Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1871-09-21
Gu the caIslgasion OF waeat.

Any one who has paid any a ten ten 10
the wheat pyoduct Of the United States,
comparing The yield per sore il past years
with what il is al present, cannot fail 10
be struck wieh the fact that in the beet
wheat growing regions Of the older States
the product OF grain per acre fer long
time steadily declined, bu. that recently.
through more judieioas cultivation, lie
average yiel2, taxing inso cQhsiders ton
The area unde7 cultivation, has gradually
| but slowly increased, ai'hough Il hos nos
yea reached. except in rare instances, the
agreeable produos OF tho original soil. 4
quarter Of cees9.y ago he average pro-
duet ofwheat III Maryland did not much
| exceed se7on bushels Il size acre. Since
thea The average il good seasons has
risen 10 fifteen bushels, thus more than
doubling the crop a similar decline
and a SINH isr liz provemant ie observable
in the reports. from all tla older States
since fertilizers havo been Bloro literally
employed, and better system Of cultiva-
ton has taken the place Of the ed sloycn-
~ practices. Bus Ne. are far from hav-
| ing reached the maximum Weld. There
are occasional Instances of The yield reach-
ing thirty sal fhirty Eve Bushels to the
acre, 6G: these instances are few az
compared With these wlioh indicate re-
turns Of ten, twelve and fourteen bushels.
The samo results are observable in tie
Y esteem States. The best wheat grow ing
regions thore ara losing their former fer
tility, and The wheat S9lda from hioh !Lo
heaviest supplies are drawn for sale in the
Chicago and St Louis markets aFe those
that have beea newly opeaad TO whc at
culture. In short, tla groas wheat
granny OIL the United States has bcoa
STEADILY moving further YES tward and the
cost Of transportation toSthe eastern mar
ketshas increased in proportion to the
distances OF the fields from VII ich tho
wheat crops are drawn.
The advantage. to she older States lies
in this-tLa5 they are occupied by . dense
popu latlon tnat Tue best aheat markets,
whether for home consumption OF for
expectation, are III their midst, are
easily accessible both by rail snd water.
and the cost Of transportation is light,
whilst The wheat offered for sale brings
tho highest market prices. AL these
circumstances age il favor Of sthe wheat
grove rs Of the elder States. and even noW
tend 10 couDterbaIaace the heavier acgea-
Bile yiela Of the newly opened Western
States. BUs there is no earthly Eeaeon
Why tie product in the Atlantic gj6fa5
should nos be equal 80 that Of the bost
WesseTu soils. Lands are never e1haus-
ted except by carelessness and imprvvi.
dence. When farmers take everything
OBJ their land, even 10 the straw, and
put little oc nothing back upon it, Of
course BY constant cropping the land viii
wear ou<. But the lands of Engla and
Germany and France Shave been un5c1
tiIlaee for q thoagani ycar8-we say
nothing Of the lands Of China-and SINCE
science has been bought to bear on the
cultivation Of the soil, the wheat cs0p IL
numerous Instances has been brought up
to forty-64e bushels the acre, and the
average. except in bad seasons has rarely
fallen below twenty-five. the climate in
England especially, IS moreover. greatly
aga inst the farmer. whilst with us it Is
unezceptiouably good. Ii is. therefore
but fair to say shat ii VIC pursue their
methods lime and ferliiize as libe: jaHy
as they DO, shat our ocoPs should BE- 81
least equal 70 theirs.
And, now, what have we to DO to
bring about tals result? 10 the frst
place We must steadily pursue system of
cultivation snd q system Of manuring.
which instead Of robbing annually the
50 il Of part Of It's plant food, should
rive to It more .dan has been carried
Of in the crops. We knew by the ana
lvtioal tables that have been frequently
given in The pages Of the maryland Farm
er that the essential constituents Of q
good wheat soil are potash, so3s, phos-
phate Of lime, carbonate OF lime and sill
60. We throw out the silica, for that is
au2erabuntly found in almost every soil.
We have then 10 look principally for
potash. aodG, carbonate. of lime, and
Dhosphate of li1ne. If these are pres
ent IN good quantities, and the sell is not
TOO 7ight, the wheat product is bound to
be good il good season and under clean
y and thorough preparatory t:Hage II
these are de6cien in quantity. or ANY CT
then missing, the crop viii be eight.
Under such circumstances, what is to be
doae2 One oftvo means may be resor-
ted to-First. lining and moderate manur-
ing until the land viii bring good Clover.
This turned under viii in rottiug, give
to the so1 Az the constituents that crop
Of wheat requires, for strange to say, tho
constituents oil the ash Of the Clover and
those OF The ash OF The wheat, both stem
and gram, run parallel with each
other. Hence. as every good farmer
knows, clover turned under is an excaJ-
lsnt preparation for wheat The quicker
method is to supply The same constituents
either By c0mpos Is made en- The farm, or
By the use OF commercial fertilizers. The
best mixture Of tie latter kind IS i com.
bination Of soluble phosphate Of gimo which
is better known BY some as bone dust,
pot ash and soda--or their equivalent Of
unleached wood ashos land small per-
oentago ofamouia. From two hundred
and City to tbree hundred poaads u che
acre of tie above mixture would not only
restore TO the wheat crop the constituents
ii lacked, but would have residue for the
next erop.-Moryla'ad Farmer.