The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-10-17

It was, without doubt, the most perfect
wheat ever grown in this climate, making
n -four superior to any manufactures -
these days, and often weighing s Vow
pounds to the bushel. 1t was a,so ia.
productive on rich land, frequeh'.y acra
ing upwards of thirty bushels 'd,ot;re
The purple straw was equally p 49, well ):
nerhaps rather more 30. ana We'sA Ia If
Init il vas an unsjghtly gram. u;o1,,.d
seve, acres is remembered, Wh,Sh si th,a
forty hushels to the acre. Dow. y. .n
varieties have long become extinct, ny
.hraugb carelessness, probably III sesIns
.,,ro seed than from any other cause: Slnce
bon a long catalogue of varieties might De
..nn,r,erated. each having run Tor lew
Years and then giving place to a new favor
We would earnestly recommended wheat
orowers to spare no pains and no reason
able expense in endeavoring to procure
some one or more varieties ripening carrier
than those now in common cultivation. We
see such advertised by the seedsmen, ana
thew. are at least worthy OF trial. buI
even when obtained, and trey are Iouno
to Give satisfaction, the utmost vigilance
sbonld be exercised in preventing them
snom, >,daoeneratine. Different kinds of
wheat seeded on the same farm, anu l!Pe
ing about the same time, are exeeeu.ns ~
liable to mix; and this is beiieTsu 49, W. w
one of the chief causes OF the sPeeuy u
r;oration of so many faVorne al al =
We once knew of gentleman WIZ mhaot.
. rccuIar practice to 60 through Ms "n
saIds every year as the grain was rlpehlne'
rarefully selecting the purest ana mos. ios
I'D u"I ears-enough say, to yield a busnel
of Grain. This he sowed in a lot by ltsea'
and the second year the product was sum
Gent TO seed his whole crop. by TINS
means the quality and productlveness Oh
h;s crons was kept up as long as he llVeo.
A similar practice universally OBTAINS
- ono market gardeners, whose proflts dc,
nend very much on having the earliest ana
best vegetables in market:
Nor should such a practice be deemed 700
.rorblesome. especially when it is borne
~ mind that of all the productions OF
tho earth on which human life Is de-
nendent wheat is the most precarlous,
and it's treatment the most ARTIFICIAL.
rive is liable to but few casualties; oats, II
the season is at all propitious, yield abund-
,ptly: and corn, We all know, is the grossess
If. feeders while wheat requires almost as
careful nurture as an infant.
After some experience, and much obser~
walton and study for fifty years, the writer
is convinced that the preparation OF land
for wheat is, in the majority OF cases, the
very opposite of what it should be. For
nerlv. before all these improved ploWs came
n1o use, the custom was to break up the
soil only few inches deep, and reduce the
surface to fine filth by shallow cross
ployipcs. Now, it is turned over to the
iepth of eight or ten inches, burying not
vast quantity of vegetable
matter. Most farmers are averse to re-
ALLOWING, because the coat Of vegetation Is
bought to improve the soil. Doubtless it
Toes; but the immediate object, and indeed
he chief object, is to get good crop. That
his object can be attained under these
we beg leave respectfully to call
n question. a porous soil Is fatal to sue
less in wheat culture; necessary condi-
ion is compactness. Having strict refer
,nce to the manner Of growth, it is be-
ieved to be perfectly philosophical to say
hat the roots of the wheat plant should
have q solid bed to rest on, and rich, fri
able soil to spread in. The most successful
we ever knew-or one of the
most successful-turned in his clover sod
with a light two-horse pillow as early as
practicable in the season for following, not
ourying the vegetable covering so deep but
what the atmosphere speedily acted upon 1t
and decomposed it. At seed-time the
-round was farther prepared by the old
:
but simply stirring it up. Here was bed
prepared for the wheat, having all the
benefit of the clover fallow and of the fer
ilizing gases derived from the atmosphere.
The writer could refer to another farmer,
equally successful until he introduced the
hree-horse plow on his farm; after which,
ike Samson shorn Of locks, he was as
,ther men.
No man who has not tried it can estimate
he amount of benefit which loose surface
derives from the atmosphere. After expo
sure for q month or two, the crust being
occasionally broken, the effect is almost
equal to an application Of guano and II Is
certainly the cheapest Of all modes OF Ter
tilizing.
1t is respectfully submitted that the great
falling off in the product per acre OF all
the old wheat-growing districts, both North
and South, of the United States, is attrl,
brtable in a great measure to the irrational
Aethod of preparation of the soil, as not
being adapted to the requirements OF the
wheat plant; and not to the exhaustion OF
the soil of the mineral ingredients entering
into the formation of the grain. 3.