Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-10-25
Wheat Culture.

p 40 IO OAC DlO0oCG VI Gl1C
soil that is more nearly related to domes-
tic economy and a nations finances,
which affects the nations prosperity and
well-being to an equal extent, as the in
fluence exerted by this single crop,
whether short or an abundant one; for
upon it, to large extent, are the people
of all nations dependent for their bread
It's importance, then, to the people should
place it high In the scale Of culture and
improvement with all culturists. How is
the fact in this respect in all the wheat
growing sections of the United States?
Let individual culturists answer, and ask
themselves, Do l do my best, or am l try
ing to improve the quality and product on
my own farm? All improvement in this
line must devolVe upon individual effort;
advice and theory are good, SO far as they
go, but one ounce of practice will weigh
down a pound of the former; yet, with
out them there would often be failure in
practice; the two together establish fact
and science.
All varieties of plants have an appro-
pirate Or natural soil and climate, in
which they will thrive best; yet many of
them are endowed with flexibility Of
structure to such an extent that their
natural elements may be greatly increased
by culture. The wheat, through culture,
has given a great number of varieties,
some best adapted to one one soil and
climate, some to another, yet each pos
sessing the quality or power of adapting
itself, by culture, to widely different soil,
etc.. yet in our selection Of seed for SOW
ing, reference should be made to the soil
on which it grew, as also the soil on
which it is to be sOwn, as any radical
change affects the product materially,
and to this cause often may be ascribed
the reason of failure or partial failure of
variety to succeed in new locality.
When our country was new, with
virgin soil, wheat succeeded in 8 large
portion of it; yet after the lapse of years
its culture ceased to be a paying one.
Why this deterioration in the yield and
quality? The question is frequently ask
ed, and as often answered, in theory at
least Wheat is grain composed of GER
tain elements which it draws from the
soil; the soil, of course, must hold these
elements in proportion, and in such astate
as to yield them readily to the growing
crop, and at the proper stage, or it will
vary in quality as well as the proportion
of its elements. If the soil contains all
the requisite elements, and crop is taken
from that soil, it stands to reason that the
soil has lost a portion of it's elements, and
in order again to produce an equally good
crop there must be some return made
thereto, although there may be such a
thing if good culture otherwise is given,
that several crops may be taken from soils
without any perceptible deterioration; yet
still the fact is plain that if something is
taken from something less remains; now
if that something is returned to the soil
there can be no deterioration from that
cause.
There are one or two leading principles
which should be adopted by all wheat
culturists, which I will here briefly refer
to; and first 1 will allude to seed and its
preparation for sowing. All seed should
be thoroughly 1ipe and of selected
quality, grown expressly for seed,
carefully threshed and cleaned, all
lighter and imperfect grains thrown
out. You may say this is big job
where large area is 10 be sOwn, requlr-
ing large amount of seed. | am perfect
ly well aware of this fact, but it is no
more proportionally than for the
less area and the Importance of the
crop demands. The selected seed should,
just previous to sowing, be washed in
salt water strong enough to bear up po-
tato-drained and dried off in dry slaked
lime. In washing, all light seed and all
impurities should be SKINNED off The
importance of this careful preparation
will be evident in the cropped product
The next and last item, which should
properly come first, is blowing and pre-
pairing the ground for sowing. The i'm
portance of thorough plowiDg and filming
the soil for the seed is seldom fully real
lied, and less frequently practiced. The
soil cannot impart to the growing. plant
its nutriment unless it is unlocked; and
the key to this unlocking is pulverization
of the soil through blowing, etc. Of
equal Importance IS it that the soil should
be broken up deep down in the suhsoil,
that neither drought nor wet may affect