
except in rare instances, fail, later, to
produce sound and healthy plants which are little
liable TO attacks Of the malady called 'rust,"
which give heightened ears or s'hcads' well filled
with plump seeds.
Having long resided in the best wheat growing
district in the Union, the writer has devoted years
OF study and observation to all the influences OF
soil, climate, and constitutional pecularities, which
affect this bread bearing plant II is far more la
bic TO smut, rust and shrink in some soils than
in others. This s true in western New York,
and in every other section where wheat has long
been cultivated. As the alkalies and other fcrliliZ
ing elements become exhausted in the virgin soils
OF America, its crops OF wheat not only become
smaller average, but the plants fail in
sttutional vlgor and are more liable to diseases
and attacks from parasites and destructive insects.
Defects in soils, and improper nutrition, lead to
these disastrous results. Soils defective in the
following particulars
L. They lack soluble silica, or flint with which to
produce hard, glossy stem that will be little sub
ject to 'rust."- Soluble flint is never very abund
ant in cultivated soils; and after they have been
titled some years, the supply is deficient in guam
tity II is not very difficult to learn with con-
siderable accuracy the amount OF silica which rain
water as 1t falls on the earth, will dissolve out
of 200 grains of soil in the of eight ten
days. Hot water will dissolve more than cold;
ana wafer CudTReu Win CdrDOnlC dClu, more IMAM
pure water which has been boiled. The expert
ments OF Prof Rogers, of the University of Vir
ginia, published in Silliman's Journal, have a
direct bearing on this subject. The researches Of
Prof. Emmons of Albany, in his elaborate and
valuable work on agriculture" being part of
the Natural History of New York, show that 10 900
parts of soil yield only from ! to parts of solu-
bic silica. The analyses of Dr. Jackson, published
in his Geological Survey of New Hampshire, give
similar results. Earth taken from old and bad
ly exhausted field in Georgia gave the writer only
ono part of soluble flint in 100000.
What elements of crops rain-water at summer
heat will dissolve out OF ten or twenty pounds Of
soil, in the of three months, is point in ag
ricultura science which should be made the sub
ject Of numerous and rigid experiments. In this
way, the capabilities of different soils and their
adaptation to different crops may be tested, in
nexon with practical experiments in field culture,
on the same kind Of earth.
Few wheat growers are aware how much dis
solved flint an acre of good wheat demands to pre-
vent its having coarse, soft, and spungy stems,
which any thing but healthy organization of
the plant. In the journal of the Royal Agricultural
Society Of England, volume I, there is extended
"report on the analysis of the ashes Of plants, by
Thomas Way, Professor Of Chemistry at the Royal
Agricultural College, Cirencester" which gives The
results Of sixty two analyses of the ash OF wheat
from many samples of that grain, grown mostly
on different soils and under different circum
stances.
In this report are gwen the quantity of wheat per
acre, the weight of straw cut close TO the ground
on each acre, land also that of the chah. These
searches show that from nincty-three to one hun
dred and fifty pounds Of soluble flint required
TO form an acre of wheat; and | will add from my
own Investigations, that thrce-fourths of this silica
Ia demanded by nature during the last sixty days
preceding the maturity OF the crop.
This is the period in which the stem acquires its
soidity and strength, and most OF its incombusti-
bic earthly matter The quantity of this varies
from TO Is per cent Of the weight of the straw.
Professor Johnston and Sir Humphrey Davy give
instances in which than Is Derc af as,
was found; and Professor Way gives cases where
less than per cent. obtained The mean of40
samples was a. per cent. DR.. Sprengcl gives g.
the mean of his ana yscs. NJ. Boussingaut found
an average Oft percent. As flint is truly the bone
of all the grass family, imparting to them strength,
as in cane, timothy, corn, oats, rye, rice and mil
lct the proportion OF this mineral varies much in
wheat straw az bone varies in very lean aud very
fat hogs or cattle.
young growing animal, whether a child or a
colt, that is kept food which lacks bone earth,
phosphate Of lme,) will have soft, cartilaginous
bones. Nature cannot substitute iron, nor any
other mineral in the animal system, out of which
to form hard strong bones; nor can any other min
eral in the coil perform the peculiar function
signed 10 silioa, in the vital economy of serial
plants To protect the living germs in the seeds Of
wheat, corn, OATS rye, barley, &c. the cuticle or
bran Of these seeds contains considerable flint.
The same Is true of chaf.
The question naturally arises: How Is the farmer
10 increase the quantity Of soluble silica or flint in
his sol This is question Of the highest practical
importance. There three principal ways in
which the object named may be attained.
let BY keeping fewer acres under the plough.
Land in pasture, If well managed, will gain in fer
tility, and in the process accumulate soluble silica
in the surface soil. In this way, more grain and
surer crops may be made by cultyatinga a field in
wheat two years, than four in six. II the field In
the mean time be devoted 20 wool growing butter
cheese seinaking, to stock raising, particular
must be taken 10 make great crops Of grass or
clover 10 grow on the land, and have all the ma
nure, both solid and liquid derived from these, ap
piled 10 its surface.
There are many counties in England that yield
a average Of thrty-tw bushels OF wheat per acre
for ten or twenty crops in succession. I here
but few Of the old counties in the United States
which average the half OF that quantity; and yet
climate has greater agricultural capabilities
than that Of Great Britain. This fact will be made
abundantly evident in article under the head Of
"Agricultural Meteorology."
%. Another way 10 increase soluble silica in the
coil Vs. 20 grow such crops in rotation with wheat
culture will best prevent the loss Of dissolved
flint at any time, by teaching and washing,
through the agency Of rain water. This remarks
intended 10 apply more particularly 10 those large
districts devoted 20 cotton and tobacco culture
plants that take up considerable amount Of
silica, and which, by the constant stirring Of the
earth and the clean tillaCe which they demand,
favor the Teaching Of the soil. To keep much Of a
plantation in these crops u TO lessen its capabilities
for producing good crops Of corn, wheat, and bar
ley, at a small expense.
tOfn plants, Wcu ntanagcds VIII extract moro
pounds Of silica ia three or ak months from the
soil than any other. AZ not ounce Of this mine
raj is needed in the animal economy Of man or
beast il all be composted in cornstalks blades
and cobs, or in the dung and urine derived from
corn, and be finally reorganizcd or deposited in
the stems Of wheat plants.
Corn culture and wheat culture, IL skilfuly and
scientifically conducted, GO admirably together.
OF the two, more bread, more meat, and more
money can be made from the corn than from the
wheat plant in this country. But 90 what
is called "high farming" in England shall be pop
ulsr in the United States, the crops Of corn and
wheat grown here will demonstrate how little we
appreciate the superiority Of our climate for the
economical feeding and clothing Of the human
family over that OF our "mother country" In sew
ersl counties in England IL takes from twelve 10
fourteen months 20 make a crop Of wheat after the
secd is put into the ground At or near the fret Of
December, lS47, Mr.. NJ B. Moore, Of Augusta,
Georgia, sowed busbel Of seed wheat on an acre
and half Of ground, which gave him over thirty
bushels by the middle Of May following. This
ground was then ploughed, and a fine crop Of hay
made and cut in July After this, good crop Of
peas raised and harvested in October, before IL
was time TO seed with wheat again, done.
While the mean temperature OF England is go low
that corn plants will not ripen, in Georgia one can
grow a crop Of wheat in the winter, and nearly
two crops Of corn In succession in the summer and
kof,r 10