Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-10-15
MISUNDERSTANDING
FARMING ~ RocNBn11GE, VIRGINIA.
HOME, RocKBRlDGE. VA. }
June 10th, 1851. I
! the Editor efihs American Former

linens oi my wheat, and to give short &C
count ofmy little farming operations.
No. is smooth white wheat, called
here the rainbow or blue stem, from its
color when approaching maturity. The
growth OF the straw is most luxuyiant, east
ly sustaining my Old straw hat when
threw it on its surface of spi&c-likc ears
and measuring an average height Of 8 feet
9inches. Ny ether wheat measures about
five feet. The heads | send are fair
specimen of lot of eighty acres, which is
pronounced by some of the farmers OF my
neiShoorhood, one Of the finest pieces Of
wheat they ever saw. Some of them do
not hesitate to assert that it is the best
wheat they ever saw grow out of the earth.
The product is variously estimated at from
thirty to forty bushels to the acre. My
neighbor, Mr., Peter A. Sailing, who, some
years ago, made, by actual measurement,
one hundred and seventy odd bushels Of
wheat on four acres Of tobacco land, re-
marked that he thought it fully equal to
that lot and Col, J. NJ. Ruff of Lexington,
was of opinion that it was quite as good as
any he had ever observed at his fathers,
John Ruff Esq, one of the best practical
farmers in the couaty) who has made thir-
ty odd bushels to the acre.
No. 2 is a white-bcarded wheat called
the Harper, which procured in Augusta
last fall. The growth Of the straw is quite
rank. The heads you will observe, are re-
markedly long, measuring seven inches
and a half.
No. is the Mediterranean, which, though
sowed very late lin Noyember) on corn
land, promises yield of at least 20 bush.
els to the acre. Ia point of maturity, it has
the decided advantage of the other varie-
ties, as it viii DE ready for the cradle at
least ten days earlier.
No. is the common white bearded. |
have cultivated it with success for several
years. My crop last year, untavorable as
it was fer wheat, averaged seventeen bush
els to the acre, and two years before, the
average was about twenty.
The bearded whcats are best adapted to
our bottoms, being, as all the world knows,
less liable to rust than the smooth heads.
My entire crop of twenty acres of wheat
is variouSly estimated by my neighborS at
from four to FIVE hundred bushels-suppos-
ing, of course, that the season should be ia
vorable to its maturity. The weather is
now as fine as could be desired-cool and
dry.
No manure Of any kind has been applied
to my wheat. The crop is the natural pro-
duct Of the system of improvement have
been prosecuting for several years. More
than half Of it was sown on a clover talloW,
broken up in July and seeded the last Of
August aud the first of September with
the new wheats | have described, at the
rate Of about one buShel to the acre, which,
if sown early, equally distributed over the
ground, and well put In, have found by
repeated experiments to be an ample allow
ance for my land. The seed was soaked in
brine, rolled in lime, and first ploughed and
then narrowed in.
[ attach great importance to cultlYating
the new varieties, which generally succeed
well for few years, until they become &C
climated, and subject to the prevailing dis
eases of degenerated grain. have never
failed in wheat crop, and | attribute my
uniform success in a great measure to the
fact that have always raised the new va
rieties. change my seed of all kinds ev-
cry three or four years. Variety is the
spice of farming as well as of life. Nature
delights in change. Z.
MY little farm, (about ten times as large
as that of Cincinnatus) when | got posses
sion Of it, a few years ago had been so re-
duced by improvident cultivation, that IFS
average product did not exceed five BUSH
els of wheat, fifteen of oats and twenty Of
corn to the acre. My crops for the pre-
sent year, with ordinary luck are estima-
ted by good Judges at twenty-five bushels
of wheat forty Of oats, from fifty to sixty of
corn, and two tons of hay, to the acre.
Had every farmer in the county Of Rock
bridge, and in this glorious old Common
wealth of Virginia, and in these United
States, God grant that they may long be
united) effected an equal Improvement in
that portion Of the ealth which Providence
has committed to his care to fertilize and
beautify, not to impoverish and deform,
what an immense addition would have been
made to individual comfort and to national
wealth
How has this striking improvement been
effected? Not by the lavish expenditure
of money for guano and other fertilizers, for
my entire experiments in that way Qast
year and the present)-have not cost ten
dollars-I stick to the old ways until have
found out better--but by the liberal use of
cloverseed and plaster, taking care not to
plough my land when too wet; when wet,
to break it as deep as possible Il have sub
solled this year more than half of my 20 a.
ores Of corn land)and to keep my grass lots
well covered with grass. The rotation l
prefer, for crops and improvement, is FIVE
shift consisting of
/. Grass, an equal mixture of clover and
timothy, dressed early in March with equal
quantities of plaster, ashes and Stacked
lime at the rate of 3 bushels to the acre.
The first crop to be mown, and the field
lightly assured in the fall.
Q. The same, pastured, but nerer gra=ed
close. am more than half a convert to my
uncle Bob Baldwin's shade theory, which
is confirmed by many facts under my own
observation.
8. Wheat.
4. Corn.
5. Oats, with clover and timothy seed,
plastered at the time of sowing at the rate
Of bushel to the acre.
My experience is, that wheat on clo-
yer fallow, on an average ofyears, is worth
Eve dollars an acre more than wheat after