The daily gazette., 1876-07-27
improved Method in wheat Culture

is addressed to the Commissioner
of the Department of Agriculture
at Washington, d. by G., Mr.. John
VI. Heiges, of York, York county,
Pennsylvania, under date Of May
20, 1876: In rep'y to yours of the
18th instant, requesting me TO
give you an article on the ''princi-
Lle' l have adopted in wheat cul-
ture, and its results, | would say:
l commenced farming about
eight years ago. My success in
raising wheat was not very salts
factory, and as 1 did not believe
in seeding with a drill, | scored my
ground with shove plow, sowed
broadcast, and narrowed in. I
thought mywheatlooked much bet
ter than adjoining fields sown
with the drill; still, not being sat
isfied, and believing that | could
not raise crop of corn orpotatoes
without cultivatiug, ] asked my
self this question: Would it not
pay to cultivate wheat the same
as corn. In the summer OF 1872 |
manured about three acres OF
ground, plowed it down about the
10th of August, and let it lie until
about the Goth Of September, when
l plowed it a secOned time and
narrowed well. | then measured
of a sixth of an acre, and used a
common hoo to make scores about
five inches wide, and as nearly
level on the bottom as they could
be made left a space Of about
six inches wide between the scores
1 sowed on said plot eight quarts
of Fullz wheat on the 25th of Sep
tember, and raked it in. In the
spring of 1878, | hood the spaces
between the wheat once in April
and once the first week of May.
Sowed clover after the last hoeing;
and had a fine crop of clover.
When the wheat came into heads,
/ found them much larger than
those of the same variety sowed
the same day on adjoining ground
of the same kind of soil, and the
whole treated alike as to manur-
ing and ploughing. / harvested
and thrashed from the plot n lit
tlo over eight bushels, or nearly
donblo the amount per acre pro-
duced on tho remainder of thefield.
l always plow twice for wheat
and very deep.
In the fall of 1873 ! sowcd all
my wheat on tho same principle,
but making my scores with . /
double mould-board cultivator) a
bout eight inches wide, and the
ridges about ten inches wide,
sowed broadcast and narrowed
lengthwise once, then dragged to
level the ground. In the spring
Of 1874 | cultivated a plot of one
acre. Ihoed part of the plot onco,
part twice, and the remainder
throc times. On the part hoed
once tho heads were about one
eighth larger than where l did not
hoe; on the part hoed twice they
were still larger; and on the plot
hood three times they were larger
yet, some of them measuring near
ly six inches in length, and salts
flying me that it pays to hoe three
times. The yield from the crop
cultivated was So bushels per acre;
from the remainder of tho field %
bushels per acre. Oh course did
not SOW the plot | hoed to grass.
The remainder Of the field was
sowed with timothy and clover.
In the fall Of 1874 again put
my foot on the same principle.
Some of it | lett without spring
cultivation. l found that the
heads of that which | did not cul-
tivate were larger than the heads
of the same variety put in with
the drill, but not anything in COM
parison with the heads on the
ground which ! cultivated. | have
a lot of ground containing 90
square yards-less than the third
OF all aere-on which | sowed Is
quarts Of o new variety Of wheat,
which | had made by cross-fertit-
ization. using as parents Arnold's
hybrid No. . and Fultz; tho for
mer being whito wheat, stiff straw,
and the latter being a red wheat.
The yield from that lot was 164
bushels, or about 49S bushels per
acre. Gave it only one hoeing in
the spring Of 1875, lii the fall OF
1874 procured l found of seed
ola wheat imported from one OF
the German States, some person
having brought it with him from