254 [Senate 



I have now arrived at my last paragraph. From bogs or deep 

 swamps, manure may be manufactured to a great extent. Three parts 

 of peat and one of stable dung are mixed together and fermented 

 through the summer. It was used in England* many years ago, and 

 has been found in New-England, equal to the same bulk of stable 

 manure, and more permanent in its effects.! 



THE SEVERAL VARIETIES OF WHEAT, AND THEIR RE- 

 SPECTIVE VALUE. 



BY RAWSON HARMON, JR., WHEATLAND. 



I propose 1o give a short description of several varieties of wheat 

 that have been cultivated in western New-York. The first wheat 

 cultivated was sown in the fall of 1788, on lands then owned by In- 

 dian Allen, and before it was harvested, became the property of Peter 

 Sheffer. Esq., the present occupant. The amount sown was two bush- 

 els on about two acres. The variety sown was called the " Z,m&ow," 

 or " Velvet Bald." The product was sixty-two bushels of fair qua- 

 lity. This was the only variety cultivated for several years. Its cul- 

 tivation was very limited. 



In 1794 the " White Chajf'' bearded was introduced. The straw 

 of this grew small and very thick on the ground, the heads short and 

 well filled with a red berry. This was a hardy variety, and admitted 

 of being sown late, and producing a fair return, the bran thick. These 

 two varieties soon gave way for the " Red Chaff Bald^'' now called 

 the old Red Chaff. This variety was well adapted to the Genesee 

 Valley. In 1803 Peter Sheffer, Esq. of this town, harvested forty 

 acres grown on the Genesee flats, that produced sixty-two and a half 

 bushels per acre. The same season this variety sown on the oak 

 openings in this vicinity, was nearly destroyed by the Hessian fly. 

 Its long and well filled heads, its white and beautiful berry, gave it the 

 preference over other varieties for more than twenty years, and some 

 farmers in this vicinity continue to cultivate it. The bran is thin, 

 and it yields flour of superior quality. For the last fifteen or twenty 

 years it has been more subject to blast and rust, than some other va- 

 rieties, and more inviting to the fly. On the new improved Oakland 

 it succeeds much better at the present time than on old or long culti- 

 vated fields. In 1833 I harvested 67J bushels from one bushel sow- 

 ing of this variety from one and a fourth acre. 



The " White Flint " wheat was introduced into this vicinity about 

 twenty years since. This is a white chaff bald wheat, white berry, 

 of a flinty appearance; the straw is smaller and grows thicker than 

 the old red chaff, and the heads shorter. This variety was but little 



* Davy's Agricultural Chemistry. 



t Jackson's Teological Report on Rhode Island. 



