Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-10-18
ABOUT WHEAT GROWING.
An Experienced Farmer Gives Some Valu-
able Pointers.

ABUUI WHEAT uRUN lNU.
An Experienced Farmer Gives Some Valu.
able Pointers.
Editor Yorkvile Enquirer.
The seemingly growing disposition
on the part of farmers i'll this section
to devote more attention to wheat cul-
ture is very gratifying to me, and with
your permission, l desire to put in a
few words of encouragement, based
upon some considerable personal ex.
perience along this line.
The first and principal reason why
we should grow wheat is that every
farm should be self.sustaining, as far as
possible. In my opinion any farmer
who spends dollar for any product
that he could have produced himself
makes a mistake. No claim that
wheat raising cannot be produced with
profit in the Piedmont belt is worthy
of serious consideration. Experience
and facts teach the contrary. l have
known yield of as much as 40 bush
els to the acre in this section, and am
believer in the proposition that
what has been done can be done again,
and what one man can do another can
do also if he will only use the necessa-
ry means.
do not propose to argue the mat
ter at length; but I will lay it down
as an actual fact, to be contradlcted
in the future if at all, that no farm sup
plies can be purchased as profitably
as they can be raised on the farm. l
have seen men try TO buy their farm
supplies with home raised cotton which
they sold at Is and 20 cents pound,
and fail. How much less then, can
any man expect to buy his bread from
the proceeds of cotton sold at the
prices which obtain these days?
In proportion to the labor expended
there is more profit in wheat than in
any other crop of which I have any
knowledge. Less than two days Ia
Dor will be sufficient for an acre OF
wheat from start TO finish, and bush
ell of wheat in farmers barn is worth
a dollar to him. l leave it to any
farmer who doubts this proposition to
take the market report and make his
own calculation.
Again, wheat is strictly and truly a
surplus crop, for it does not interfere
in the least with the cultivation OF
other crops. 1 sow about four acres oil
wheat to the plow, and I make about
as much corn and cotton as do my
neighbors who sow no wheat at all. l
have observed that this rule applies
to all who make their own bread.
Invariably they make as much corn
and cotton as do their neighbors who
depend upon converting their receipts
from cotton into bread. Also they
have the satisfaction of knowing that
they have pure food on their tables.
One of the reasons why so many
people fail to make wheat is because of
seeding too heavily. 1t is my expe-
rience that one half bushel 10 the acre
is enough for any land in this region,
if properly put in. BY being properly
put in, mean that the land should
be thoroughly plowed and pulverized,
the manure spread on the grain, and
the grain covered to a depth of not
more than one inch. Wheat covered
to too great a depth will never stool
we'll and, therefore, it cannot make a
good crop. -
Another cause of failure is too late
sowing. AL varieties that ripen the
10th of June should he put in between
the 25th of October and the 5th OF
November. Later varieties should be
gotten in earlier.
After selecting good land and put.
ting it in good heart by sowing peas
and turning them under, the next
thing the farmer should look to is the
seed, for which he ought not to go out
of his own latitude. Northern wheats
have to be acclimatized before good
yields can be expected from them.
This fact has been settled by the ex-
pertinent stations. After two or three
years sowing, northern wheats will
give a better yield by two or three
bushels to the acre.
I am sowing variety of wheat that
/ ordered from Baltimore in 1862, and
have been using it for 81 years. 1 am
sure it has not deteriorated; but on
on the contrary am of the opinion that
it has improved considerably. D. T. L.
Leslie, October IA.