WHEAT PRODUCTION IN AMERICA.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1701, 31 May 1883, Page 4

WHEAT PRODUCTION IN AMERICA.

It occurs to us that we hear a good deal less' nonsense now than formerly about the " Wheat Belt." It is only a few ycavs tlgo that learned disquisitions on the shifting of the Wheat lielt were as common as editorials on the " Causes of the Late Defeat " have been during the month. This journal always combated the idea that climatic or any other unprovcntablo changes had anything to do with the shifting of the localities of greatest wheat production. We have many times pointed out that continuous cropping of the soil to wheat would inevitably lead to small crops and inferior crops. Show us a locality where wheat is the mainstay of the agricultural population, and we will show you a district where wheat will soon be a rare crop. It is not necessary to recite the history of the Gcnesee valley, and of nearly all the older States of the Union. The change from a wheat-growing to a non-wheat-growing section is going on today in parts of lowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Farmers have fondly imagined that the soil was inexhaustible ; and if even there was excuse for such a fallacious belief, it exists in reference to the soil of some parts of the North-west. But it cannot be gainsaid that wheat is an exhausting crop. It is not like tobacco, that seems to poison the soil ; but as wheat contains in proper proportions every element necessary to sustain human life and activity, something which cannot be predicted of any other cereal, it stauds to reason that it must speedily exhaust the soil of vital elements ; at least of the elements necessary to the peifcction of the wheat berry. There arc, it is true, some soil that have reared wheat year after year. The " Amccan Bottom" in Illinois m.iy be cited as an example ; but its time of deterioration must come sooner, or later, no matter how long deferred, The statistics of wheat production during the last 10 ycais show conclusively that there is no such thing as a climatic shifting ol the Wheat Belt, and that whatever changes take place in this particular arise from tiic cause just stated — long-continned cropping of the soil to wheat. It is only a couple of ycais ago when wheat laising had been abandoned in paits of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. But now theie is scarcely a county in either of these three States which does not produce a respectable amount of wheat. The facts aie simply tliese : — Years ngo, when the eountiy was new, the soil produced prodigious ciops ot wheat. The virgin piaiiic seemed anxious to icpay the settler who braved the peiils of frontier life. In ictiiin, the intelligent settler continued to sow wheat until Nature put in her \eto. Then the settle) or his son detlaied that who it could not be raised any longer in that section, and •went to planting com (maim) and oats. Another genuiatiou lias found that the soil has leeupeiateel : and it does not need a piophet to foictell that the soil ■will go thiough another e\pciiencc of over-cropping and deteiioiation until the farming population learn the logic, the common sense of lotatkm in cm ops. A map of the gieatest eentics of w heat production would be decidedly interesting. It would show, for one tiling, that new land produces hige ciops ; that old land that has not been noppud to whe.it for ycais also pioduces l«nge ciops. It would aho show that fiom Minnesota to Tennessee theio are no climatic influences that prevent the laifaiiig of whe.it; the diliiculty is in the soil and its tillers. -- Amvi tain Miller.

Tjie following notice is placed at the door of a ready-made clothing establishment :—"J)o: — "J)o not go soinewhcie else to be lobbed ; walk in here." Tiiliu, is less excuse foi feeding nnlcli cows, stingily than any othu farm animals. Uiuly you leccne join p.iynient, as her product is a cash article. Money spent in extia, feed is well spent, and no labour pa^s better than when bestowed on the caie and management of the cows. OLD lady (to dmggist) : " Aic you quite sure tliib is cai bonatc of soda, not aisenieV Diuggist : "Quite, nui'am ; try it, and judge foi jour&elf." Who \\a-> Jls->i.. '! — A dominie examining his seholais on the Bible lesion, asUed a young vi chin the question, " Wlio was Jesse !" Without hesitation, the boy answered, "The ilowero' Duinblanc, sir." A wim: but foi gotten philosopher has said th.it theie aie foiu liupoit.int boxes in the world — the c.utinlge bo\ thejuiy box, the ballot box', and last but not least, the bandbox". Di.ruiMiM i) .not to ])ji: —In his "Lite of Loid Livvienee," Mr Smith tells the tollou ing anecdote, with Loid Law i once u^ed to nan ate himself, and ■which ccit.iinly is (.is the author observes) " eh u aetcristie of his eneigy and deteiimnation." LavvieiiLO had often said that lie was sine that many men need not die if they made up their minds not to. Dining iiis long illness, when lie was appaiently in a state ot utter collapse, the doctoi in attendance told him one day that he could baldly live till the following moining, and took leave ot him with the conviction that it was all over a\ ith the patient. As soon as the doctor disappeaml Law i encc decided that now or noser was the chance of putting his tlieoiy to the test. "lie determined not to die, and bade his servant give him a bottle of Bui gundy which lay in a box beneath his bed." This he drank ; and when the doctor called next moining, expecting to find his woist fears verified, " he found John Lawrence sitting up at his desk, clothed and in his right mind, and actually casting up his settlement accounts." Tiih South Australian A (fro dscr, refen ing to the suggested scheme for creating an inland seam the lar hoi th countiy by means of a canal fiom Port Augusta through Lake Toirens to Lake Eyre, states that it is informed by Mr Richaid Watson, ■who, as Government Surveyor, has taken levels about the lake, that instead of bcinfr only about 1j feet above the sea level it is ovei 110 feet. The levels have been taken at different points by himseli and other Biuveyois, and l.uigc from the elevation to 113 feet. The common opinion as to the slight elevation, was doubtless derived f i oni the icsults ot barometucal observations, which aieapt to be very misleading unless gi cat care is taken to make the pioper allowances for atmospheiical conditions. Lake Torrens is very commonly quite dry, but beneath a thin crust is a very soft mud, and this fact, with the elevation, necessarily gives a death blow to the inland sea scheme, for a canal independent of Lake Torrens would, from its length and the natuic of the countiy, be the costliest pi ojects of its kind ever at tempted m the world. Oue for Milk FfcVEK— Dr. Robert Jennings hasgivenafew simple suggestions about milk fever in cows. It is well known that this disease usually attacks the best cows, and is too often fatal, on account of improper treatment. He says : — "Do not, under any circumstances, purge or bloed your animals, if you would have them live. We advise the following remedies, which can be obtained at any druggist's. By proper care and nursing you Avill save two animals where you now save one : — Sulphate of magnesia, lib. ; Jamaica ginger, pul., 2oz; mix well, and divide into six powders, one to be given three tunes a day, dissolved in a half-pint of tepid water alternating every six hours with one of the following powders ; Chlorate of potassa, pal., loz ; digitalis folio, pal., half-oz. ; tart, antimony, half-oz. ; mix, and divide iuto six powders. Place the cow in a large, well-ventilated box-stall, well supplied with clean dry straw, and kept clean. If the weather is cold protect her with comfortable clothing. The milk should bo frequently drawn off, and, i •when unable to rise she should be turned occasionally, which will afford her temporary relief." '