The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-10-04
RICULTUR

IMPROVED WHEAT.-Major Hallett,
who is well known to the agricultural
world on account of the variety of
wheat bearing his pane, lays down the
following rules as the result of his ex-
p%erience in wheat improvement: every
close observation during many years
hes led me to the discovery that the va
riations, in the cereals which Nature
presents to us are not only hereditary,
but that they proceed upon a fixed prin-
ciple, and from them | have deduced
the following law of development of
cereals: /. Every fully-developed
plant, whether of wheat, oats or barley,
presents an ear superior in productive
power to any of the rest on that plant.
2. Every such plant contains n grain,
which, upon trial, proves more produc-
tive than any other. 3. The best grain
in a given plant Is found In its best ear.
4. The superior vigor of this grain is
transmisSible in different degrees in its
progeny. 5. By repeated careful selec-
ton the superiority is accumulated. G..
The improvement, which is at first
rapid, gradually, after a long series of
years, is diminished in amount, and
evidently so far arrested that, practi-
cally speaking, a limit to improvement
in the desired quality is reached. z.
By still continuing to select, the i'm
provement is maintained, and prGcti-
cally a fixed type is the result" The
Major at the commencement of his at.
tempts to improve wheat assumed that
the habit of producing more than two
grains in a chest, which is only occa-
siOnal in u commOn crops, could by
proper selection be very much increased
and enlarged as a proof of the correct
ness of this theory he has produced
heads with five and six grains in a clus-
ter, ten and twelve in a circle around
the head, with one hundred and twenty
three grains per head. He by the same
means has wonderfully increased the
tillering power Of the plant until with
grains nine inches apart each way, he
obtains an ample crop of straw and an
unusual yield of grain.
PENALTY OF CARELEssNRss IN HAY
MANAGEMENT.-A writer in the New
York Tribune asserts that the difference
in value between the hay crop in this
country, as it is secured, and what it
would be if it were properly harvested,
amounts to at least sixty millions of
dollars q year. Whether he is correct
or not we cannot say, but it is certain
that our farmers do lose an immense
amount of money every year by allow
ing the hay crop to get too ripe and by
putting it in the barns in poor condi-
ton. And the fact that this Is one of
our standard crops should lead us to take
as good care of 1t as possible. In these
times we have no money to lose, either
directly or indirectly. Farmers do not
look upon damage to the hay crop as a
real loss. They use so much of the hay
at home that they think it makes but
little difference in what condition 1t Is
secured. But in this they make a great
mistake. On what is sold there Is a
direct shrlnkage in value, and on that
which is fed out there Is an indirect
but still a serious loss.
AGRICULTURAL ARITHMETIC. - Far
mers are not given to calculating how
many grains of wheat placed in a row
1t would require to circle the earth, or
problems Of q similar nature; but a lit
tie arithmetic of this kind applied to
more practical subjects is worth while,
as, for instance, the following: "Let
two machines, one cutting four feet
wide and the other five, follow each
other In grain for one day, each being
drawn a distance of twenty four miles
the former will have cut twelve acres
the latter fifteen acres. TO cut 100 acres
of wheat. the former must travel 200
miles, the latter only 100. A saving of
forty miles travel with a heavy load at
the end of 80 long a journey is a matter
of no small Importance. 1t is a saving,
too, of forty miles walking, or ten
miles for each of the four binders. 1t
is a saving, also, to the farmer of two
days labor for himself and team, and
the wages and board of the four
binders for two days, in cutting 100
acres OF grain.
In ALL systems of manuring one fact
should DO borne in mind, that manure
should be placed in as close proximity
as possible to the plants 1t Is to nourish,
since In all cases of decomposition the
d%isengaged substance enters into new
combinations at the very instant II IL
thrown of, much more rapidly than IL
does at any subsequent period. -Mdssd-
chusetts PlougRmda.