The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-06-01
SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE.
How Farm Operations VIII BE Conducted
in the Years to Come.

In the Years to Come.
The average yield of wheat in the
United States is about twelve bushels
per acre. 1t is commonly sown with a
drill, which deposits the seed in rows
eight inches apart; eight rows are COM
monty planted at each turn; an average
of one and half bushels of seed is
used per acre; oue man with team will
plant eight acres per day, and this being
done in September, the field has no fur
ther attention until the reaper is put in
the following July to gather whatever
harvest Providence has seen fit to send
as a reward for the negligence of the
husbanAman.
Prof. Blount, of the Colorado Agri-
cultural College, having first made an
elaborate study of the habits and needs
of the wheat plant, conducted Il series
OF experiments in its cultivation with
the following results:
First he planted upon an exact
square acre seven and one-half pounds
of hand-picl1ed wheat in rows of eigh-
teen inches apart, and at harvest
threshed out sixty-seven bushels; again,
upon one fourth of an acre he planted
shirty-two ounces of selected seed, and
the product was eighteen bushels; and
again, upon seventy-siX square feet he
planted seventy-six kernels of extra
fine seed, weighing forty-tive grains,
and the product was ten and onc-half
pounds, or nearly at the rate of one
hundred bushels per acre.
These results are not more remark
able in the excessive yield from a given
area than in regard to the yield from d
given portion of seed. Agricultural
discussion too often directs attention
to result without sufficiently Analysing
the means by which it is obtained. A
pertinent feature of these experiments
is the saving of an amount of seed
which, averaged upon the entire grain
acreage, would add annually vast
sum to the wealth of the nation.
If we should throw into the sea an
nually fifty million bushels OF wheat
and proportionate amount of the
other cereals, the world would cry out
at our improvidenoe. Yet if Prof
Blount's conclusions are correct-and
they are supported by much collateral
evidence-we bury this amount in the
ground where it is not only thrown
away, but where it actually decreases
the resultant crop.
The economic results tNat would fol-
low if we should be able to increase
our production even approximately to
the above ratio are too far-reaching for
the scope of this article. Our ability
to feed an almost limitless increase of
population would be assured. 1t may
be that over-production would recoil
upon ourselves. but we have already
successfully encountered the lowest
wheat markets of the globe, and as in
creased production would mean de-
creased cost, we might eventually be
able to make good our boast of feed
ing the world"
With population increasing at tho
rate OF twenty-five per cen. with every
decade, it is hardly probable that our
production (after the final occupation
of all the public lands) will at the best
more than keep pace with its needs.
AS before suggested. a most progressive
development will be required if we
even accomplish that.
Farmers generally will say that the
results secured by the above expert
ments are not attainable upon any ex-
tended scale; probably not, to the aver
age farmer, because. having so much
land to till, he must still SOW his eight
acres per day. 1t may occasionally
occur to one of particular intelligence
that it might be economy to produce
his hundred bushels by the thorough
cultivation OF two acres rather than
by specifically working upon eight.
Such a one will find that exact and
scientific methods are practical as well.
1t would consequently seem that the
pursuit of agriculture can offer induce
ments to the student who would in
turn become the teacher. to the bust
ness man who would exert his talents
in it as a financial enterprise, to the
scientist who would combine profita-
BILE avocation with the investigation of
the laws of nature, and to the econo-
mist who from his own observations
would add to the general knowledge of
how best to conserve the forces of pro-
duction.-James X. Reeve, in Harper s
Magazine.
-Scalloped Caulifower: Prepare the
caulihower, and steam or boil until
tender. If boiled, use equal quantities