The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-09-06
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Winter Wheat.

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ulating manures without additional
mineral fertilizers to stiffen the straw,
and fill the berry Many wheat crop
is laid or rusted, and the farmers hopes
blighted, by want of lime, salt, or phos- |
phoric acid in addition to the barn-yard
manure There is rarely danger of too
much of the latter, if proper proper
tions of the former are used. In pro- ::
portion to the richness of the soil in
vegetable and animal matter mineral
manures are to be used. When the soil
is we'll filled with decomposing vegeta-
bic matter, fifty bushels of lime per
acre may be used with the best effect.
This should be drawn fresh from the
kiln after the last blowing, exposed in
small heaps to the rain until finely
Stacked, and then Immediately spread
evenly, and narrowed into the soil. Its
beneficial effect will be in proportion to
its fneness, and to the evenness with
which it is spread. If forty bushels
per acre is the quantity chosen, lines
two rods apart should be staked out
both ways across the field, and bushel
dropped at each intersection. Each
bushel will then when spread cover four
square rods or two rods square. If less
or more in proportion is to be spread,
the heaps should be lesser or greater
to suit One rod each way is very
convenient distance to throw the lime
from a shovel and this plan will be
found as good as any, if not the best.
The effect of lime is to stiffen the straw,
produce hard, clear berry with thin
husk which shells readily beneath the
mill-stones, and thus tends to produce
finer, whittier -four. An application of
four bushels of salt per acre in the
Spring has almost exactly the same
effect, but great secondary advantage
of the lime is, its beneficial effect on the
grass and clover. 1t is "the one thing
needful for them, and the effect of the
salt is only temporary and to benefit
the wheat It is more than question:
BILE if super-phosphate of lime applied
in the Fall pays expenses. Its effect is
solely on the grain, and long before the
opening of the growing season in the
Spring, the solubility of this fertilizer is
destroyed. Super-phosphate has habit
of "going back on the farmer Meet
ing with lime or other alkaline sub
stances in the soil, the free phosphoric
acid forms an insoluble compound, and
thus "goes back" to its first estate, that
of insoluble phosphate of lime. Applied
when the wheat is we'll started in the
Spring, its effect is more apparent
The great need of the wheat plant in
the Fall is to get vigorous growth,
which shall enable it to Withstand the
changes of weather which is fatal to q
weak and sickly plant Super-phos-
plate of lime not supplying this present
need, is not therefore always profitably
applied at the Fall sowing. If sufficient
barn-yard manure is not within reach,
a substitute may be found to some
extent in guano or some of the ammon-
iaeal manures, as flesh or blood prepar-
ations, but without fair allowance of
stable manure wheat is not likely to he
a satisfactory crop and rye should be
substituted .-.a
The choice of seed is one to be made
with caution. 1t is not every soil that
will produce white wheat White wheat
needs a rich soil, well drained On
soils which are gravelly, or inclined to
loan, amber wheats are to be preferred.
Diehl wheat bears a good reputation,
and high price, and is probably the
safest of the white varieties. Tread
we'll is an excellent amber wheat, and
may be relied upon as proof against
the nudge. 1t produces choice -four,
and yields we'll On the average run
of soils the harder red whcats will be
found the safest to sow. Where it is
thought expedient to make experiments
in trying new seeds, they should be
made cautiously and with small guam
titles, lest whole crop might be lost
by failure. As wheat cannot mix when
different varieties are sown near each
other in the same field, strip of some
new variety might very probably be
sown each year as test. In this way,
if successful, stock of seed is procur-
ed, and if it fails, but little harm is
done.
The quantity of seed sown to the
acre should depend on the character of
the soil to a great extent. On rich soil,
able to produce strong plant, thin
sowing should be the rule In an ex-
pertinent made few years ago under
exactly equal conditions, the writer
raised thirty-five bushels with five pecks
of seed per acre, twenty-five bushels
with seven pecks. and only fifteen bush
els with ten pecks. The same result
has been reached by others and with
other grains When sown thinly the
wheat plant tillers," or spreads enor-
mously. Thirty stalks have been count
ed, and in some instances many more,
from single root, each having an ear,
in places on an edge of field where
this popularity of the wheat plant had
q favorable opportunity to be developed.
Botanically, the wheat plant (Triticum
vulgare) belongs to the same genus of
grasses as the quack grass, (Triticum
repens) and possesses a somewhat SINH
lar habit Of spreading from the root
This, of course, is encouraged by thin
sowing, and materially prevented by
thick sowing. But it is only on strong,
rich soils that the plant will be so vigor-
Gus as to be able to throw out off-shoots,
and therefore the thin sowing would
fail on lands of different character
On poor lands Cat least comparatively
not less than two bushels should he
sown. On really poor lands, Chat is,
on lands that would not produce more
than fifteen bushels of corn or 1900
pounds of hay per acre, wheat will be
a most Improbable crop, and rye should
be sown instead. But any crop on such
lands is improbable, and the owner of
such farm should at once turn his at
tention toward improvement, as it will
never pay to farm land too poor to grow
wheat
Wheat is very often seriously affected
by fungoil parasitic disease known as
rust and smut An effective remedy
against it is found in steepinp the seed