The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-06-12
AGRICULTURAL
ro Prevent ReeTlI in Wheat.

mESSRS. EDITORS. In & over
the Southern Cultiv0tors for last Oeto
Der, [ find az extract from the DOHar
Newspaper, IL which two plans are
given TO keep weevil out of wheat. I
an thus reminded that during the
last harvestI wrote an article on the
subject Tor the NL6edtoE. but neg
lected to forward it. ~ 1. I335
To come qshorelFoamy point, let
wheat be sailed aud weevil will never
infest it. ,Alf4l fl t'1@
| have followed this plan from 1884
or 1885 till now, and have never lost
any wheat by weevil after sailing 1t.
30 certain is this plan TO save wheat
that | never sun mine at all. L let 1t
stand in the-6eld 10 dozens for ten or
twelve days, then thresh, fan. and
salt it away at once. Ii 1t be dry
enough Il thresh- we'll, It is dry
enough to salt away
[ use half a ponndOf salt to the
bushel of wheat. AS It is measured
into Z or hogsheads L sprinkle
the salt, and stir after eaeh@measure.
IF the house be dry, wheatis certain
to keep well on this plan.
I got this plan from the Tennessee
Farmer in 1884. A farmer Of East
Tennessee communicated this as his
plan, based upon fifteen years ex-
p~erience. | have forgotten his name.
but well remember his statements.
He said that sailed wheat remained
new as long as you desired to keep it.
That IS, il does not shrink by time,
and it continues to yield as good and
as much -four as when first harvested.
All these statements | have found to
be true, by the experience of eighteen
years.
Now, all farmers know that wheat
put up In the usual way diminishes in
bulk as it gets older Ii. e. the grain
gets less,) aud that it will not yield as
much or as good -four as when it was
fresh from the field.
This change is prevented by sailing.
| prefer the Kanawha salt. because it.
all dissoives and is soon absorbed by
wheat. IF you examine it eight or ten
days after sailing, it will be found
damp, with dissolved sat on the sur
face of the grains, but some weeks
afterwards it will be found dry, hav-
ing been kept cool all the time The
salt enters into the grain and makes
the -four saltish, but not enough so
to interfere with any Of its culinary
use. Let US now sum up the advan-
tage of this mode of saving wheat.
l. 1t preserves the wheat with more
certainty than summing.
2. The wheat does not lose in vol
ume or weight by long keeping.
3. 1t makes more and better flour.
1. 1t costs much less labor
III. -L1n% - hokko- e. en14 H.
cause it is preserved in its perfect
state. There is not salt enough in it
to prevent it from terminating, but
there is enough to stimulate it to
sprout vigorously.
/ suppose hat after all the cost of
labor in summing, near one fourth of
all the wheat produced in the valley
of the Mississippi is either lost by
weevil or badly damaged. This is no
small item of loss, when the' aggre-
gate crop is considered. Were all
farmers to salt their wheat, this enor-
nous annual loss would be prevented,
and then no one would ever make
bread of wheat not quite spoiled
enough to give to the pigs and yet
too bad for any person to eat. | have
seen wheat saved by sailing after the
weevil were in it. 10 .fl8. 10
In 1886, for want of house room,
my wheat was put in hand sacks as it
was hauled up for threshing. When
about half done hauling, it occurred
to me that the weevil might get in
it before we should be ready to
thresh it; | therefore sailed the re-
naming wheat as it was put in
stacks, and 1t was fortunate that it
was done, because the weevil ruined
all which was not sailed, whiie-those
stacks which were sailed remained
uninjured. 10 1882, there were four
separate parcels of wheat put up in
my barn; three of them were sailed,
and the fourth was not. All three of
the parcels sailed kept perfectly
sound and free of weevil-but the one
not sailed was ruined by the weeviE
| think Indian corn might be saved
by sailing.
1t is best to unite thetwo principles
here set forth in saving wheat that
is, it should.be kept dry and saited,
too. Because. if it be put up moist,
so much salt would be required to
save it that it would make the -four
too salt for any use, and the vitality
of the grain would be destroyed, so
that it would be urdt for seed.
The FARMER.
ODDS AND ENDS. u