Part 24
1st. _On the Uses of Manures._-It is pretty generally agreed that special manuring for corn, when grown in the ordinary shifting crop system, is positively injurious, and more truly so, if farmyard dung be employed. Still, on our own farm we were over-persuaded to give a dressing of rotted dung to some wheat. As the previous crop, turnips, had all but failed, we yielded on being told that it was a common Dorset custom, but, fortunately, only to the extent of a few acres down the middle of the field, on which part, at harvest, the main of the crop had fallen to the ground, with the affection known as knee-bent. There was plenty of straw, not at all good; but the yield of plump grains can hardly be half of those of the other parts of the field.
As a general rule, we have never observed special manuring to be useful except as top-dressings in early spring, at which time soot, or, better still, a mixture of soot and guano, may be sown on most wheat crops to advantage, and more especially where the young plant has been injured by the slug or the wire-worm, as in these cases the lower joint and the winter root are destroyed. If, then, the young plant be at this time stimulated with the mixture as advised, and the crop be afterwards rolled, we supply nutriment just in the form that it can be readily a.s.similated, the injured plants send out new roots from the second joint, and begin a fresh life, whilst the uninjured ones push out new buds-_stolons_-and all grow the better, because the roller has aided in firmly fixing the plants in the ground.
There have been those who would tell us that manure can be best used to wheat by subjecting the seed to various steeps; but we need hardly stop to question the folly of the a.s.sertions which from time to time re-appear, both at home and abroad, upon this point.
Thus far the subject of manures has been treated as for wheat as a shifting crop; but this crop has been grown year after year on the same soil, and, in some cases, without an apparent diminution in quant.i.ty or quality. One instance that came under our own observation was in Gloucestershire, where a cottager had grown wheat on the same plot of ground for thirteen years, and, for aught I know, it may still be continued. Hence the subsoil was _Lias shale_; but it was well drained and cultivated as a garden, the manure employed being the contents of the garden-house.
In cases of this kind, an annual application of manure is absolutely necessary; and we are happy to find that different manures and their effects have been experimented upon and duly noted, _for the same plots_, during a period of no less than twenty years, and that by such careful and reliable inquirers as J. B. Lawes, Esq., F.R.S., and Dr.
Gilbert, F.R.S.; full details of the results of whose labours upon this subject will be found in Vol. XXV. of the _Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England_, from which we have extracted some of the following general conclusions as to average yield and weight of corn for the lengthened periods quoted:-
1. TABLE OF RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS AT ROTHAMSHEAD, BY MESSRS. LAWES AND GILBERT.
+------+--------------------------+------------+---------+----------+
Average
Plots.
Manures used every year.
Average.
weight
Years.
per bush.
+------+--------------------------+------------+---------+----------+
Bush. Pecks.
1
Unmanured every year
16 1
579
20 years,
1844-63.
2
Ammonia salts alone
24 1
576
19 years,
1845-63.
3
14 tons Farmyard manure
32 1
600
20 years,
1844-63.
4
Unmanured every year
15 2
565
}
5
Mixed mineral manure alone
18 1
579
}
6
Ammonia salts alone
22 2
559
}12 years,
7 {
Ammonia salts and mixed }
}1852-63.
{
mineral manure }
36 1
584
}
8
14 tons Farmyard manure
35 1
593
}
+------+--------------------------+------------+---------+----------+
A glance at this table shows us the wonderful results of _continuous_ manuring for the soil operated upon; we might, however, expect that, though the general conclusions would probably not greatly vary, yet that there would not be absolute uniformity in these respects in different soils and districts.
2. _On the Quality and Quant.i.ty of Seed-corn._-It seems to be generally concluded that a thin seed, from poorer soil, should be preferred for land of a better quality; but our own experience would lead us to look for seed from as great a change of soil as possible, and to procure therefrom not a poor, but as good a sample as we could. We should, however, look for our seed, not from a richer soil or a warmer climate, but the reverse. Oats, for example, as previously shown, degenerate, even to wild ones, if the poor seed be brought from a poor, cold soil, to be cultivated in land still poorer. We, however, on our farm, sowed oats during the past season weighing 48 lb. per bushel on a sandy soil; and, although our return was not so large in bushels as though we had sown black oats, yet their weight was but just under that of the seed.
Now, these oats were from Canada, and, no doubt, the warm climate of the west of England suited them as to change.
As regards barley, we prefer a good sample for seed, if it be of home-growth; at the same time, very thin samples from Russia, or the States, often do well. Last season, we sowed some American barley of so poor a quality, that it was impossible to tell its name, but which gave for 50 acres an average yield of 40 bushels per acre, so even and plump, that only 28 sacks of "tailing" were separated, and the bulk-good Chevallier barley-was equal to any in the market.
In cultivating wheat, climate must ever be considered, as only in warm situations can the finest samples of white wheats be grown. Upland cold positions are suitable for red wheats, and so are undrained lowlands; still, good farming will render it possible to grow white wheats where, before drainage and other ameliorating processes, such was impossible.
As regards the quant.i.ty to be sown per acre, it will be seen that the margin is sufficiently wide, if we say that it lies between half a peck and half a quarter. In garden cultivation, with deep digging, and in the absence of weeds, birds, or insects, where you can choose your time for every operation, dibble in a seed in a place, the minimum quant.i.ty may suffice, as good crops have been got from a very small quant.i.ty of seed; but garden experimenters rather too positively lay down the law, when they tell the farmer that this thin seeding will do equally well on broad acres, where every operation is circ.u.mscribed by circ.u.mstances.
Where there is so much to do, you cannot always get everything done at the right season, even if the soil were favourable for so doing; and the period at which you get your land ready for the seed, and the time of sowing it, makes a wide difference. But there is another point of even-if possible-greater importance; namely, the _quality_ of the seed.
Now, on our farm we always ascertain the germinating power of every sample of seed before sowing; and from this, as well as from the results of numerous experiments on this subject, we have arrived at the conclusion, that there are immense differences in this respect, which cannot possibly be made out at sight, but can only be ascertained experimentally. To make this matter clear, we append a table (2) of the results of experiments on this point upon no less than forty-two samples, which were tried in 1863.
Now, these experiments showed a want of germinating power, in some of the samples, of more than 50 per cent., and in the 42 samples an average of 245 per cent.; from which it will be seen that sometimes the thick sower is not the thick seeder, and his failure of a crop is not always due to slugs and wireworms.
These experiments were published in the _Agricultural Gazette_, and they evoked some remarks from a learned divine, so unfair and uncandid, as only to be excused by the nature of his professional education and modes of thought. Now, when this gentleman affected to believe that these things could not be so, and that with him every seed germinated, we could only conclude that the days of miracles had not quite ceased; but as, in later numbers of the _Gazette_, his opinions have been somewhat modified in this respect, we yet think him capable of riding a hobby too hard, though not until the pace has thrown him down and broken his knees will he own it.
2. TABLE OF THE GERMINATION OF WHEAT.
+---+---------------------+-------+-------+-----+------+------------------+
No.
Label.
Weight
Price
Came
Failed
Remarks.
Wheats of 1862.
per
per
up
per
bushel.
bushel.
pr.
cent.
cent.
+---+---------------------+-------+-------+-----+------+------------------+
s. d.
}These are six
1
Tasmania
66
...
46
54
}samples from the
2
Ditto
605
...
8
92
}the International
3
Tuscan, from Victoria
68
...
94
6
}Exhibition of
4
Ditto ditto
63
...
78
22
}1862, to which
5
Ditto ditto
67
...
90
10
}they were for-
6
Tasmania
60
...
30
70
}warded by various
}colonists.
Taken by us;
7
Ditto
595
...
28
72
probably the same
as No. 6.
8
Talavera
66
...
98
2
}Four samples from
9
Spalding
633
...
94
6
}Hainhault Farm-
10
Thick-set Rough Chaff
65
...
100
None
}amongst the best
11
Morton's Blood Straw
626
...
94
6
}that have come
}before us.
12
Hallett's Pedigree
629
...
78
22
Communicated.
13
Creeping Wheat
665
...
98
2
Ditto.
14
{Bland's Giant }
59
...
96
4
Ditto.
{Prolific }
15
Fuller's Red
568
...
98
2
A poor grain from
the Cotteswolds.
{Samples taken by
{us from Cirences-
16
Red Straw Lammas
568
7 0
82
18
{ter Market. No.
17
Hallett's Pedigree
646
10 6
88
12
{21 not a seed
18
Browick
585
6 6
88
12
{wheat; it con-
19
Red Chaff White
59
6 6
78
22
{tains 76,800
20
Free-trade
595
6 3
88
12
{seeds of corn
21
Russian
55
5 7
32
68
{c.o.c.kle and 64,000
{seeds of rye in
{the bushel.
22
Burwell
585
8 0
18
82
}
}Communicated
23
Rough Chaff Talavera
605
9 0
90
10
}from a well-known
}seedsman.
24
Talavera
63
10 0
38
62
}
25
Corner's Rough Chaff
62
10 0
52
48
}
26
Red Browick
65
8 0
58
42
}
27
Chidham
665
10 0
70
30
}
28
Lammas
633
8 0
58
42
}
29
{Britannia, or Red}
8 0
54
46
}These formed a
{Thickset }
66
}most interesting
30
Red Nursery
67
9 0
92
8
}series of several
31
Col. Quentin's Giant
68
9 0
38
62
}sorts of wheat-
32
Kessingland
633
8 0
86
14
}most of which
33
April
603
12 0
84
16
}looked remark-
34
Golden Drop
633
8 0
92
8
}ably well as hand
35
{Shirreff's Bearded}
605
9 0
74
26
}samples.
{Red }
}
36
Ess.e.x Rough Chaff
663
9 0
96
4
}
37
Hunter's White
60
8 0
60
40
}Out of condition.
38
{Shirreff's Bearded}
632
10 0
96
4
}
{White }
}
39
White Trump
633
9 0
96
4
}
40
Grace's White
65
10 0
38
62
}
41
Hertfordshire White
622
8 0
94
6
}
42
Hallett's Pedigree
66
10 0
92
8
}
+---+---------------------+-------+-------+-----+------+------------------+
3. TABLE OF THE GERMINATION OF BARLEY, 1863.
+---+----------------+------+-----+------+----------------------------+
Price
Came
Failed
No.
Label.
per
up
per
Remarks.
quar-
pr.
cent.
ter.
cent.
+---+----------------+------+-----+------+----------------------------+
s.
1
From Sherborne
29
98
2
}
2
Martock
29
98
2
}
3
Lulworth
24
96
4
}All market samples.
4
Crewkerne
28
76
24
}
5
Mr. Masters
28
96
4
}
6
Odessa
24
96
4
}
7
From Salisbury
24
100
0
}Salisbury is considered
8
Ditto
24
96
4
}one of the best places for
9
Ditto
24
90
10
}seed barley. The samples
10
Ditto
24
92
8
}are mostly from the Chalk
11
Ditto
24
100
0
}Rock.
12
From Langport
28
100
0
}
13
Chard
27
82
18
}Like most of our speci-
14
Stiff-straw
28
82
18
}mens, market samples.
15
Nottingham
32
90
10
}
16
Chevallier
26
96
4
}
17
From Yeovil
26
70
30
}This is a low-germinating
18
Ditto
26
70
30
}series; their uniformity of
19
Ditto
26
84
16
}price and difference in
20
Ditto
26
94
6
}germination is remarkable.
21
Ditto
26
84
16
}
22
{Chevallier, }
{Two good samples, and the
{sown on farm }
28
96
4
{yield of the crop of fifty
23
American, ditto
28
100
0
{acres each about 36 bush.
{per acre.
24
Ditto
30
92
8
25
New from farm,
30
98
2
1864
---
---
Average
92
8
In round numbers.
+---+----------------+------+-----+------+----------------------------+
Seeing, then, that there were such variations in the germinating powers of wheat, we determined to try a series of experiments with barley; and from the results (table 3), it will be seen that, though the margin is not so wide, yet great differences occur; still, with regard to this grain, we constantly find that in samples too thin and poor for even the farmyard poultry to pick up, yet that much of this is capable of germination.
Still, theory and practice confirm the a.s.sumption that in England very much seed is wasted by being too thickly sown; and, if a farmer can get his land well prepared and in good time, we conclude, as a matter of practical experience, that just half the seed usually sown will be better than the double quant.i.ty; but we should, as a rule, make a difference of at least half a peck for each week that we were beyond the best time of wheat-sowing in any particular district. On our own farm we sowed four and six pecks of wheat where double the quant.i.ty had been the rule before Christmas, and from six to eight pecks afterwards; six pecks of barley and oats, where a sack had previously been the rule. With the wheat and barley we were right, except in the very late-sown of the latter, when time was only sufficient to grow a single head, and not to allow of stooling. Here a sack would have given a better result. The same with our oats: thin seeding caused them to run to straw; they were on a poor sand, taller than the men who cut them; but had we doubled our seed, we conclude we should have had shorter straw and more corn.
If, then, these things be so, the judgment of the farmer will be best shown in rightly weighing _all_ the circ.u.mstances of his case; and in the matter of seeding, as with physic, he will find that h.o.m.opathy _alone_ is only quackery.
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
ON HARVESTING CORN.
A knowledge of when corn is in the best condition to be harvested is a matter of great importance; and hence some observations upon this subject may fitly conclude this part of our work.
Not to enter too deeply into chemical matters, we may state, at least as a probable general conclusion, that there is a period in the growth of grain and pulse crops before they are ripe, in which all the feeding qualities will be found diffused in the several plants; a little later, and the feeding matters will be found more particularly concentrated in the seed. Now, if oats, peas, and beans, be cut in this "green" state, they make either a fresh food, or can be dried into hay, which, when cut into chaff, is found to be an excellent feeding material; and as such crops can be quickly cleared and cheaply employed, there is no doubt but that they will henceforward be more generally used in this way than formerly.
But, again, in ripening of wheat there would appear to be a point in its progress short of "dead ripe," in which every quality is fully stored in the seed; and, after this period, the seed-covering becomes thicker, and makes more bran in proportion to flour: facts made out from the following results of experiments of samples in three different states:-
TABLE OF THE RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH WHEAT.
_Sample 1._-Wheat gathered when the grain was sweet, and almost milky. The stalks green. Date, July 25th, 1856.
_Sample 2._-Wheat from the same field, gathered when in the state of hardening grain. The stalk just yellowed all the way down.
August 2nd.
_Sample 3._-Wheat from the same field, gathered when what is termed "dead ripe," having been, in fact, left longer than it otherwise would, for want of hands. August 18th.
4. TABLE OF RESULTS FOR TWELVE EARS OF WHEAT DRIED.
"MORTON'S RED STRAW WHITE."
+-------+---------+-------------+---------+-----------------+
Sample.
Weight
No. of grains
Weight of
of
of
grains of
the ears.
corn.
corn.
+-------+---------+-------------+---------+-----------------+
Grains.
Grains.
1
400
569
284
Grain shrivelled.
2
379
431
294
Grain plump.
3
468
453
377
Grain coa.r.s.er.
+-------+---------+-------------+---------+-----------------+
5. TABLE OF a.n.a.lYSIS OF THE CORN FOR THE TWELVE EARS.
+-------+--------+-----------+-----------+------------------+
Per-centage
Per-centage
Sample.
Measure.
of
of
flour.
bran.
+-------+--------+-----------+-----------+------------------+
1
75
704
296
} Flour of a fine
2
68
714
286
} white quality in
3
88
637
363
} all the samples.
+-------+--------+-----------+-----------+------------------+
Now, this shows that although the medium ripe ears in sample 2 had a less number of grains, yet their per-centage of flour, as compared with bran, was greatly on the increase. Still, it will be seen that sample 3 has the advantage in measure: hence, then, unless the miller will agree to give a better price for a "gay"[22] sample, it will be to the farmer's advantage to leave it to fully ripen, if he can make sure that it can be kept from shedding in harvesting, and the attacks of birds.
[22] The farmer's term for early-cut corn, in both the middle and West of England.
As regards barley, if our crop is required for home use for feeding purposes, we should cut at least a week earlier than most people, and we should have as good feeding quality, without loss from winds, loss in harvesting, and from birds; but, if our land grows malting barley, the sample will be a better, and more uniform in germinating, when "dead ripe."
During the last season (1864), our pupil, F. Witts, Esq., collected bunches of corn from a crop of fine white oats at the under-mentioned dates. From these we counted 500 seeds, and took their weights; and, though we confess that many such experiments will be required to settle the whole facts of the case, yet the results given in table 6 are so curious, that we hope in future to direct our pupils in carrying out many similar experiments.
The two samples, each of the 20th and 21st, were probably obtained from different parts of the same field, yet they lead us to conclude, as do those of the other dates, that a single day, if a hot summer, makes a great deal of difference. Now, the crop was not cut until a week after the 21st, and yet we are persuaded that we should have gained by cutting on the 20th rather than later, and, at least, we should have prevented much loss from "shed" seeds.
6. TABLE OF RIPENING OF OATS.
+-------+------+-------+--------------------------------+
No.
Weight
Date.
of
in
Remarks.
seeds.
grains.
+-------+------+-------+--------------------------------+
July 9
500
110
}The interiors of the grains
July 9
500
120
}only milky.
July 11
500
165
}The interiors just beginning
July 14
500
165
}to harden.
July 16
500
2075
}Seeds ripe, but not beginning
July 18
500
230
}to shed.
July 20
500
250
}
July 20
500
2625
}Ripe, and shedding more
July 21
500
2575
}every day.
July 21
500
2675
}
Dec. 15
500
250
{Thrashed on the named date.
{Weight, 47 lb. per bushel.
+-------+------+-------+--------------------------------+
[Ill.u.s.tration: Crataegus oxyacanthoides. Glabrous White-thorn.]
HOW TO GROW GOOD FENCES.
