The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1856-02-12

ton of machines which will eventually super
scde the plow. The attempts made within
the past five years have not been very numer-
Gus, end as yet but little if any progress has
been made. The machines that have been
presented to the public have been found TO
unwieldly, or, not efficient enough TO cause
any one to throw aside the plow as yet. Tn
doubtedly when the hour ard the man come,
we shall have horse power digger which viii
prove rs labor saving as McCormick's reaper;
but until they come it is our duty to make
the most Of what we have, and to give our
land full opportunity to work for us. As
referred you at the commencement Of this
address to the lightncss of the average pro-
duction of wheat per acre, and have spoken of
one Of the causes of this lightness arising from
a want of thorough cultivation, and not from
any defect inherent in the soil; will now
turn to another cause which has TO do more
particularly with the wheat plant itself.
believe that the seed sown is very defective
aud that in it there might be great change
made for the better The generality Of the
wheat sown and grown, is much lighter in
straw, shorter in head, smaller in kernel, and
the sound grains fewer in number to each ear
Of grain than they ought to be if we mean to
approximate a maximum crop; and that
should be the ambition of every farmer who
pitts a plow in the ground If that is not his
guiding principle let him come out from the
plow stills, he has no business there; and let
better man fiji his place.
/ say that most of our seed wheat needs a
little new blood infused into il Just as we in
fuse new blood from distant regions or foreign
countries into our sheep to improve the quality
Of their wool, or into our cattle to improve
their fattening qualities. 1t is Il. well known
principle an vegetable physiology that if a sin
gle variety of any kind of plant is grown for a
long series of years in the same soil, it will
eventually deteriorate, and, to use common
expression, 'run out" All our cultivated or
domestic plants, it is also well knowp, have
originated from wild stock, and have been
brought to their present perfection by a long
continued system of cultivation, which has in
many points changed them SO that they would
hardly be recognized as belonging to the same
family as their wild originals. When left to
themselves, however, the natural habit ofthe
plant will resume its sway, and there will
always be some Of its progeny that will show
an inclination to return TO the habits of the
native uncultivatcd plant in their form, de-
preciated size, and want of all these qualities
that make it valuable to man.
AS an instance of the tendency Of plants to
depreciate in value from want Of proper culti-
yation, will point you 10 well llknown varie-
ty Of wheat, the Soule's, extensively grown
in this state. Within the past three years l
have had opportunities of examining it in diff
erent parts of the state, both in the field un-
cut, and after it has been made ready for
market; and my impression is, that it has,
in great measure, run out, from having been
grown too many successive years on the same
soil with the same unsklful course OF cultiva-
ton. In the fields have found the straw
short and wanting in stoutness; the heads
small and scantily filed, seldom containing
over thirty-fve or forty grains, many of them
imperfect, as if the plant had been unable
from lack of strength to ripen all alike. Even
the sound grains were far from perfect, less
than medium in size, and the spike,ets seem
ingly wiltcd away.
OF the good qualities Of this wheat and its
CAPACITY to make fine flour ] make no denial,
but think it full time that ways and means
were devised to introduce a more profitable
variety and one possessing the same good
qualities combined with some which it con-
fessedly does not possess.
Just calculate for yourselves what the re-
suit would be if instead of having field of
VIII eat each ear Of which produced on an aver
age from thirty to forty medium sized grains,
you had one which gave you from the same
number of stalks, heads containing from fifty
to sixty large sized, well-developed grains
Would YOU not have an increase Of more than
one third at the weighing scale Of the buyer?
and that is the testing point for the farmer
of good or bad seed. Instead ofrasing crop
only equal to the averaged by IIilsdale county
in 1853, he can reasonably calculate on at
least one third more Remember that length
of Head, as a general rule, counts more to the
acre than numerous stalks.
There is another matter in relation to wheat
which cannot better illustrate than by the
relation Of transaction which took place un-
der my own observation this fall. A few
weeks ago, farmer from one of the counties
near Detroit, brought a lot of wheat to mar
kct, but it was so foul and apparently SO full
of all kinds ofsecd except sound wheat, that
he conld not get an offer for it. Finally
dealer rendered him dollar bushel, which
the farmer accepted. The buyers friends
thought he had hard bargain, but he re-
solved to test that question. So he hired
three laboring men and having tanning mill
Of bis own, he set them to cleaning the wheat.
They worked at it a day, running it three
times through the mill, and by night six to
eight bushels Of chess and light wheat had
been taken from the lot But the weight Of
tho whole had only been reduced three bush
els. The next day the same wheat was sold
ut 81 rs per bushcl, rcalizinga profit Of $685.
80, after allowing 81, for the cleaning
Need say anything moro to YOU on this sub
cctl
firmly believe that with proper attention
IN the preparation of the land and the neccss-
,ry care-in procuring the best seed, every acre
Of wheat land in this county can be made 10
produce at the rate of twenty-five bushels 10
the acre instead of the amount it now docs
- - - n 4 . ~