The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-21
S,o,oneI WilIis,s Crop or wheat.

colonel WilIis,ss Crop OF Wheat.
Editors of the american Farmer go,
Dear Sirs,--YoW letter Of the 1lth m
slant has been received; and ! reply VILE
pleasure, as the crop about Whlcn you LII
q,.ire may develop facts useful 70 the assri !,
cultural community. >.
The statement which has attractea your
attention is strictly true, yet it may pfooucs
an impression that the crop Is much bettel
than It really is. still consider It the pest
field of wheat have ever harvested, yet II IL
Yields an average Of twenty bushels to the acre
it will be quite as much as expect. lou
will see, therefore, that / have not peen !,
very successful wheat-grower. l have hearo
of, but have never seen, forty-pusnei CROPS,
and in forty years experience l DOUBT my
having ever seen ten acres ~hich nave yieioee u
forty bushels to the acre. This crop anu
that which preceded it on the same neia naS
confirmed my opinion that soluole pnos'
phate of lime, ready fol. plant 1000, IS "hai
our soils most need for the productlon OF
wheat. ;,-sst rsa.t .".,s
You may remember that more than a year
ago promised to furnish for publication my
experience in pursuit OF phosphates, ana
especially with the phosphate rock OF south
Carolina. This I will try to do IN time LOT
your August issue, as / think that an eApe-
rieuce of more than thirty years IN pursuit
of this most useful fertilizer may be OF some
service to your readers.
, But to the crop of which you inquire.
This was the sixth successive crop TAKEN
from the field-a field, too, which IS. con-
sidered the poorest on the farm. Inns Is
their order: First, corn; second, wheat anu
oats; third, oats and hay; fourth, corn
fifth. wheat; sixth, wheat. The four frst
were without fertilizers or manure OF an!
kind. On the two last, fertilizers, especlaiiy
phospbatcs, were literally but not lavishly
used. $500. ~
In the winter and spriDg Of 1871 portion
of the field was double or trench plouShed,
with No. 6. Livingston plough and three
strong horses, followed in the same furro"
By Watt plough and two, steady muies.
he land was broken fourteen inches, but
The soil not subverted to that depth. LII was
by far the best plougbing have ever had OF
seen done, and if time and team had per-
milted it would have been continued over
the whole field. In the fall OF 1871 the
whole area of about seventy acres was soWn
in wheat after corn, when four tons OF plas-
ter, half 4 ton of Peruvian guano, three tons
phosphate rock, were applied, partly broad
r,st and partly with the drill. These fer.
| tiIizers at the then ruling prices would have
cost 1920. or. rather, over 50 per acre. Ny
figures are accurate as to the Peruvian guano
and dissolved phosphate. There may nave
been more plaster and undssolyed rock, but
the whole could not have reached $3.50 per
acre. The best wheat was from South caro-.
lima phosphate rock, ground and dissolved
at nv own mill; second best, from undls-
solved South Carolina phosphate rockelna
Peruvian guano; third, from dissolved Soutn
Carolina phosphate rock, bought OF Ober q
sons. and on the rest Of the field used a
mixture of undissolved South Carolina phos-
plate and plaster, with little il any apparent
| benefit. You will observe that from 30e to
400 pounds to the acre were applied.
The summer Of 1872, when the Wncat
stubb!e was fallowed, was very dry, ana the
land UNANIMOUSLY poughed, scarce half broken
and in cIods, upon which the heaviest lar
row had no effect. No implement knoWn'o
me but Croskil's clOdcrusher would have
put the field in order, and that l did not
have. finally resorted to haevy log, drawn
bv six oxen, and with this primitive but
effective implement most OF the field was
made SMOOTH enough for the drill.
On all the land where the drill could be
used ! applied the fertilizer at from 2O0 TO
225 pounds to the acre. This was done with
very great accuracy when drilled. When
the wheat and fertilizers had to be soWn
broadcast the same accuracy could not be
attained. About one and a half bushels OF
wheat was sown to the acre. Some few head
lands were cross-dried without altering the
gauge, thus giving four hundred pounds of
fertilizer and three bushels Of wheat to the
acre. and these headlands diS not appear to
he too thick, and intend to repeat this eX-
pertinent on a square of one hundred or
more yards.
The whole field was sown from the 5th to
the 18th of October. The varieties of wheat
used were: First, Boughton: second, a
beautiful white wheat called Italian, about
six days earlier than the Boughton or Tappa-
hammock; and third, an amber wheat, bought
in Richmond, name unknown, just t2rce
DAYS earlier than the Boughton. Both these
last wheats are beardless, and / think are
likely to prove useful varieties. AS the crop
is unthreshed, l cannot report its yield.
Whilst l do not claim to have made very
heavy crop, the resu is altogether satistae-
torv. and demonstrates, / think, most con-
clusiyely the necessities of phosphate ma
nures for successful wheat growing. OF this,
however, have for years been fully con.
Yiu,ed. .--....r -...
The fertilizer used was prepared by Mr..
Sapgston, of the Maryland Fertilizing Conn
pany, from a formula furnished by myself.
1t varies but little from (anf l am not dis
posed to claim for it any superiority over
the regular Maryland fertilizer of that COM
pany. At the suggestion Of Mr.. Sangston,
one ton of this last was used, with an effect
quite equal, but by no means superior, 10
tbat of my own formula. This happened to
be used on the land fertilized last year with
the South Carolina phosphate rock, dissolved
by myself. The area for wheat was reduced
to about sixty acres, some eight or ten acres
having been sown in winter oats. Upon this
used six tons CT fertilizer, at il cost OF $50
per ton, or about s. to the acre.
On tue crop to be sown this fall, which
will not exceed sixty or seventy acres, shall
use the South Carolina phosphate rock, dis.
solved, with little ii any addition of any
kind, certainly without Peruvian guano, as
consider the ammonia from that source as
too costly for its benefits.
am convinced that with liberal use Of
phosphate>, and peas or buckwheat to be
sown and ploughed under after harvest, the
same field may be repeated in wheat with an
annually increasing crop, aud intend TO try
ii OH the field which goes in wheat this year,
and if the experiment succeeds 1t will be OF
very great value to the farmers. This Is too
obvious to need demonstration.
The phosphate rock of South Carolina,
without an acid to dissolve it, is inert aud
almost valueless when dissolved, it affords
an inexhau-tibe supply Of the best wheat
food, and is far more valuable than similar
deposit of the best Peruvian guano would
be. Very respectfully yours,
JOHN WILLIS.
Oakburn, Orange county, Va., July IL, '73.
Retaining the Aftermath.