Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-11-03
AGRICULTURAL.
Pedigree selection In Food Plants.

greater advantages in favor of systematic
improvement afforded by plants over ami
mails. A COW or eve, he says, ''produce'
Mt birth one (or two) only; n single grail
of wheat has produced plant the ear
of which contained 5000 grains, all capa
BILE of reproduction. Now, We can plan
all of these, and of the resultant S00t
plants reserve only the best one of all t.
perpetuate the race, rejecting every 9th
en-" The principle of Major Hallett''
system consists in applying this rule, O
reproducing only the best plants OF eacf
lot in successive years. Can anything ap
proaching such choice as this" ht
says, "be afforded any breeder of cattl,
or sheep, no matter how extensive his
herd or fock?' Cereals, improved b,
Hallett's system, have now been cultiva
ted in more than forty different countries
in Europe, Asia, Africa, America ant
Australia, with complete success every
where, SO far MS reports have been re
ceiyed. A parcel Of pedigree wheat taker
to Perth, western Australia, in 1862,
where the average crop was ten bushels
to the acre, produced from twenty-nine tc
thirtv-iive bushels to the acre, with sew.
enty-two as the largest number Of heads
on one stool and lib grains in the largest
ear. In 1881 the same wheat, or its des
cendant, produced, i'll New Zealand, sew
enty-two bushels on one acre, with more
than ninety ears, some of them contain
ing as many as 1872 grains each, on single
plants. The same return-seventy-twc
bushels to the acre--was reported OF
three acres in Essex, England, in 1876,
with lO5 ears, containing more than 5000
grains, on one plant Reports cores
ponding with this have been received
from Brussiercs, France Linlinthgow
Scotland; Russia. Hungary, Italy, Hol
land, Denmark and Sweden. The Hallet
wheat withstood the frosts of 1879 and
1876 in Belgium, when other varieties
were killed In India, Sir,,Seymour Fitz
gerald, governor Of Bombay, in 1870, re-
ported the crop from the pedigree wheat
to be fifty per cent greater in quantity
and fifty per cent more valuable in quail
ty than that produced from the best othel
seed that could be bought in the market
The same success has been obtained witt
barley and oats cultivated after this sys
tenn A friend of Major Hallett, in Italy
applied his system to the sugar beet, witt
the result Of obtaining, after seven years
OF improvement, three times as mucl
sugar and wine from the same acreage o
roots as he had been accustomed to get a
first. Experimenting with the potato
Major Hallctt has started each year fol
fourteen wears, with n single tuber. tn,
best of the year, cultivating for freedom
from disease and for productiveness. Di
viding the first twelve years of the four
teen into periods of four years each, h,
obtained for the first period an average o
sixteen tubcrs from each single best seet
tuber for the second period, nineteen
and for tine third period, twenty-seven, o
nearly double the yield of the first period
This plan of selection is on trial in lndia
for cotton, and the reports so far receive,
show already n marked difference in it
favor.
Planting Chcstnuts.
The chestnut appears to succeed hes
on dry, sandy or giavslly soil. and viii
grow no faster on rich, stroug land thai
on soils of moderate fertility. 1t will no
succeed on low, wet land. There are tw,
sorts, the European or Spanish and tn
American. The former are larger but no
quite SO good in quality, and the tree i
not so hardy, but it would probably sue
coed well III Delaware. As there is al
ways some difference in the productive
ness of wild trees, it would be well. i
practicable, ii the object is to raise th
nuts, to procure seeds from such trees a
have produced the heaviest crop. Bryant
III his excellent little work on forest trees
says the nuts become larger by cultiva
tion, and that the third generation ha
been grown i'll Illinois, and the nuts hav,
increased in magnitude after each sue
cessive planting. A common cause o
failure III attempts to raise chestnut tree
is in allowing the nuts to become too dry
after which they will not sprout. The,
should be gathered as soon as they fal
from the tree, without lying more than
few days at most, mixed with damp sand
loan or moss, SO us to keep the shel
slightly moist till planted early i'll tn,
Spring. Autumn planting would an
swer where there are no mice. As til,
trees are difficult to transplant, 1t is wei
to plant the seed where the trees are t,
remain, and it is necessary to cultivate
the ground well for II few years A goo,
way, therefore, is to plant them i'll alter
nate hills with corn. beans or potatoes
and cultivate all together For raisin,
timber the trees may be about eight fee
apart, but if planted nearer they may b,
thinned out as growth advances. Fo
raising nuts they should be fifteen o
twenty feet apart. On poor or thin soils
not good for much else, chestnut planta
tions may prove profitable.
SnIt as a Fertilizer.
The Massachusetts, Agricultural Societ,
has arrived at the following conclusion il
regard to the value Of salt ms n manure
THAT salt has the property of Fastening
the maturing of all grain crops tha
wheat on salted land will ripen six to TEL
days earlier than on unsalted land. al
other conditions being equal that it in
creases the yield from twenty-five to lift,
per cent ; that it stiilens the straw an,
prevents rust and smut that 1t checks
if it does not entirely prevent, the rav
ages Of the chinch bug, and that there i
no danger of a mans pocket permitting
him to put too much salt upon his laud
as two barrels per mere will iniure d,
grain crop. The best time to SOW salt i
in the Spring and it ought to be tn
first thing done on either Fall or Sprini
plowing, as all after-stirring Of the Ian,
assists in its equal distribution through
the soil. The best and easiest method q
sowing salt, in the absence of machin
for that purpose, is to SOW it from out O
the rear end of the wagon, the sowe
using both hands while the team is NOV
ing Mt slow walk. In this way thirty t.
fnrty npraa nnu hn snual in nnp lay TIN
quantity used may be from $50 to 30
pounds per acre, but the larger quantit.
is the better.
Neat Public ROnds.
Every one who has taste for nea
and comfortable home should extend it +
the public roads. A home cannot be sat
isfactory without the public thorough
fare Immediately adjoining has some
thing of corresponding care. 1t is no
Il 4