The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1857-09-16
From the Plough, Loom and Anvil.

From the Plough, Loom and Anvil.
SEED wHEAT--MxiNG OF VARIETIES.
As the season for putting in the wheat
crop is near, farmers would do well to con-
slider the Importance Of sowing only the best
seed. They have been too much in the
habit of threshing out few shocks for SOW
ing, without much consideration Of the soil
on which it grew, and without sufficient
care to cleanse it perfectly of smut and of
such foreign seeds as might iniure the crop,
as if they would say, j" Wheat is wheat, the
world round, and if we sow wheat we shall
get wheat"
We see it stated in the agricultural jour-
mails OF some OF our great wheat-growing
States, that great advantage is derived from
the exchanging Of seed. ltis recommended
not to bring seed from a widely different
climate, but to select with regard to variety
Of soils--to sow clay lands with seed from
loamy soils, and the reverse. There NAV
be something in this. We presume there is,
or Il would not come recommended from so
high authorities as it does, as from the
Michigan Farmer, for instance. Still we
should look more at the perfection Of the
crop out Of which the seed is taken, than at
lne CHARACTER oil tie SOIL.
Suppose we had harvested but small
crop the past year, and that not Of the best
quality, and that a neighbor, no matter
whether very near or not, for good seed is
worth going after considerable distance,
had harvested a very perfect crop, say forty
bushels to the acre, clean, not particle Of
smut, no cookie. nothing but the unmingled
gift Of Ceres, and suppose he would sell it
for triile more than the average price Of
wheat at the time, we would sow that seed
in preference to our own, provided the va
riety were one we approved; and then we
would cultivate with the same nicely and
care that our neighbor had.
A new thought, at least new to us, about
wheat. NJ. Lucien Rousseau, Of Anger
Vile, France, has preached the idea, or
rather has stumbled on il by accident, that
the mixing Of varieties of seed is favorable
to the wheat crop. In 1855, he expert
mented upon fifteen varieties of wheat,
sowing each BY itself, and noting the results,
both in weight Of wheat and straw. The
disparity, on the same land and with the
same cultivation, was remarkable. But what
was more remarkable, and the only point TO
which we wish TO call attention, was that
after sowing the fifteen varieties, little
seed of each remained. These fifteen par
GELS he mixed together and sowed on sepa-
rate patch, and although the land was no
better, was more shaded, and no better cul-
tisated, the crop far surpassed either Of the
plots sown with single variety.
NJ. Rousseau's reasons, which we copy
below from the Michigan Farmer, appears
hardly satisfactory to US, and yet there may
be something in them. At any rate we
would recommend trial Of the same expe-
riment. Ii would be but little trouble TO
SOW field with five or six of the varieties
accounted best for that region, keeping
each variety separate, and then SOW another
part Of the same field with a mixture of all,
and note the results. The farmer who
would make the trial for himself would have
the advantage Of knowing whether there is
utility in the new idea, or whether il is to be
ranked with the thousand and one humbugs
of the day. NJ. Rousscau's reasons are al
follows:
l. The several varieties do not head out
al the same time, and therefore the period
Of Towering is heightened, and the chances
Of fertilization are thus increased.
9. The several varieties are unequal in
height, some being shorter than others al
the time when the plants flower the heads
therefore are not SO close, are more exposed
to the air, and the floration is likely to be
more perfect, and the fertilization more
general. This theory seems TO be confirmed
by the fact that where wheat plants are most
exposed, or are little thin, other circum.
stances being equal, the fertilization is more
general over the whole head, than where tic
wheat is thick.
8. The cfpp seems TO ripen better from
the same cause, namely, the inequality in
the height Of the varieties, and in proof o.
this il has been remarked that in mixture,
, Of wheat and rye, often sown in Europe
and Of barley and spring wheat. the grain il
finer than that Of the same grains grown
separately, and under the same conditions
This is considered TO arise from the NOR,
complete areation afforded by the two kind,
; Of plants, one Of which grows high and
! leaves room for the sun and atmosphere Il
ripen the whole more perfectly, than whcr
the surface is composed Of one unbrokcr
: mass Of heads Of grain which shut out th,
light from the leaves and stems, and thu
, ripens one part Of the plant before the othel
. is matured.
4. Another advantage claimed BY thi
: mixture Of seed is, that the crop does no
, depend altogether upon one variety, which o
itself may be unsuitable for the soil wher'
tits sown. The strong and healthy sarietie
will always fll up the spaces left by th
\ decay Of the more delicate or tender kinds
. and thus in some degree be moro likely I
insure crop.