Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1868-08-27
farmers department.
The Next Wheat Crop.

Tt is now full time farmers were
locking about, and desorininl.g |;
where. and how much iano sney VIII
sow to wheat, the coming fall.
wheat land cannot now, be too
.oon prepared for the crop. The
ssssonsble rains in Central Ohio,
bsye made the land in good condi-
tion for plowing. If you have an
old clover field break it up at once,
harrow and mellow it well, even if
it requires the use of the roller.
Mellow land always retains more
moisture than cloddy land. The ad-
vantages OF preparing land well,
now are, that it will do to SOW any
time, even if dry weather should
succeed. Give the wheat a fair
chance; sew early, say before Sept.
Is. and use seme variety of seed
that has been well tried and found to
succeed generally in your own neigh
borhood. Wheat well put in and
early, on suitable soil, so that it gets
a geod start in the fall, covers the
ground so as to protect the roots in
winter, will nine times out of ten,
make good and paying crop.
Come now brother farmer, just
think and look back for the LAST ten
years, when did you have a field of
wheat that was sown early, that got
q good start in the fall, so as to COW
er the ground and look as green as
meadow, that did not make good,
nay, hrst-rate crop7 On the other
hand, now think again back ten
years, when did you have field of
wheat, put in late, land in poor con-
dition by being not properly plow
ed and mellowed, so that your wheat
had a poor start in the fall, did not
cover or hide the ground, that paid
expenses ?
The fact. is, we must give more
attention to our wheat crop, or we
might as well, nay better, quit try
ing to raise our bread.
If some places in your field are
not quite SO rich as the balance, go
into yoor barnyard and take that
pile of rotten manure, and after your
land is narrowed and made tolerably
smooth, put it in piles of about one
bushel over the poorest spots, your
piles as far apart each way as shocks
of corn. just before sowing, spread
evenly over the surface and mix
with the soil by narrowing or with
cultivator. You will now have your
manure just where you want it, to
give the young plants a fine start;
and young plants are much like
young animals, much depends on the
start. To have good healthy wheat
plants, we must SOW good plump
seed and that only. Clean over
your seed and blow it hard enough |
to blow out all the light grains. No
good farmer of course will SOW
wheat mixed with rye or chess. 1t
is folly to expect good crop from
poor seed. Who has not noticed
how much weaker and lighter stalk
small grain Of corn will produce
than a large one. Compare pop
corn, broom corn, or sorghum, with
large grained field CORE, and see the
difference in weight of stalk while
very young. tits just so with wheat:
q large plump berry will produce a
good stout plant, shriveled berry
a weak one. Some may say 1 have
not the time, or labor to spare, to do
all this; we answer, far better to do
well, little, than to half do much.
If you want to raise say two hundred
and fiftybusheis of wheat, it is much
better to grow it on ten acres than
on twenty FIVE
As a general rule, it is useless to
wait till after corn cutting and then
SOW the land in wheat. On an aver
age, for the last fifteen years, late
sowed wheat has not paid for the
seed and labor, saying nothing about
rent of land, repairs, taxes, DC.
Sow early and in the best manner. or
don't SOW at all; if you must buy
your bread, better save your seed.
If farmers would summer fallow and
manure their land, they could vet
raise good fields of wheat. We
have been cheating nature till nature
will be. cheated no longer. We
must return something to our soils
Tor what they give us! It is folly, |
too, to sow wheat on land that is not
well drained. A superabundance of
moisture will cause it to be killed by
the frosts of winter.
Exercise your own good judg-
nent, SOW, early and well on good
and, well prepared, and our State
will raise as good or better wheat
than during the. virgin richness of