Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-08-06
The Farmer.
From the Peoples Own.
Drilling Wheat.

IelsuIc, anu peiiieo ucsiTouS OL ayluS SOHe-
thing that would be Of benefit to the Far
mers of this county, will take the pre-
sumption to intrude upon your columns,
and the patience Of your farmer readers for
a brief space, whilst 1 shall cndeavor to
show them the advantages of Drill Hus-
bandry over the old system. In doing SO,
l am not actuated by the vain thought that
| am wiser than my neighbors, but will
merely say what 1 have learned from the
truthful teaching of that sage instructor,
Experience.
| In England and in China, where the
population is very dense, and where every
inch of ground is cultivated to the best ad-
vantage, drilling is very fully and exten-
sively practiced. But We need not 90 so
far from home for evidence of its superb
ority. In our sister States of Pennsylva-
MIA and Delaware, it has been practiced for
several years with signal success. In the
counties of Lancaster and Chester in
Penn'a, and in New Caste in Delaware,
it has almost entirely superseded the old
Iplan. And why? Surely it must have
some advantages over the old system, or
those keen-eyed, money-saving farmers of
Lancaster would not adopt it. From DR..
Noble, Of New Castle county, Delaware,
where farming is carried to greater per-
fection than perhaps anywhere else in the
United States, We have published facts,
sustained by the sworn certificates of dis
interested persons, clearly showing the
Superiority of drilling wheat over broad
casting. The result of his experience was
that, in his crops, averaging from 2S to 35
bushels per acre, the drillel wheat pro-
duced from to s bushels Der acre more
than the broadcast.
But now to our experience. The writer
Of this, long since impressed with the idea
that our old system of seeding wheat was
radically wrong, was determined as soon as
he could do so, to obtain drill. This he
did two years ago, and the result of his
experience has fully confirmed him in his
previously formed opinions. He reasoned
in this wise: If We plant one grain Of
wheat, it should bring US one stalk, and
that stalk one head, containing 80 grains.
Now this is low, for one grain almost in.
variably brings 3 or stalks, and often
many more. But to show more clearly
the strength of our position, We will make
it as low as possible. If then We get for
every grain We sow, one head containing
30 grains, We get 80 for l. But is such
the case in our old practice of sowing
wheat! No! and am sorry to say very
far from it. l have, for a number of
years, kept regular account of my crops
harvested, and the seed sown to produce
that harvest. For 10 years, from 1889
to 1913, inclusive, the average yield for
wheat sown broadcast, has been u to l
sown, which was Is per acre, assuming 2
bushels to have been sown per acre
In 1913 it was as low as to l, and in
1913 as high as IL to l. Now if, as We
have shown, so to can be raised at the
lowest rate We can put it, and our data
show yield of only II to l, ask where
is the enormous loss i? Certainly the grea-
ter part Of it is in the manner of putting
in the seed. When put in with the plow,
some is covered so deep that the influence
of the sun and air never reach it, and it
rots. Some is put in SO shallow that in
the winter it is frozen out, and also lost.
Whilst but small portion that happens
to be in the right place remains to repay
the husbandman for his arduous labor.
But when planted with the Drill the case
is different. Being planted at regular
depth, comparatively none is lost, and be-
ing in the bottom of the furrow, the action
of the frost in winter tends to feed it with
the erumbling earth, thereby cultivatingit
My drilled wheat last year, that was un-
injured by the fly, from Il sown per acre,
produced me l5 to l. Now this is consid-
erably above the broadcast. This year it
promises much better / knew . lot last
year which was drilled, that produced %
to sown, without manure. But the ad-
vantage of drilling is not only in the in
creased proportionate yield, but also in the
saving of seed and lator, ~ ,ich is consid-
cradle item. In seeding 100 acres with
the drill, you save from SO to IS bushels
of wheat in the seed; you save the trouble
out your ground, of sowing
your wheat, ofshOvel ploughs, and of the
extra force required to shovel it in. With
the drill, after the ground is ploughed and
narrowed, one man, boy and two horses
will put in or acres day, and that can
be done whilst the plOws are going in some
other fields.
In conclusion, let me advise any Farmer
who doubts what have said, to procure