how little we appreciate the vast superiority of our climate for the economical feeding and clothing of the human family, over that of our “mother country.”  In several counties in England, it takes from twelve to fourteen months to make a crop of wheat, after the seed is put into the ground.  At or near the first of December, 1847, Mr. M.B.  Moore, of Augusta, Ga., sowed a bushel of seed wheat on an acre and a half of ground, which gave him over thirty bushels by the middle of May following.  This ground was then ploughed, and a fine crop of hay made and cut in July.  After this, a good crop of peas was raised, and harvested in October, before it was time to seed with wheat again, as was done.  While the mean temperature of England is so low, that corn plants will not ripen, in Georgia one can grow a crop of wheat in the winter, and nearly two crops of corn in succession in the summer and autumn, before it is time to sow wheat again.  No writer, to my knowledge, has done full justice to the vast agricultural resources of the southern portion of the American confederacy.  But there is much of its soil which is not rich in the elements of bread.  Nothing but the careful study of these elements, and of the natural laws by which they are governed, can remedy defects in wheat culture anywhere, but especially on very poor land.

All alkaline minerals, such as potash, soda, lime, ammonia, and magnesia, hasten the solution of the several insoluble compounds of silica in the soil.  This fact should be remembered by every farmer.  To undertake an explanation of the various ways in which alkalies, oxides, and acids act and re-act upon each other in the surface of the earth, when subject to tillage, would be out of place in this outline view of wheat-growing in the United States.  I may state the fact, however, as ascertained by many analyses, that a cubic foot of good wheat soil in the valley of the Genesee, contains twenty times more lime than do the poorest soils in South Carolina and Georgia.  The quantity of gypsum, bone-earth, and magnesia, available as food for plants, varies in an equal degree.  Not only lime, but phosphoric acid, potash, and magnesia are lacking in most soils, if one desires to raise a large crop of wheat, and have the seeds of the grain weigh as much as the straw.  In a number of the specimens of wheat analyzed by Prof.  Way, when cut close to the roots, the dry wheat outweighed the dry straw.

Having secured the growth of a bright, hard, glassy stem, the next thing is to develop a long, well-filled ear.  To this end, available ammonia or nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and magnesia are indispensable.  Ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) is necessary to aid in forming the combustible part of the seed.  The other ingredients named are required to assist in making the incombustible part of the grain.  In 100 parts of the ash of wheat, there are the following substances, viz.:—­