White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1860-10-04
FIR tbt farn'tr.
selecting Seed Wheat.

r.,mers sustain great loss In not bestoWing
uroper care and attention in the selection Of
the most productive varieties Of wheat for seed
and in not cleaning it from rye, cheat and other
foul SEED.
In the frs. place, the most productive should
b chosen; that which is least liable to disease
and the depcedatious of insects; and next in
importance to selecting the best variety
that which Ii matured we'll, exhibiting q
plump full grain and free from the seeds Of no1
ious plants, not depending alone upon the selec-
ton of such a. contains the least amount OF
such seeds, but care should be taken to thor
.oughiy riddle and winnow the grain so that ev
err foreign seed Is removed. Hpropcr precau-
zion be used in thoroughly cleaning seed wheat
of chee the false idea Of transmutation would
b forever exploded. A good wheat fan With
suitable screens and riddles, when properly used,
will ReperaIly remove all foul seed by running
de wheat through Il one, two or three tmes. In
former Numbers Of our paper We have publish
ed the method Of removing chess from seed
wheat. a. practiced BY John johnson. Of Geneva,
johnson simply runs the wheat slowly through
the fan With the riddles removed, turning at
brisk rate, and thus blowing out all light seed
chess, &c. Where q proper fan Is not at hand
the work may be done most efectually BY turn
ing the seed into a trough, or hogshead Of wat
er, and then skimming eff all the light grains Of
wheat, chess and other light seed. When this
method is employed it would be we'll to use
solution of blue vitriol in the water which at the
same time would destroy all the sporules of smut
and also prevent the tendency to rust With
the same vessel and the same water large
quantity of seed wheat may be submitted to
this process in a single day. The wheat need
not remain long in the wash but may be taken
out and spread on the barn floor, and after re-
naming short time air Stacked lime, or plaster
may be mixed with it, thoroughly stirring it up
with q shovel or grain scoop until tits well mix.
ed, when it may be sown. The increase of the
crop and Its freedom from other grain and seed
will many times compensate for this trouble.
Recent experiments have definitely settled
the question that earlier ripening Of wheat may
be secured by procuring the seed Of early ripen-
ing kinds from the South. Wheat, unlike Indi-
an Corn, is grain of Northern origin and will
grow and mature In climates of much lower
temperature than Indian Corn will. The latter
grain when grown at the South adapts itself TO
the climate and requires longer period to ma
ture than when forced to accomplish its work in
season Of short duration. ~.
In travelling over vide extent of country
Just before harvest the past season, We noticed
an unusual quantity Of rye growing amid the
wheat in various sections Of the country
Whether the proportion Of rye was increased
the present season in consequence Of the wheat
being more tender, and was partially killed out
by the winter and thus admitting the rye to
spread and increase, or whether it lie to be at
tributed to other causes, we will not pretend to
say. 1t is an easy matter to grow wheat free
from rye; as the latter are so much taller than
the wheat, the heads are easily cut off with a
knife or sickle before the grain natures, and
this should always be done in the fields from
which it is designed to select for seed.-Val
Icy Farmer.