Some Facts About Wheat And Its Culture

The ■ ut is niueJi inoTe to ho;:t tlian it is to eold. 'Ir it bo steepcJ fur oniy uiteen iniiiul.es in watör ton degrecí above the boH'mg point, i(s vitality is flesfrojpdi tn Northern-latitudes tho plaat li'. ivs, bot in Mexioo only it is that our extreme Southerri States have I en great wbeai prödUciiig regio - 'te alone forbids it, even it' the tHe s-il vrcro a riglit ojie V [uiresasoil richün phtöphatoë, just as tliö vine rwjuires liiiiel Kverv plant seems to necd a spocifio stnnïilanr. The toa of Java s inferior bcyause the soil is overloaded vith the salís of iron, a cause to whieh Üie Naukiq eotton of China owes its orango color. - Wheat also has its favoritos in t!ie eat::logue of manares. Bntish agrien] turo, aided by chëmistry, has diseovercd what are. and haring usod theiu l'rei'ly, 'm rowardcd bj erops that ncar'y treble the yield of half a cenfury ajo. T'fieso aro tho phosphatcs. Distaut couutries ave exhaustcd of bones to supply them, and vast quant i tres ot' phöBphatic i'ertüizers are manufaetuved at Lome to meet the gyowing demand. "Wint.r-killing is cor.st.mtly coinplained ocjbr farmers without the causes being aocuraUly knowa. If sowed too deep, tho grain produces so few roots that it caiiuot aliord to lose auy of thera without pcrisliing. When the graund freezee and tteKws many times, at ea h feezing it cracks open. The roots .extad across those cracks and are torn rssande-, thrs depriving the plant of its uecessarj nourishment, when in many instancés it pcrishca outright, or maintaina a sickly or unprofitablo esistcuce. ö'oiiretimea the erop is tnrowB entirèly out oftheground, when it is sure to perïijh, as the chaiSce of fonning new roots is gone. The natural remedy for such balamifiès is knöwn to be a dcep covering of snow. Aa the larit, during tho Vinter, exorts all its energy in devèloping roots and leaves, Icaviug Spring to tbrni the stalk amí Sun.iner to perfect it, a heavy and lasting suow keeps it so warm as to allow Üm energy to act, besides eíFoetually protectingita roots from ruptura by alternóte freezing and thawing, ]ut seasons occur when no snowy blankct falla. The artificial remedy is underdraiuiug, aud ii' dono thoroughly, it may bfi pronounccd etTeotually against wintér-kiiling. Brit: ish agricttlture abounds with proof of tbis, and in this country, since uuderdraiuing has been infroduccd, there is much confirmatory cvidence. Our severo and variable olimate renders it much more neccssary than in Eugland. One of the most marvelous faculties of ibe wheat plant is that of_sending up a rnultitude of stalks from a single grain, known as tiUtring. It is tho secret of its great productivenes. Many expoFiuicuts have been made to ascortain the limit of thi faculty, aud the resulte have been truly wondóriul. An Knglisli gentlenuiu sowed a few grainsof common red wheat on the 2d of June, one of the plants from wbich had tillered so uiucli by the 8th of August, that ho then divided it into eightecn others, all of which wcre planted Hparately. 1;; a few wcoks so mauy of these had again nmltiplied their slalkg, that he had set out sixty-seveu altngetlier tD .go tlirough the winter. With tho Spring growth all these bega.il tillering, 80 that in March and April a cow división was made, and the nuaiber of plants increased to ÖUO. It was beliovod that anefther división night havo beeu made, and that it would have increased the number to '2,UOl. The 500 grow most vigorously, eseeeding pltints as ordinarily cultivatfd. WbeD liLírs-ested, a single plant yielded over 100 e,ars, and the wholo number of ears proJiiced was 21,409, or more than 40 to each dividcd plant, and the grain measured Ü packs, weighing lh pounds. Tho graina were estimated as numbëring 576,8 10. - AU t!iis was the product of a single grain. It is an error to supposs that ours is the groatcit wheat-producing country. - We do our full ïbare, without doubt, but our system of agriodlture is stoadily oxhaubting our bost lands, and in a few years a dimiuution of the yield will ba upparcnt in our consus returns. Last. year's erop is assumed to be 180,000,000 bushels, but the average is probably only 120,t)00,000. The average yield of othcr couutries is as fullows: Frauce 10! ' p. only) 18,921,71? Hi-it.ua 145 ■ '. im ïtro Sftllios ■ .;■! 5,5 i toada (xp. only) 48,0 iud Ao '-'■■ ir'- f.aila lJ,i7?)WJ Sweilun iNorway 1,400 lli'roisan animal produotion of over COG.000,000 bushels. If tho crops of this continent aro ineludéd, the total may ba safely aosumed to be 900,000,000, as the unascertained pioduct of Eussia and Turkey must be very large. No botter evidence of the primary value of tho wheat plant to the human family could be giveu than such an exhibition us tliis. It provcs that where the highest civilizatiou bas been attained, there the greatest