Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1861-09-19
9grituItmaI Department.
Agricultural Items.

should be examined and thoroughly cleaned
before being sown. Most farmers are content
ed with the wheat which they have grown
and found to do well on their farms for years
but in many cases it has been found that
change OF seed is advantageous, and aids in
securing enough advantage 10 the farmer who
is enterprising enough to try to repay him
for his trouble. This is the case, even where
the same variety is grown. The Soules wheat
for instance, has been grown on the same farm
from its own seed for a number of years. We
believe, had the wheat grower taken pains
occasionally to have procured the seed for
his opening or prairie land from districts where
Il sitter soil prevailed, that the change would
have been beneficial In most cases where
such an experiment has been tried, the result
has been favorable, unless prevented by some
occurrence of weather or insect, that OF course
did not influence the actual growth of the
plant"
DTCHING WITH A PLow-A correspondent
of the ". H. Journal of Agriculture says
" In the first place, plow two burrows, and
throw them out this makes the ditch wide
enough at the top. | then plow two more and
throw them out The ditch is then twelve or
fifteen inches deep, and one OK can no longer
&walk in it with the other on the surface | then
take stout piece of timber, say five or six
inches square (around stick would do as well,
and twelve or fifteen feet long. | lay this
across the ditch and hitch yoke of oxen to
each end, so that the timber serves as long
whfletree, with the plow chained in the mid
die; and as the ditch grows deeper, the chain
is let out longer. In this way, there would
be no trouble in blowing six feet deep. The
only difficult is III keeping the oxen nearly
abreast, as it is new work for them. But by
taking light furrows at first, they soon learn.
After running the plow through Two or three
times throw out the loose earth and plOw
again"
OK THE Wheat CEOP.-1h oat crop having
been removed, the farmer haStenS TO prepare
the ground from. which it has been taken for
his wheat crop. The first operation 10 be per-
formed on his oatstubbe ground is generally
blowing after which it is narrowed and then
marked out by burrows at proper distances to
guide in spreading the barn-yard dung, which
is hauled out and placed in heaps along the
furrows, so that it may be easily spread.
This being done, the ground should at the
proper time be again plowed, narrowed and
rolled, preparatory to receiving the seed. Some
farmers pillow but ouce, thinking it preferable
to two pIowings. When this is done, the ma
nure is hauled out on the oatStub6le. This
practice, however, is not to be recommended.
There is a growing difference of opinion
among practical men as to the best mode of
seeding wheat some advocate the drill, and
Others broadcast from the hand. The advan-
tage from the use of the drill is, that the seed
is deposited more evenly, as some think, aud
at proper depth but is this so Any one
who looks at the operation OF the drill may see
that the grain is deposited thickIy an the rom
and that between the rows we have space OF
four or FIVE inches where there is no seed
hence, though that part Of the plant which is
above ground has room for air and growth be-
tween the rows, the roots are too much crowd
ed. Again. as in this vicinity, we sow grass
and clover seed with the wheat, as the best
means of getting the grass crop, which is, to
degree, the permanent crop does the grass
q take" as we'll among drilled wheat as where
the wheat has been sown broadcast The
wheat crop serves as a nurse or protector to
the young grass aud clover, shelterng them
from drying winds, frost, and hot sun. Now,
ss the timothy grass seed is generally sown in
the autumn, Immediately after the wheat has
been put in, it would seem that, in the space
between the rows of wheat the young and
tender grass is more exposed to these injurious
influences than among wheat sown broadcast,
which grows evenly (if well sown) over the
surface. In England, where the drilling sys-
TEN was FIRST practiced, the rows were saffi.
GENTLY far apart to admit of the hoe, and the
crop was cultivated. 1t is not usual there to
SOW grass with the wheat crop-n0thing is
is suffered to grow but the crop itself.
How far (if it el) is the presence Of the grass
and clover detrimental to the grain crop? As
regards the application of manure to wheat
and other crops, is it not a fact that the most
valuable portions of baru-yard manure, being
salts, sOluable in water, descend Is it not
fact that ammonia, about the loss of which by
volatilizatiou we hear so much, though ex
tremelY volatile, does not escape into the air
to any great extent, but is largely absorbed
and condensed by the surface moisture, and
by porous bodies, such as earth straw, and de-
caying matters, on the surface? Chemical
experiments show that moisture and ammonia
have powerful afhuity for each other, and
that porous bodies absorb ammonia largely
When we consider these facts, and that the
more permanent componentS of manure are in
the shape of soluble matters, which the water
carries into the soil, is it unreasonable to doubt
the prOpriety of pIowipg in bard yard manure
deep
When it is desired, as is mostly the case, to
set the wheat stubbe with grass and clover,
the timothy, which is in this vicinity preferred
to all other grasses for hay, is sown in the au-
tumn, Immediately after the seeding of grain !;
and the usual course is to SOW the clover seed
early in the spring, just as the frost is about
going out, or, if there should be light layer
of snow, to sow the seed on the snow and
thus, as the snow melts, and the frost disap-
nnttl L. ;nt, Il L.