The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-10-16
FALL SEEDING.

iect of fall seeding. He said that in
bringing before the club the results of
his practice and observation on the sub
jebta Of fall seeding, he would coniine
himself merely to those species of vegeta-
ton moStjalIiedHto the interests of the
farmer, namely:
CEREALS AND GRASSES There arc,
two species of wheat in cultivation,
Tutum Hybernum, or winter, and Tuti-
cum .Estivunl, or spring wheat. TO the !
former of these we shall contine our, at
tention. The preparation of the soil for
the reception of the seed will very much
depend upon the preceding crop. In the
British Isles, where the crops follow each
other in systematic order, it usually
follows u green crop. Very often, how
ever, there, as here, it succeeds clover
crop. In this case, the land should be
neatly plowcd to the depth of six or
eight inches, the seed sown broadcast
and narrowed i'll. If Il good seed bed
can not bc obtained, the hest plan is to
harrow down and sow with': drill across
the line ofplowing. So,
= USE OF LIME.-rhc use of lime to the
soil as a finale 10 the preparatory culti-
vation will be found most beneficial
Lime enters into the constitution of both
plants and animals, it forms !. large per-
centage of the bones of man and beast
and is found in no inclnsidcrable proper
ton in the ashes Of orr cultivated
plants The soil best suited to wheat is
Il calcareous foan,i and hence the import
ance of lime being ;present in the soil.
Lime acts chemically and mechanically
upon the soil. 1t tears asunder the con
stitution of the soil and 'liberates plant
food. All plants excrcte matter deleter-
ious i'll their system, which is continual
ly accommodating in the soil. In this
country, where the crop is consecutive
for Il number of years, there is no mate
rial which can be more .judiciously APP
piled to the soil than lime. A short
time ago it was my good fortune to spend
an evening with Il friend, IL farmer in the
Illinois bottom. In walking over the
farm my attention was arrested by a crop
of winter cabbages Gin reality it was only
half crop.) On inquiry, 1 found the
same crop to have been grown on the
same field for the past six or eight years.
On pulling up Il head of the cabbage
found the base of the stem encircled with
number of little nodes full of little in
sects, and the soil around the roots
mass of fungoid matter; malformation
was the peculiar disease resulting from
the soil being surcharged with this virrl-
lent excrementitious matter, and lime is
the great preservative.
All soils are benefited by the applica-
tion of time, even those formed from the
crumbling down of limestone rock, but
p3yticularly aluminous and alluvial, and
tlDse black peaty looking soils SO com
mon among us. Those soils naturally
contain large amount Of humic, ulmic,
fStlic and tannic acids, which have the
SiOperty OF preserving animal and vege-
lble matter from decay. Lime neutral
- {szes the aeids'and accelerates decomposi-
: < sssss1op. Lime has a great tendency tFsink
= Through the cracks and fssures OF the
earth, and hence it is generally scattered
broadcast and narrowed in.
BROADCAST, SOWING VERSUS DRILL
ING ETc.-There are four methods usu-
ally resorted lin sowing wheat, viz:
Drilling, broadcast, ribbing and. dihbling.
Drilling, rs general rule, is most pre-
terable, but contend that when a uni
form tilth and surface can be had, and
the seed scattered regularly, which is
always the case when theshandsyand feet
go IN concert with3 each 9other, there is;
no system SO commendable as broadcast
sowing. First, because each seed has an
allotted space to sustain itself, and sec
ond, because the suns heat and air are
more uniformly, admitted, thereby caus-
ing earlier maturity.
The great Jethro Tull in instituting
drill husbardry never contemplated uni
tormity of depth so much as a facility of
operation between ) the drills h1 foul
land.
Wheat is an exogenous plant, and has
a great tendency to tiller, arising from
the fact that the plumule, as it.nears. the
embryo, becomes ldilated3 and has. the
property of pushing forth three or more
stems. AS soon as the crown Of the.
plant Becomes firmly established il sends
forth. 3 number of surface roots, leaving
the plant two distinct series OF toots con,
/. nected by a small pipe or tube. The
former are knowp,as coronal and the lat
ter as seminal roots, and these are direct
evidence that the Importance and ncccs-
sity OF deep cultivation. In, the selcc-
ton OF seed we are to be guided entirely
by soil and climate, but be that as it
may, one thing is certain, that the seed
should be round and plump with IL per-
fectlyssmoOth skin and translucent color
PREPARATIoN OF SEED. Prior TO
sowing, the seed should be picked as an
antidote to smut, or red rust, ETC.; some
farmers TAR eats who are too ignorant to believe
it'or too indifferent totry it, look upon,
it as ludicrous specific, but practical
demonstration has repeatedly substan-
tiated the proof of it. OF course there
have occurred and will occur exceptions.
incubation, for example, will not insure
immunity from peura pneumonia in
cattle, yet it has been found to arrest its
ravages, and it is Che very same in pick
ling wheat