WHEAT
This is the most highly esteemed of all grains, and has more enemies, and is more affected in its growth by the weather, than any other. It has engaged more attention in the study and writings of agriculturists than all other cereals. The outlines only of the results of the vast field of investigation and experiment on wheat-growing can be presented here. There are doubts respecting the origin of wheat. The more general and probable theory is, that it is the product of the cultivation, for a series of years, of a species of grass called Ægilops. This is indigenous on the shores of the Mediterranean, in those countries which, from time immemorial, have been the sources of our wheat. No one has ever found wild wheat in any country; it would be as strange as a wild cabbage or turnip. But the practical question is, How can wheat be most surely and profitably grown? The first requisite is a suitable soil. A clay or limestone soil is usually considered best, as there is much lime in wheat-bran. Such soil is better than light sand, or some of the poorer loams. But the large yields of wheat on the Western prairies, and on the rich alluvial soils of California river-bottoms, shows that the best of wheat may grow on other than clay lands. The truth of the matter respecting soils for wheat, is, that any soil good for corn, potatoes, or a garden, may, with proper tillage, produce the best of wheat. Experience in England, and in all the old countries on the continent of Europe, shows us that old land may be made to yield as large crops of wheat as the virgin soil of the New World. The production of wheat at suitable intervals, for a century, on the same land, need not lessen its power to produce good wheat in large quantities. Wheat is a plant demanding a rich soil, worked deep, and not too wet: these three things will produce a good crop on any land. We say to all farmers, raise wheat on any land that you can afford to prepare. First, if your land has not a dry subsoil, underdrain it thoroughly: water standing in the soil, and becoming cold or stagnant, is very injurious to wheat. Drainage is hardly more essential to any other crop than this. Next, plow deep. Subsoiling, on most lands, is very important to wheat. Manure highly, and put the manure between the soil and the subsoil: this attracts the roots deep into the soil, which is the greatest protection against winter-killing, and the effects of excessive drought. Render the surface of the soil as fine as possible. A finely-pulverized soil is as essential for wheat as for onions. Coarse lumpy soils are so open to the action of the atmosphere as to render the growth unequal, and cause the roots of the plant to grow too near the surface, for dry weather or the cold of winter. Always apply lime to wheat-lands, unless it be a limestone soil—not too much at once, but a few bushels to the acre annually. On no other crop do wood-ashes and dissolved potash, applied in the coarse manures, pay so well as on wheat. Sowing the seed is next in importance. The three questions in sowing are the manner, the depth, and the quantity. Shall it be drilled or sowed broadcast? Broadcast sowing requires more seed, and is liable to be less evenly covered; hence, we should prefer drilling. The depth of the seed is to be determined by the texture of the soil. Careful experiments have shown, that on clay land there is no perceptible difference in the growth of the plants, at any of the stages, in seed sown at any depth, from a slight covering to three or four inches. At a greater depth, it comes up less regularly, and in every way is in a worse condition. But on a light soil, it is, no doubt, best to plant it from four to six inches deep. On very loose soils, as muck land and alluvial soils, the roots of the plants grow too near the surface, and are exposed to being thrown out by winter frosts, and destroyed. The remedy is deep sowing and thorough rolling. The quantity of seed now more generally sown is from five pecks to two bushels per acre. Rich land will not bear so much seed as the poorer. It will grow so thick as to render the straw tender, and expose it to lodge and ruin the crop. Wheat tillers, or thickens up at the bottom, making many stalks from a single seed, quite as much as any other grain; hence, we believe that if it be sown at a proper time on very rich land, three pecks to the acre would be better than more. Such sowing would make more vigorous plants, with much stronger roots, which would withstand cold and unfavorable weather better than any other. We should still more strongly recommend another form of sowing, practised by some European cultivators with great success: it is, to drill in wheat, in rows two feet apart, and give it a spring cultivation; this gives great strength to the plants, destroys the weeds, promotes rapid growth by stirring the soil, and favors tillering, so that the rows will meet, and give a great growth. We doubt not this will yet be extensively adopted in this country. All wheat-land had better be rolled after sowing, and light lands, with a very heavy roller. Light sandy land, having a little clay mixed in as recommended under soils, well manured, the seed planted six inches deep, and the whole rolled with a heavy roller, will bear great crops of wheat.
As it respects fall or spring wheat, no positive directions can be given, adapted to all climates. In many localities it is of little use to sow winter wheat, as it is very uncertain. In other localities winter wheat almost always succeeds best. This question then must be determined by circumstances. The time of sowing winter wheat varies in different climates, according as it may be exposed to depredations of worms and insects in the fall. Farmers are not liable to mistake in this matter. Spring wheat, in all climates, should be sowed very early. It is hardly possible in all the Middle and Northern states to prepare the ground in spring, and get in wheat in suitable season.
The yield of a crop of spring wheat, depends materially upon the growth in the cool and moist weather of spring, when it spreads and its roots get a strong hold before the hot weather, that hurries up the stalks and ears to maturity. Hence plow in the fall, and harrow in the wheat, as early as possible, in the spring.
The varieties of wheat are numerous and uncertain. In the state of Maine, an intelligent cultivator, in 1856, recommended Java wheat as having a very stiff straw, and producing a very heavy yield. The Mediterranean wheat is also a favorite variety. Club wheat has also had a great run, and is now very popular at the West. But of varieties no one can be confident. We notice in the discussions of the best agriculturists of England and Scotland, that they have doubts of the proper names of some of the best varieties. In a certain rich part of Illinois we know an unusually popular wheat, sold at high prices for seed, under the name of mud club, as being much better than the ordinary club. We happened to learn that it was nothing but common club wheat, sown on rather low ground, where it happened to grow very fair that season. It is only occasionally that such tricks are successfully played, but it is true that many varieties are the result of extra good or chance cultivation. The celebrated Chidham wheat, named from a place where it was successfully grown, was also called Hedge wheat, because a head found growing in a hedge was supposed to be the origin of it. Now it is not probable that that head was the only one of the kind in all the country, and it would by no means be identified in all localities. And as all wheat is the result of the cultivation of the Ægilops or some other wild grass, it shows us that varieties may be produced by cultivation. Great importance is therefore to be attached to frequently changing seed; especially bringing it from colder into warmer climates, and changing from one soil to a very different one. Thus seed raised on hard hills is highly valuable for alluvial soils. Thus the efforts to introduce so many new varieties from the dominions of the sultan, will prove of vast advantage to wheat culture in America. So let us be constantly importing the best from Great Britain and the British provinces and from California, and all the extremes of our own country. Such wheats are worth more for seeds than others, but any extravagant prices for seed wheat, under the idea of almost miraculous powers of production, are unwise.
It would be useless to go into a more extended notice of varieties, as some do best in certain localities, and all are rapidly spread through the dealers, and by the influence of agricultural periodicals. The best time to harvest wheat is when the straw below the head has turned yellow, and the grain is so far out of the milk as not to be easily mashed between the fingers, but before it has become hard. The grain is heavier and of better quality, and wastes far less in harvesting, than when allowed to ripen and dry standing in the field. Drying in good shocks is far better than drying before cut. Some have gone to extremes in early cutting, and harvested their wheat while in the milk, and suffered serious loss in its weight. We sometimes have rain in harvest, which causes all the wheat in a large region to grow before getting it dry enough to house. A remedy is, to go right on and cut your wheat, rain or shine, and put it up, without binding, in large cocks of from three to five bushels, packing together as close as possible, however wet, and cover the centre with a bundle of wheat to shed rain. It will dry out without growing; and, although the straw will be somewhat mouldy, the grain will be perfectly good, even when it has been so wet as to make the top of the shocks perfectly green with grown wheat. This process is of great value in a wet season. To prepare seed-wheat for sowing, soak it for a day or two in very strong brine; skim off all that rises; remove the grain from the brine, and while wet, sift on fresh-slaked lime until it slightly coats the whole grain; put on a little plaster to render the sowing more pleasant to the hand. Wheat will lie in this condition for days without injury. So prepared, it will exhibit a marked superiority in the growing crop.
Enemies of wheat are numerous, and various remedies are proposed. The wire-worm is sometimes very destructive. Wheat planted with a drill, with a heavy cast-iron roller behind each tooth, will not suffer by them; they will only work in the mellow ground between the drills. Drive over a field of wheat exposed to injury from wire-worms with a common ox-cart, and you will notice a marked difference; wherever the cartwheel passed over, the wheat remains unharmed by the wire-worm, while on either side much of it will be destroyed. But the wheat-midge, or weevil, is the great enemy, rendering the cultivation of wheat in some localities useless. One precaution is, to get the wheat forward so early and fast as to have it out of the way before they destroy it. This is often done by early sowing, high fertilization, and warm land. Sometimes wheat is too late for them, and then a good crop is secured. But this can only be relied on in cool, moist climates. Our hot, dry seasons are not suitable for wheat, late enough to be out of the way of the weevil. The great remedy for this enemy is his destruction. Burning the chaff at thrashing is useless for this purpose. The worm has entered the ground to remain for the winter, before the wheat is harvested. We know of but one way to kill the weevil, and that is, by insect lamps or torches in the field in the evening. The flies are inactive until evening, when, from dusk till eight or nine o'clock, they deposite their eggs in the blossoms and chaff of the wheat. Now, it is ascertained that this fly, like many other insects, will fly several rods to a light. Twenty-five torches at equal distances, in a ten-acre lot of wheat, would be near enough. Nearly all the flies in a field would fly to them in half an hour. These need be lighted only on pleasant evenings, as weevils will not work in wind or rain, and they only commit their depredations during the time the wheat is in blossom. Let twenty-five racks, or holders of some kind, be put up on ten acres of wheat, and have pitch-pine put in them and ignited, after the manner of night fishermen, and let this be done a few nights, during the blossoming season of wheat, and the fly will be destroyed and the crop saved, in the worst weevil-season that ever occurred. In the absence of pitch-pine, some other light can be devised—as, balls of rags dipped in turpentine and sulphur, as in a torchlight procession. Something can be devised that will burn brilliantly for an hour: this will not cost fifty cents an acre, during the weevil-season, and will prove almost a perfect remedy.
Rust in wheat is only avoided by getting your wheat to maturity before the rust strikes it. If it is nearly mature, and the rust strikes it, cut it and shock it up in the shortest time possible.
Wheat is a great subject in agriculture, on which many volumes have been written, and on which it is customary to write long articles. We trust the recapitulation of what we have said, in the following brief rules, is more valuable to the practical wheat-culturist than any large volume could be. Analyses of wheat-bran and straw, the philosophy of rust in wheat, the length, size, and color of the weevil, and the great diversity of opinions on wheat-growing, are not what practical men regard. The one question is, How can I grow wheat surely and profitably? The following rules answer this important question, rendering failure unnecessary:—
1. Make your soil very rich, putting the manure as deep as convenient. Apply lime, wood-ashes, and potash, the latter dissolved and applied to your coarse manure.
2. Under-drain thoroughly all wheat-land, except that on a dry subsoil.
3. Plow deep and subsoil all wheat-lands, except those on a gravelly or sandy bottom.
4. Plant wheat from two to six inches deep, according to the texture of the soil—deepest on the lightest soil. Roll after sowing, and roll light lands with a heavy roller.
5. Always get your wheat in early, and in a finely-pulverized soil, and be careful not to seed too heavy.
6. Sow seed that has not long been grown in your vicinity, and steep it two days, before sowing, in a brine, with as much salt as the water will dissolve, sifting fine, fresh lime over the wet grain, after removing it from the brine; put on, also, plaster-of-Paris or wood-ashes.
7. Harvest wheat before the straw becomes dry, or the grain hard.
8. Destroy weevil by lights in the field, on the pleasant evenings during the blossoming season.
WHORTLEBERRY
Of this excellent berry there are several varieties, distinguished by the height of the bushes, or by the color of the fruit. The main divisions are, the Swamp and the Plain Whortleberries. The swamp variety has been transferred to gardens, in Michigan, and has proved valuable. The shrub attains considerable size, producing fruit more surely and regularly than in its wild state, and of an improved quality and larger size. It may be grown as well as currants all over the country. The small plain variety is usually found on sandy plains, and is a great bearer of fruit everywhere highly prized. It may be transferred to all our gardens, by making a bed of sand six inches or a foot deep, or it may be so acclimated as to grow well in any good garden soil, and become a universal luxury. We recommend it as a standing fruit for all gardens.
WILLOW
The cultivation of willow for osier-work is pursued to some extent in this country, and might be greatly increased. At one fourth the present prices, it would pay as well as any other branch of agriculture. Some varieties will grow on land of little value for other purposes, and all on any good land. Willows will take care of themselves after the second or third year. The more usual method of planting is of slips, ten inches long, set in mellow ground about eight inches deep, in straight rows four or six feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows—except the green willow, which is put two feet apart in the row. They should be kept clear of weeds for the first two years. The osiers are to be cut when the bark will peel somewhat easily, and may be put through a machine for the purpose, invented by J. Colby, of Jonesville, Vermont, at the rate of two tons per day, removing all the bark, without injuring the wood. Different opinions prevail respecting the varieties most profitable for cultivation; they vary in different localities. The manufacture of willow-ware will increase with the increased production of osiers, and the consequent reduction of their cost.
WINE
We have elsewhere stated that our only hope for pure wine in this country is in domestic manufacture. We shall here give two recipes that will insure better articles than are now offered under the name of imported wines.
Currant Wine.—This, as usually manufactured, is a mere cordial, rather than a wine. The following recipe gathered from the Working Farmer, is all that need be desired, on making wine from currants, cherries, and most berries, that are not too sweet. Take clean ripe currants and pass them between two rollers, or in some other way, crush them, put them in a strong bag, and under a screw or weight, and the juice will be easily expressed. To each quart of this juice, add three pounds of double-refined loaf sugar (no other sugar will do) and water enough to make a gallon. Or in a cask that will hold thirty gallons, put thirty quarts of the juice, ninety pounds of the sugar, and fill to the bung with water. Put in the bung and roll the cask until you can not hear the sugar moving on the inside of the barrel, when it will all be dissolved. Next day roll it again, and place it in a cellar of very even temperature, and leave the bung out to allow fermentation. This will commence in two or three days and continue for a few weeks. Its presence may be known by a slight noise like that of soda water, which may be heard by placing the ear at the bung hole. When this ceases drive the bung tight and let it stand six months, when the wine may be drawn off and bottled, and will be perfectly clear and not too sweet. No alcohol should be added. Putting in brandies or other spirituous liquors prevents the fermentation of wine, leaving the mixture a mere cordial. The use of any but double-refined sugar is always injurious, and yet many will persist in using it, because it is cheaper. The reason for discarding, for wine-making, all but double-refined sugar, may be easily understood. Common sugar contains one half of one per cent. of gum, that becomes fetid on being dissolved in water. The quantity of this gum in the sugar, for a barrel of wine, is considerable—enough to give a bad flavor to the wine. This is avoided by using double-refined sugar, which contains no gum. This recipe is equally good for cherry wine.
The following recipe for making Elderberry Wine, produces an article that the best judges in New York and elsewhere have pronounced equal to any imported wine. Its excellence has made quite a market for elderberries in New York. These berries are so easily grown, and the wine so excellent, that their growth will be encouraged throughout the country. It is not only an exceedingly palatable wine, but is better for the sick, than any other known.
To every quart of the berries, put a quart of water and boil for half an hour. Bruise them from the skin and strain, and to every gallon of the juice add three pounds of double-refined sugar and one quarter of an ounce of cream of tartar and boil for half an hour. Take a clean cask and put in it one pound of raisins to every three gallons of the wine, and a slice of toasted bread covered over with good yeast. When the wine has become quite cool, put it into the cask, and place it in a room of even temperature to ferment. When the fermentation has fully ceased, put the bung in tight. No brandy or alcohol of any kind will be necessary. Any one following this recipe exactly, will be surprised at the excellence of the wine that will be the result.
Of Grape Wines, there are several varieties, whose peculiarities are determined mainly by the process of manufacturing. A full treatment of the subject would require a volume. The following brief directions will insure success in making the most desirable grape wines:
1. Let the grapes become thoroughly ripe before gathering, to increase their saccharine qualities and make a stronger wine. All fruits make much better wine for being fully ripe. Cut the bunches with a sharp knife and move carefully to avoid bruising. Spread them in a dry shade to evaporate excessive moisture.
2. Assort the grapes before using, removing all decayed, green, or broken ones, using only perfect berries.
3. Mash the grapes with a beater in a tub, or by passing them through a cider-mill. "Treading the wine vat" was the ancient method of mashing the grapes, not now practised except in some parts of Europe.
4. To make light wines put them at once into press, as apple pomace in a cider-press.
5. To make higher-colored wines let the pomace stand from four to twenty-four hours before pressing. They will be dark in proportion to the length of time the pomace stands.
6. To make wines resembling the Austere wines of France and Spain, let the pomace stand until the first fermentation is over, called "fermenting in the skin."
7. The "must" or grape-juice is to be put into casks, the larger the better, but only one pressing should be put into one cask. Put in a cellar of even temperature, not lower than fifty nor higher than sixty-five degrees of Fahrenheit, and where there is plenty of air.
Prepare the cask by burning in it a strip of paper or muslin, dipped in melted sulphur, and suspended by a wire across the bung-hole. Fermentation commences very soon and will be completed within a few days or weeks according to the temperature. Its completion is marked by the cessation of the escape of gas. No sugar, brandy, or any other substance, should be added to the grape-juice to make good wine. They are all adulterations. The wine having settled after this fermentation, may be racked off into clean casks, prepared as before. A second fermentation will take place in the spring. It should not be bottled until after this second fermentation, as its expansion will break the glass. While in the casks they should always be kept full, being occasionally filled from a small cask, kept for the purpose. When this fermentation ceases, bottle and cork tight, and lay the bottles on their sides, in a cool cellar. The wine will improve with age.
Sometimes it remains on the lees without racking and is drawn off and bottled. Frequently the wine does not become wholly clear and needs fining. Various substances are used for this purpose, as fish-glue, charcoal, starch, rice, milk, &c. The best of these substances is charcoal, or the white of eggs and milk. Add by degrees according to the foulness of the wine. An ounce of charcoal to a barrel of wine is an ordinary quantity; or a pint of milk with the white of four eggs—more or less according to the state of the wine.
Rhine Wine of Germany may be made as follows:—
Take good Catawba or Isabella grapes, and pound or grind them so as to crush every seed and leave them in that state for twenty-four hours. Fumigate the cask by burning strips of muslin dipped in sulphur as in the preceding recipe. Strain or press out the juice into the cask filling it and keeping it entirely full, that impurities may run out of the bung, during fermentation. In the spring prepare another cask in the same way and rack it off into that. When a year old bottle it and it is fit for use.
Sweeter wines than any of the above are made by adding sugar to the must before fermentation. It should be double-refined sugar, and still it is an adulteration.