American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1868-09-05
tllancolls,
Advice about Wheat.

From Tie Dirie Farmer,
The time for sowing wheat is near at hand
and few words on our part Will not be in
appropriate, whether needed or not by tn
farmers Our advice is to put in full crop
of wheat. Do not continue to curse YOU
land with cotton which does not pay you
and imroyerisles the community. Time fol-
high prices in American cotton is gone. Ii
the nature of things it cannot return. With
the present labor system, and taxed as cot
ton is, the Middle Tennessee farmer who will
raise ten crops of cotton will be bankrupt
at the end of that time. If, therefore, you
care only for money, if you have no regard
for anything higher, as a mere question of
dollers and cents, your interests demand of
you to sow wheat, and get back as soon as
possible to mixed husbandry There will be
demand for every bushel Of wheat that you
can raise, and at remunerative prices.
Bat we hear farmers say, the wheat crop
has become SO uncertain, that do not care
TO put in much. What are the causes of
failure2 We will suppose our farmers to
answer: Mainly, hard winters freezing out
the wheat; and rust.
WINTER KILLING.
From this cause, more wheat has been lost
recently than from any other, and the reason
will be apparent to any one who will 90 out
and watch how The wheat Is put in the EARTH
In many, nay in most cases, the seed are
sown broadcast upon the unbroken ground,
and turned uuder with a pillow, or if the land
is nominally broken up, it is mere pretense.
1t is merely scratched over to the depth of
three inches upon an average and beneath /
shat is left Il hard bottom of baked earth, .
upon which the early rains of winter stand .
almost as well as upon cemeated floor.
When the heavy frosts come this three inch
ss of loose earth is spewed up, and away
gees the wheat The remedy against frost
is apparent and certain, but the most of fa~m-
ers are too lazy to try it. This is drainage
and deep plougbing. We know full well how
almost utterly useless it is for us to try to
induce any farmer in the South to drain his
land. We know that it lacks decade or
theless, we shall keep pokiug the facts in
,heir faces, If any one reads believes and f
practices, his success will soon beget follow
.rs, and our aim will be achieved,
PREPARE YOUR LAND.
Plough it deep and close, with a heavy two {
,orse plow, follow in this iurrow with a.buU b
ongue. II you do not sow on clover sod, n
manure your ground well If you have no. e
aved stable manure, buy artificial manure, n
ct wood ashes, do anything, in short, to ems
ich your ground. No crop needs manure So
'uch as wheat, and in none Will pay So well j
hen, by all means manure your land. "
SELECT GOOD SEED. q
Too much stress cannot be laid on this n
natter As the seed is good or bad SO will 70
e The crop. And it is folly for farmer to
C content to use seed that he knows viii
OF yield him, on an average, ten bushels to
lie acre, when by paying a little more be 81
An obtain from fifteen to twenty bushels on NJ
lie same land That such Is the case, there "
IN be no reasonable doubt So
PUT YOUR SLED Is WELL. -
If you want to do the best thing, buy ~
ed drill. Get one with a guano attach '"'
ent SO that you can SOW any of the many 81
liable artificial manures easily. Harrow .o'
d roll your wheat after it is in the ground. 10
Jain after every freeze, when you think "a,
ur wheat has been spewel up, roll il. Fol o,[
v these directions, and our word for it, 49,.