The Charlotte Journal

From the American Farmer.

WORK FOR SEPTEMBER.

As autumn has again, in the revolutions of the seasons, come, it is meet that every agriculturist should set himself earnestly to work to fulfil those obligations of duty which it may impose: and while he may be thus engaged, let him see, that whatever he may have done, shall be well done, and done in season, as he may rest assured, that success in his calling very materially depends upon the observances of these rules. In preparing his grounds for his fall grain, he should spare no pains to have it deeply ploughed to see that there be no balks left untouched and that it be thoroughly pulverized by either the drag, or roller, and harrow. Although we are not of the creed of those who believe, that pulverization possesses the power of a panacea to make sterile soils produce luxuriant crops, we are free to confess, that we do believe it will make any, whether poor or rich, yield in a greatly augmented ratio, and this will be the more readily conceded by the thinking farmer, when he reflects that in the atmosphere, the rain, and the snow, are to be found most, if not all of the elements of fertility, and that by having his grounds in a state the best adapted to attract and appropriate these elements to their uses, the better chance will he stand of being profited by these fruitful sources of enrichment. Again, by deep tilth and minute subdivision of the soil, the roots of the plants have a bed prepared, which, instead of offering any impediment to their embedding themselves beyond the reach of frosts—beyond the influence of sudden freezings and thawings—encourage their expansion, and increases the pasture on which they feed.

With this introduction, we will turn our attention to see what should first claim our notice.

Preparation of the Wheat ground.—In addition to what we have already said upon this subject, we will remark, that the sooner ground intended for wheat shall be ploughed and put in order for the reception of the seed, the better chance will there be of the crop being a good one, as the ground once ready and in good tilth, the farmer may choose his own time for sowing. And we would wish to impress this fact upon the mind of the wheat grower,—that wet lands are not adapted to the successful growing of the wheat crop, as they never fail to exert a pernicious influence upon the plants in the alternations of the weather during winter and early spring, and that it is impossible that healthful vegetation can be carried on, where the roots of the plants, during those periods, are buried in a mass of mud and water. Besides good ploughing and fine tilth, it is essential that wheat fields should be secured by judiciously arranged water furrows, at intervals of some sixteen feet apart, so constructed, and so levelled, as that the water, which may fall, will speedily pass off, and be conducted to leading drains around the field, of sufficient depth and descent to receive and convey it away. It would be better that fields abounding in a superabundance of moisture should be blind drained: but as there is not much taste felt for such labor, the next best plan is, to do as we have advised above, provide them amply with sufficient furrows.

Selection of the Seed.—Too much care cannot be taken, in the choice of varieties to select those which combine the qualities of early maturity, good milling properties, and resistance of the fly; nor should less care be observed in procuring the best and cleanest seed which can be obtained, it should be plump, heavy, and free from all extraneous matters, so that in sowing it, the earth may not be filled with weeds also.

Preparation of, and putting in the Seed.—To prevent smut, all seed wheat should be well washed in clean water, so that all the lighter grains, and the seeds of weeds, may be skimmed off. To ensure this, the wheat should be put into a hogshead, in small quantities at a time: kept stirred, so that the impure grains, and extraneous matters may be floated to the top. This process should be continued until all such are removed, and the water, which should be drawn off and replenished occasionally, ceases to be colored by the operation. After this has been effected, let a brine be made of salt, or ley of ashes, sufficiently strong to bear an egg, cover the seed wheat with it, and let it soak for twelve hours, then drain off the soak. Spread the wheat on the floor, sprinkle slacked lime, or ashes, over it and stir up the mass, so as to coat each grain with the substance used. When this is done, the seed will be ready for sowing. No more wheat must be taken out of the soak than can be sown each day, and care should be taken to plough it in as sown, not more than about three inches deep. The harrow and roller should follow the plough. Seed thus prepared and put in, will besides being exempt from smut, come up quicker, grow more rapidly, and, of consequence, obtain a much better set of roots before winter, than would such as may be sown without preparation, and therefore be better able to withstand the effects of frosts and thaws.

Rye.—This grain, if not already sown, should be put in as early this month as possible, and with a view of providing pasture in early spring for the in-lamb ewes, it would be well to give it a sufficient fertilizing top dressing, should the ground not be in good heart. From experience we are prepared to say, that the eating down Rye in early spring does not materially, if at all interfere with the product of grain.

Preparation of the Seed. We would advise that seed Rye be submitted to a similar soak as that recommended for wheat, as should it answer no other end, it would facilitate germination, and cause the plants to grow off vigorously and encourage the formation of roots, and thus prevent what is termed winter killing. The ground allotted to Rye should be ploughed about three inches in depth, when the ground should be harrowed, and afterwards rolled—nor would we consider our work well done unless we sowed a few bushels of lime and ashes to the acre, say 5 of each, unless the soil had been previously limed or ashed.

Quantity of Seed to the acre.—A bushel of Rye should always be sown to the acre. In the selection care should be observed to get the best seed that can be obtained, and if possible that which was grown at some distance from your own neighborhood.