Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-04-16
Wheat.
COHciu4Cf

The proper preparation and continued man
agement Of the soil from year TO year. lies at ti
foundation Of successful wheat culture
farmer may SOW the best and most prolific varic
ties. and fail to raise a satisfactory cron d.
wheat. if the soil is not just as it should be.
In preparing the soil for wheat weuav 70 advar.
tage revert TO the practice Of the early settlers o.,
the country. Thousands ofacres werethe Of ne
oessity. raised on ground that had b5en s;url,
narrowed over without ever having been
Ploughed. The leaf mould and ashes two OPP
three inches deep afforded the best possible seel
bed, and the roots spread themselves out ne,r
the surface Of the ground instead Of rupnino
down into 1t as they do in deeply plourbed soil.
at the present day. st that time winter wheat
was almost the only kind raised. and such
thlng as iallure in the crop was wholly IN.
known. We have in the former part Of this
article pointed out the peculiar elements neces-
Safy Tor the food Of the plant, hut in order tha,
they may be available TO the plant II Is neces-
ry that they be in that part of the soil tr,,,..sl
by the roots. It Is very generally con,el-d. No.
me roots Of the winter wheat should sat INV,
down very tar into the ground. bercu.- they az
liable to be broken IN two by IL action az tb-
irost but on the other hand = is claimed 81.
the spring variety should W permitted 20 u me
ITS root, down as far - aaay be in search Of -
and drink. Draining and pulverization If IL
snostratum by the use Of the subsoil rlo,,,I,
ana the tap roots Of the clover plant b.rea
good effect on the crop but turning under tie
elements Of fertility that the roots ,g,,st ,,,
uo"n ia search oil food, always, SO far At -el.,
- oui observation extends, results in iniurv r,
HHr Hhn L.
have ever seen in Vermont were croyyr g
corn on an inverted sod without the 500
pioughing. The sod was turned over in "A I
Just before planting time, aud a % spring
yard manure spread on and tho ID coat Il
'. WIN the surface soil by har- .oughiy ms.T
me ned was marked ~ wing, after ~ ch
plough aud manure - w. with = .i,Lt
.na' lne hogs p in the hin with hors dung
n dps d worked over. Inc CT op was
= :. uu ,5e5 and kept free from W Is, and
80 harvested by cutting it up at the
Tbe next spring Shares cultyator
~, mon the field and it was WORKED INTO
w w ttg,b two or three inches deep, and the
Ii soyrn and the field thoroughly cross har-
- with the same implement Inc seed IA
his wav was quite uniformly ouilel' niue
anv heipc trodden down or otherwise bured So
-ot 10 come up. An abundance Of fer
81. lrsr, ms
~ cr7,, was all that could reasonably he de
- Several farmers Of our acquaintance
- .,-s.ticad this method for five or more
- With inyariable success The same treat
y,ept has resulted in equally good crops after
notstoes. the only difficulty experenceu oeing
he tendency Of the potatoes to rot where sum
cient manure was put upon the ueia lor ootn
800 This NAV, however, be successfully
rardeiied by applying superphosphaie, or some
other concentrated composted manure that
has not a tendency to force the growth OF straw
10 the detriment Of che wheat. Very hne crops
- winter wheat are frequently grown after
nessor beans. and we are inclined 90 believe that
the treatment last mentioned would be very sue
cessf1l in such cases, although We cannot speak
from actual experience or observation upon that
point
In an old Genesscc Farmer We find the fol-
lowing The best large field Of wheat We
ever saw in England, was on calcareous loan
that had been two years in red clover, grazed
with sheep, which a considerable portion Of the
time were allowed pound Of oil cake per day
1t was ploughed about three inches deep, Just
before sowing. and bushel and half Of seed
drilled in per acre, one foot apart in the drills
The yield was ffty-hve bushels per acre. Of
course we do not kn0lr that the yield would
have been less had the surface matter been
turned six or ten inches under, we have every
reason to suppose that such would have been
the case. Other experiments have succeeded
best where only bushel Of seed was drilled in
and some wonderful crops have been raised from
peck Of seed 10 the acre.
Another serious defect in the prevailing svs-
TEN Of putting in the crop is the use Of the old
style Of straightforward harrow. its use hard
ems the ground and but partially covers the
seed at best, while the newer styles Of i'm
plements Of the cutivaior class raise the sur
face soil and the seed. and thoroughly mix them
together and yet leave the ground perfectly
mellow.
The preparation of the seed is another mat
ter that is often overlooked. Many farmers hold
that the seed should be put into the ground in