Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-08-28

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may be cultivated by adapting an or
dinary spreading cultivator, or using
q wheat hoe.
Last year my wheat was seriously
injured by the IIessian fly. This
year the crop is almost entirely free
from it. / have been thinking whcth.
er the narrowing, which gave the
wheat last fall, has any connection
with this fact. AS | understand the
matter, the llessian fly lays its eggs
on the leaves of the young wheat
plant early in the fall, and il is just
possible that the repeated borrowings
interlered in some way with the pro-
cess of Matching.
1t would be well not only to select
seed wheat for the fall sowing with
care, and TO free it from seeds of weeds
even by hand-picking if necessary,
but to prepare and SOW portion OF
the field with more than usual care
for the production of seed for next
years crop. Much may be done in
this way to improve the crops, and
instead Of farmers paying high prices
for seed to persons who will take this
care, they should do it for themselves
and save this tax.
The seed is the parent of the crop,
and poor seed will invariably pro-
ducc poor crop. The heaviest,
plumpest, and ripcst seed is to be
chosen, if we would secure the most
profitable harvest. OF course no
farmer should SOW weeds, and cx.
pect to reap wheat, therefore the seed
must be perfectly clean. 1t will pay
to pick out cookie, chess, and such
seeds by hand, rather than SOW them
TO stock the ground hereafter. This
present labor will be far the lighter
than the after one of killing weeds.
The proper selection of seeds for the
fall-sowing is Of the greatest impor-
tancc. This is no new discovery,
but is fact that needs no frequent
repetition.
\ few years ago we divided a ten
acre field into five portions, and SOW
ed them with wheat at the rate Of one
bushcl, five pecks, six pccks, seven
pecks, and two bushels of seed per
acre. There was no perccptible diff.
ference in the soil of the field, nor
any in the manuring, preparation, or
sowing. AT harvest time there was
very pcrccptible difference in the
yield, the thinncst sowed portion be.
ing by far the best field, and the
thickcst portion the worst. Near
the edge OF the field, upon the thin
nest sown part, where the seed had
. been thinncd out by some pigeons,
there were some stools of wheat with
30 stalks, each bearing heads and
in this part of the field the difference
was mostly shown in the length of
the heads. The other side Of the field,
where two bushels had been sown,
produced much shorter heads than
this portion.
Smut is a fungus. II is produced
from "sccd." As q rule, smut is
produced by sowing seed-wheat that
has the spores or seeds of the fungus
attached TO it. We must Kill these
spores before sowing the wheat. They
are easily killed. Chambcr-lyc and
lime will kill them; 40 will weak So
luton Of common salt and water, say
one pound of salt TO gallon OF
water. This will not hurt the seed.
uSaAamsssirong brine will serious
SI1S1V It's terminating properties.
We think it very likely that weak
solution of carbolic acid will prove
useful, but We have not yet tested it
sufficiently TO recommend il.
The remedy that we have the full
est confidence in, and which has been
repeatedly tried, is as follows: For
each bushcl of wheat take three
ounces Of blue vitriol and dissolve it
in quart of boiling water. When
cool, sprinkle it over the wheat and
turn the grain till every seed is mois-
tened with the solution. Nothing
more is needed. 1t is not necessary
to use lime to dry the wheat. 1t
will be dry enough to SOW with the
drill as soon as IL has been treated,
but it will not be hurt IL il remains
for days or weeks before sowing.
The quantity of blue vitriol named
above is sufficient TO kill the smut,
but double my quantity may be used
without the slightest injury to the
seed. Our own plan is to place, say
90 bushels of wheat in heap on the
barn floor, and sprinkle on to it,
while it Is being turned, about six
gallons of water containing 5 pounds
of blue vitriol. If old wheat Is used
for seed, or If the wheat is very dry,
more water will be needed to mois.