Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1878-07-13
GRANGER'S DEPARTMENT.
Double Your Wheat Crop.

tnlS SO-duSau aSS,""~
ment, that of cultivating. wheat by
novel process will produce double re-
suits 1t seems that we are never done
learning. and that the schoolmaster him
self still keeps learning little, and will
hand down TO posterity the many new
ideas that his mind has grasped. Cul-
tivating wheat, and 10! double crops
the result Farmers, what do you think
of that. What would you have done
with all the wheat in Jefferson this year
if you had of had the Groff's system in
operation? Your granaries would not
have held the crop-you would have
been compelled TO have enlarged them
in advance, for the present crop will be
about as much as you can manage stor-
age for.
1t seems that the Croft system of cul-
tivaiing wheat has been a wonderful
success. Mr.. Croft resides in Lancaster
county, Pa, and he is the gentleman
who has astonished the farming world,
and who, this year, has attracted hun
dreds of the best farmers in the United
States to view his wheat fields before
cutting. To give our farmers an intel
ligent idea of this new process OF cult
waiting wheat We publish an extract OF
what is said about the visit to Mr.
Groffs wheat fields by delegation OF
practical men from Washington county,
Md, headed by Hon. VIM. II. Hamil-
ton, who give their views without any
coloring and who were charmed with
what they saw and heard.
From the Lancaster 1ntelligencer
whose editor accompanied the party of
MARYLAND gentlemen on the occasion OF
the visit to MIR. Groff~s, We make the
following extract.
The fields lie across the road from
Mr. Groff"s house and are three in num-
Der of about ten acres each. AT first
view the result of the new mode Of cul-
1ivation are not as apparent in the dis
tinctness of the rows as might be ex-
pected, but glance at the tall and erect
standing grain and the well filled heads
that would weigh it down were 1t not
so stiff in the straw, tells the farmer
that remarkable yield of wheat is be-
fore him. Closer examination of the
fields show the rows in which 1t is
planted and the spaces between the
standing grain very distinctly. The
first field was sown in the last of Sep
TENDER 1t is about ten acres iu extent
and OF rolling land sloping to the east.
1t had previously been farmed in wheat
and the year before that in corn and to
bacco. Last year there were put upon
the whole field 500 pounds of phosphate
and about % bushels of tan bark ashes
The wheat, OF the amber variety, was
sown, l bushels to the acre, with
the drill, with Mr.. Adam Is. Croft" 5
patents The body of the drill is that
of the old fashioned implement; the
tubes are placed eleven inches apart,
aud the grain is distributed in rows
four inches wide. An attachment across
the mouth of the tube scatters the grain
aud constitutes one of the patents. The
shovel enclosing the tube is notably
wide The growth of the wheat con-
sequcntly is in ridges four inches wide,
and during the fall and early spring the
alternating steps of bare earth, eleven
About the middle of April the first cul'
tivation of the wheat occurs. This is
done with the improved cultivator.
The tubes are removed from the drill
rud the harrows attached, the comOina-
ton forming another of the Croft I'M
pruyementS. Each harrow OK the four
consist of group of three sharp teeth,
IL 4
ranged that they pass over the rows OF
earth between the wheat narrowing 1t
thoroughly without touching the grow
grain. The horses walk in tho outside
rows, just before the extreme right and
left hand hooks. The second cnltra-
ton of the wheat took place about the
beginning Of MAY. immediately after
this the clcverseed was sown, and the
youmg clover now is very well set IN
the ground, effectually disproying the
objection TO the new method that 1t
prevents the free growth or sufficiently
carly planting of the clover.
The next field is of the Clawson
variety, and was so%n thicker, Ia
bushels of seed to the acre. TIE third
was sown early in October and is also
OF the Clawson seed, sown about 3-4
bushels TO the acre. Neither of these
is superior to the first, and this expert
ence has not demonstrated the adran-
tage of thick sowing. Indeed it was
the opinion of most OF the visitors that
a sowing of bushel, or at most hve
pecks. to the acre would have been still
more advantageous. Across the road is
little patch of four acres Of cultivated
wheat, sown much later, shorter III the
straw but well developed in the head.
-Four quarts of clover seed 10 the acre
here, sown after the second cultivation,
produced beautiful crop of clover, well
set aud regular. This patch had been
twice in corn and was seeded without
any fertilizer. A singular fact is that
the upper row of this patch is seven
inches taller and notably better than
the others, attributable to the free play
OF the air and the sun upon it. If this
be the proper-a it is the most rea-
sonab.e explanation ofthis phenomenon,
it is a striking argument in behalf OF
the new mode, the merits claimed for
which are that besides the beneficial
effect of keeping the ground around
the roots we'll worked up, free from
weeds and loosened from the moisture
to penetrate it, the intervening spaces
eup 70 nlay thrOuUh