The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1852-03-10

Beihmoni r. o.. Orange Co. N. e.
n -. December 2Ikf. 1850.


SR;-I have this day received your
Agricultural Circular, and proceed TO
answer. as well as can, such Of your
questions as apply to this vicinity. &c
Wheaf. VARIETIES in use. golden
chat, BIach sea, white bearded, Me-
diterranean, occasionally red and early
purple straw, and PENNSYLVANIA blue
stem" Time Of seeding. May. October,
November, and December. October is
best. Harvest about the Goth June.
No preparation Of seed generally,
exceptto clear il from cookie and cheat.
Ii is generally sown on corn land, and
put 10 in sloyenly manner. Some do
better, sowing on fallow ground broken
up late in summer, or early in autumn,
aud ploughed or narrowed in. | think
the yield per acre has been diminishing
for many years. and hope. after falling
to an average Of FIVE bushels per acre.
it has reached its minimum. aud is be-
ginning to rise, by gradually improv-
ed system Of farming. A few Of US have
bought up old exhausted broom-straw
fields to yield eight to ten bushels per
acre. The rotation has too generally
been corn. wheat, pasturing after har-
vest, for eight or ten years, till the
ground refuses to bring wheat. Then.
corn and oats alternately, till the poor
returns compel the unthrifty farmer to
turn out his fields to broom straw, and
clear more land to be DESTROYED by a
similar process, or move to the West.
The average price ofwheat may be set
down at 80 cents. | have introduced
the early purple-straw, a red wheat,
ripening June 10th, therefore not sub
ject to rust, which is, the greatest ene-
my to wheat in this section, but not
attacking earlier than the 10th Of June.
secure It from smut, the great enemy
to early wheat, by soaking it in a
solution Of salt, from twelve to forty
eight hours, and drying in lime or ashes,
SO as to scatter. This have found a
perfect protection. sold my crop this
year for seed, at sl.e5 per busheI. |
have sowed this fall samples Of Troy
Iturean, white Genesee, and thinner.
mans, besides the carly purple-straw,
and hope to report another year.
Com.-Common gourd. seed and Col.
lins's corn: ! think the average pei
acre is fifteen to twenty bushels. Some
do much better. Others worse. Most
ly cultivated with the plough-little
hoeing done. Oats generally sown on
the worst land. having been planted
with corn the previous year regarded
an exhaustins crop. Seed per acre,
four to FIVE pecks. Product in good
ground, thirty to forty bushels; com.
mon average. about ten bushels. Bar.
ley and rye not cultivated. Beans and
peas not much cultivated, except for
the table. Clover found valuable by
| the few who have adopted it. Timothy
mostly sown in meadows, though mos
meadows are not sown at all, but grow
up to the coarse native grasses. am
experimenting with orchard grass, lu.
!, cerne, Guinea grass. perennial ry,
grass, and herds grass, and may, hereaf
ter, be able to report useful results
Neat cattle receive little attention here
cost little, aud are worth little. Wha
are called dairy-c COWS sell at from $40 t,
Sl4 each. A few Durhams were intro
duced a few years sine, without profit
|, The Devons will probably succeed well
: Sheep very little attended to, and sadl..
annoyed and destroyed by dogs.
/ Hogs The Berkshire, or rathe
half Berkshire, seems to be the favorite
A cross of the Berkshire with the long
sided Kentucky SOW has proved val
, liable hog. Tobacco, very little cul
tivated. Potatoes, Irish and sweet
: cultivated for domestic use only.
| send the above hasty sketch, an
hope to do better another time.
Very respectfully,
w. ]. BINGHAM.
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