Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1878-09-18

MARYLAND need a peck mole than these!
Why should the people in New jersey
seed nearly two bushels broadcast and a
bushel and two pecks with the dill,
while those Of Indiana, on the same
parallel, seed only bushel and a bail
broadcast and bushel and apeck IN
drill?
The answer to these questions is
easy. There are no fixed ideas on the
subject, and the point you make, to
have it discussed, is well taken.
Experiments have not been had IN
this country as in England There eX-
| periments have been made systematl-
cally and extensively, and their ex-
periments have taught them so lar to
use but little over one-halt The SEED
their forefathers used.
The only influence the English e1-
periments have had on our people is 10
induce a disposition 70 use little less
than they did. In North Carolina
South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas
they seed bushel only.
| remember that in this immediate
section. one ofthe best in the eastern
part of the state, as ia: back as 1853
and 1857, two bushels was not con-
sidered thick seeding, and often TWO
and fourth or two and a half BUSHES
were seeded. Now scarcely more than
| bushel and half is ever seeded. Sui
the seeding inclines 10 be too thick.
In 1919, when but a boy, l remem-
bered to have seen at my fathers
twenty acre lot seeded with three pecks
ner acre of the old "Wood6u" or
s.purple straw" wheat, which made
| twentv-three bushels per acre. That
variety of wheat was scarce at thal
| time. and was scattered over large
surface to get as much as possible from
the seed. Bat with that amount oil
seedlt made all the land could or ever
did make. That variety, however,
stoeled out better than most any other
we haye had.
/ remember that IN 1855 was seed
inc the old ''blue stem," a red wheat,
on fallow, and was putting on one
hundred pounds Peruvian guano' had
living with me, as oversesr, an Old gen
tlemau, a frst-rate farmer, who was a.
bile TO do but little more than carry my
KEYS and advise me. l was seeding the
wheat myself, and had gone over about
an acre. when he came up in front OF
me. l stopped and asked him II ne
thought would get paid for the work
was deing ut was not warm day.
he said, mo, not if you SOW 1t as thick
as tbat.n l told him l was putting on
a bushel and half TO the acre. " I es"
he said, "and you are putting on Just a
half bushel too much, ana are throwing
away that much wheat. 1t will look
we'll all winter and spring and so back
in NAV; and in June, when you cut IL;
tbo heads will be about one inch long,"
Ofcourse | followed his advice, and re-
duced the quantity 10 bushel. Inc
difference ia favor Of the thin seeding
was. at harvest time, at least one nun
dred per cent. l have remembered the
old man ever since, and tried to avoid
Throwing away" wheat" O.
In the fall of 1876, l seeded a lot oil
| pretty good land, putting on two nun
dred pounds per acre OF Allsoh 9, q
Addison Complete Wheat Manure"
Less than a bushel per acre OF large
Lancaster wheat was seeded. The es-i-
mated Weld OF this crop was from % 10
Is bushels per acre. The balance CT the
land was poor, except two acres OF
bottom, and was treated IN tne same
was. The average yield ier the crop
was Ia bushels. The crop was the iull
canacitv of the land, with less than q
bushel of very large grain. The wheat
was seeded IN the first three weeks Of
October. lift had been seeded later l
SHOULD have put in more to make 1t
rlpen sooner and avoid rust.
of course, there are many things
entering into the estimate OF how much
wheat 10 sow, such as the time, the
variety of wheat and condition OF land.
But | am satisfied from observation and
experience thata bushel and a peck IS
enough for any land, and that on most
of our thin eastern soils less Than a
bushel were better.
The California people seem to THINK
so. for On their fine wheat lands, which
produce fabulous yields, they only seed
bushel and little over peck bread
cast. With the drill they would seed
about eighteen per cent. less. II the
lands of California are well sc eded with
one bushel and one peck, why crowd
our poor eastern lands until, according
to MIR. Varlo, quoted by Col. Knight,
thirty ears which ought to have one
root, have thirty roots and no grain?
took head Of Fultz wheat from
nelchbots field from a stool ofsiX stalks.
1t had thilty-five good grams. L took
four heads from where it was growing
thick. The four heads had forty grains
not so good. The SIX heads held a
space OF about ten inches.
A gentleman asked another, in my
presence, "Why is Mr.. BPS horse al
ways so fat he only gives him SIX
ears of corn for feed!" "Oh," said
the other, "but he plants his corn three
tee by five, single stalk, and one ear is
equal 10 three common ones ~
Many person seed their wheat on the
rough corn land and harrow it in. Much
of it falls into the uneyen spaces or IS
carried forward Cd the corn stubble and
many places are LETT bare, and, seeing
these bare places, the inexperienced
think the wheat too thin.
Let the land be smooth and the wheat
evenly distributed, and it will hardly
ever be too thin.
Second. AS TO the time for seeding:
In this section, L don't know a farmer
who would not, IF he could, get his
wheat in by the tenth Of October. But
where a large crop is seeded this cannot
be well done.
Seeding on land that will not bring
more than ten or twelve bushels to the
acre ought to commence by the twenty
fifth Of September. Rich land will
make crop seeded very late, but l
never saw a rem lucrative crop made
from any land seeded after the tenth Of
November, and hardly after the first.
1t may pay expenses, and carry the land
forward to clover, sc. , but 1t will hardly
ever do mere.
l seeded last fall a five acre lot on
the eighteenth Of November, four weeks
after the rest of the crop, on account
of The rains. One acre OF the lot had