The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1868-04-17
Hors. joelng Wheat.

ut the present time, it seems possible
and practicable, Notwithstanding the
high price Of labor. to try the expert
iuent-if it need be called an expert
ment-ef hurse.hoeing our wheat
That it will increase the yield there
is no doubt: and very little that it will
improve the quality, destroy weeds,
mitigate dron.ht, promote growth,
hasten maturity. and resist or antici-
pate insect attacks. With red wheat
ut 81 80 in the bin. will it not pay to
II a sy stem of horse hoes over level
rrairivs. At tie rate of several acres
per day. VIII not q saving Of forty
per cent. Of the seed, by wide drilling
To facilitate hocing, pay a large por-
tion to one dollar, with the right sort
Of an implement for c~ultivatipg, would
lav every cen of the cost.
Too much seed is used in wheat cul-
ture. Scarcely less than twenty mil.
lions Of acres will suffice for the wheat
area Of the United States. requiring
nearly thirty millions OF bushels Of
seed and little more than ten bushels
per acre are produced. Ten millions
of bushels Of this seed. worth perhaps
sixteen millions of dollars, might be
saved to the country, sold tor bread.
and the proceeds applied to the cult
walton Of growing wheat, with a fair
probability Of obtaining by such
means more than twenty additional
millions of bushels for the bread of
the nation. So large a portion of this
seed is no wasted by sowing at irregn.
lar intervals and at unequal depths.
and so much is choKed by weeds. that
farmers say they cannot use a less
quantity: but with universal drilling,
at a width sufficient 10 allow the til
lering and growth which would result
from hoeing or cultivating. two. thirds
of the present supply would be more
than ample.
Is not a severe reflection upon the
Judgment and skill of wheat growers
i"rnished by the fact that ninety nine
of a hundred of them run ont" their
seed in a few years. and depend upon
the special culture and superior judy
ment of the remaining one to furnish
them with improved seed at 81 or IS
per bushel.
About n bushel in every seven
produced in the United States is saved
Tor seed, when the requirement should
be no more than mi for every twenty.
Thus millions o. sbushels are wasted,
buried in the earth with no pospect Of
resurrection. and sacrificed to igno.
I'M and thrlttlessness. 1t is taking
the children's bread. without the poor
satisfaction of having fed a dog with it.
Snch waste may be avoided. Thin
seeding is impracticable with poor
culture, thopgh'the result varies little
whether it is thick or thin; it is not
only practicable, bnt necessary, in
connection with deep ploughing,
thorough tillage, and hoeing for the
purpose of killing weeds. admitting
air, and retaining moisture about the
roots Of the plant.
Abundant evidence of the value of
horse-hoeing can be furnished, not
only from Europe, where no progress
sive farmer thinks Of emitting it, but
in this country. A correspondent Of
this Department, in North Carolina,
last year drilled one pound nine oun-
ces OF Tappahannock wheat, at inter
walls Of eighteen inches, and cultivated
between the drills; the result was 1S6
pounds of wheat, or about one hun
dred and twenty to one. instead Of
seven to one, our average product Of
late. X. A. Gilpin. of West Chester,
Pennsylvania, in 1866, drilled one.
acre, az intervals of twenty inches,
and the remainder Of the field at ten
inches, and obtained nine bushels per
acre from the narrow drilling without
hoeing. and twenty.three bushels from
the wide drilling with once cultiva.
ting with a one-horse hoe-harrow.-
Thus a single hoeing produced four
teen bushels of wheat. worth $50, be-.
side saving one-half OF the seed 10
drilling. A fact in cotton growing.
Just received, illustrates the value Of
thorough cultivation, whether applied