Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-08-25

yield for the past three years mas PROBABLY
been better than in the great wheat-growng
states.
We have examined specimens of winter
wheat of the White Olawson variety, grown
this season on the river intervale in Town
shend; the kernels were plump, and the quail
ity of the grain evidently excellent. The
grower assured US that he had never had bet
ter flour than that made from this wheat,
which he has grown for the past three years.
The general success in growing winter wheat
in this part of the state for the last few years
should encourage more farmers to try it. As
the season for preparing the land for this crop
is near at hand, we subjoiE an article on the
subject written for the American Cultivator
by wv. j. F." of Monroe county, N. Y. He
advances some new ideas about early sowing
and winter killing, which are contrary to the
opinions generally held by our farmers. 1t is
generally believed that the earlier in the fall
winter grain is sown, the less liable it is to
winterkill.
WHEAT CULTURE-PREPARATIoN FOR SEEDING.
Throughout the large portion of the coun-
try where winter wheat is grown, prepare
tions for seeding are now in progress. 1 offer
herewith few suggestions, whicE are the re-
suit of a long experience in wheat growing
First, the preparation should be begun as
early as possible. The wheat plant is a deli
cate feeder, and the fertilizers used must have
opportunity to decompose and be readily as
simiable Coarse manure in whatever form
may make heavy growth of straw without
materially increasing the yield of grain. In
my experience l have found heterogeneous ma
nure of any kind especially beneficial to
wheat The plant has apparently little cspa-
city for securing nitrogen except through its
| roots. 1t is yet an open question whether
| any plants can do otherwise in obtaining nj
trogen. 1t is, therefore, all the more impor-
| tant that the roots be fed with an abundance
| of highly heterogeneous manures. There is
| good reason for the old fashioned practice of
summer following, for the long preparation
and frequent cultivation it implied developed
| in the soil an amount of available nitrogen
equivalent to heavy manuring with ordinary
| stable manure. This was especially true if q
| good growth of clover, both top and roots of
| which are rich in nitrogen, was plowed under
at the beginning of the summer fallow.
| have, however, usually abandoned the naked
falow as too expensive, preceding wheat with
some fallow crop. This probably true of at
| least five. sixths, and perhaps nine-tenths, of
| the winter wheat sown. Conceding the bare
|
preparation for wheat seeding, what methods
can approximate its advantages at the smallest
| expense
The nitrogen may, find, be generally fur
nished at less expense to me in some CONNER
cial fertilizer than in the form of clover.
| find that clover is an excellent feed for most
kinds of stock and makes a very rich manure
when fed. In cutting and feeding it do not
lose any of its fertilizing properties, and what
gain by feeding goes OF in the form of but
ter and fat, beef or mutton, in which there is
comparatively small loss of nitrogen. There
fore pillow under only the clover roots with
whatever top is left after cutting The ma
nure from feeding clover tops goes to make
corn or potatoes. If plowed under after now
ing, the clover roots will furnish fully half as
much nitrogen as the tops and roots together,
and usually as much as the wheat plant can
readily appropriate.
The principal necessity for heterogeneous
manures is after falow grain crops, removed
from the soil and leaving few or no roots.
Barley, oats, corn and beans are the crops af-
ter which wheat is mainly sown, and they
are all exhaustive of nitrogen, and with the
bean crop largely 50, both of nitrogen and
phosphorc acid. There is another difficulty
with these crops in the fact that there is so
little time after they are taken from the
ground that there is no opportunity for more
nitrogen to develop in the soil. / find it of
advantage to pillow as soon as the grain crop
is of, harrow Immediately and drill in about
half the commercial fertilizer l intend to use.
If timely rains come to dissolve it this small
amount of fertilizer begins TO act on the soil,
developing more nitrogen, SO that by the
time wheat seeding is at hand there is gener-
ally as much available fertility for the wheat
plant as on an ordinary summer fallow.
There is another advantage in the earliest
possible blowing of stubble land for wheat in
in getting the soil properly compacted. This
is very important to enable wheat to stand
the winter. The more compact the soil un.
der the seed bed the less water it will hold
and the loss it will heave by the frosts of win
ter. 1t is partly for this reason that what sta
BILE manure l apply is always spread on the
surface after blowing. II plowed under il
would only make the under soil less compact
and would also tempt the wheat roots down
ward. BY top dressing 1 aim to secure a mass
of spreading, fbrous roots near the surface
These will rise and fall as the soil alternately
expands and contracts by freezing and thaw
ing, with comparatively little injury to tn,
wheat plant The idea that the deeper the
wheat roots reach the better the security
against winter killing is a very falacious one
Invariably the deep roots are snapped asundel
by freezing. If the surface soil is rich tn,
: horizontal roots branching on every side nea
the surface will hold the plant until spring
when the roots may strike downward as far a.
the soil is fertilized, or until they como t
stagnant water.
One important advantage secured through
surface manuring wheat is the benefit TO tn,
catch of clover to be sown in the subse
! quent spring To help the clover the fell
may be top. dressed any time in the winter
and it matters little whether with coarse o
= fine manure. / never knew a top.dresset
wheat field well seeded with clover at tn
right time, to fail of a good catch. 1t act
as a mulch to the young plant and great!
stimulates its growth as it comes into the sec
ond leaf. There is scarcely any way to max
manure help fertility so rapidly as by top
dressing wheat ground intended to be seede
with clover in the following spring. Tn
larger the growth of clover, the more deepl
its roots will penetrate the subsoi and tn
more latent fertility it will make available.
Undertaking wherever needed is an eE
sental requisite in growing wheat. Othe
crops can be made during months when We
land is comparatively dry but winter wheG
must endure the rigors of season when we
ground is coolest and its stagnant water fairl
poisonous to all vegetation. If any farmt
thinks of sowing wheat on ground that he be
doubts of being fully underdrained, my at
vice TO him would be the same which Pune
gave to the young man about to marry
Don't"
II seed bed mellow to the depth of two {
= three inches has been obtained, and the so
!, is in condition quickly to terminate the seeC