465 



poultry; tliousauds have been swept off this summer. I lost all iniue, 

 about 100 head. The disease seemed to be a loathsome disease attack- 

 ing and killing the same day. The oal^' remedy was to feed on salt 

 dough. 



A correspondent reports that there is a disease in some parts of Ohio 

 County among horses, old and young, which affects the upper part of 

 the throat and breaks into running sores. Many valuable horses have 

 died. 



Montgomery County^ Ya. — Hog-cholera has prevailed extensively on 

 the fine corn-lands of isew Eiver. Some farmers have lost 25, some 50, 

 and some 100 head, mostly" stock hogs. An observing farmer has made 

 several post-mortem examinations. He invariably found the entrails 

 filled with worms, whenever examined, 2 to 4 inches long, in countless 

 numbers, which so completely filling the cavity as to prevent the pas- 

 sage of anything. He administered croton oil and spirits of turpentine; 

 out of 20 shoats 17 were thus relieved. 



Marion County, Iowa. — Many hogs have died of " quinsy." Thou- 

 sands of dollars' worth have died in the county in the last five weeks. 



Johnson County, Iowa. — Hog-cholera slightly manifest in some parts 

 of the county. 



DETERIORATION OF WHEAT. 



The causes of deterioration in the yield and quality of certain crops, so 

 manifest in the experience of a majority of American farmers, demand 

 investigation. The fact that one field produces double the quantity of 

 another adjoining, and that the yield of A'irgin soils diminishes year by 

 year, calls for explanation and even reiteration of the reasons for such 

 deterioration, and suggestions of remedies and means of recuperation. 

 Recent inquiries have been directed to the present Commissioner of 

 Agriculture relative to the diminution in the average yield of wheat. 

 He has felt a personal interest in this subject, and enjoyed the advantage 

 of many years of experience and investigation, and thus responds to 

 such inquiries: 



Many farmers look upon the culture of wheat as the most profitable 

 work in which they can be engaged, while some claim that corn is a 

 more profitable crop. Let the question be settled by the fact that land 

 is sometimes better adapted to corn than to wheat; but, be that as it 

 may, the wheat crop is certainly of sufficient importance to claim our 

 attention to all the i)rominent errors which exist with regard to its 

 proper cultivation. 



It is a curious and no less remarkable fact, that, in the midst of the 

 use of highly improved implements, guided by experienced hands and 

 superior knowledge of the science of agriculture, the production of 

 wheat has gradually and certainly diminished in quantity in all the 

 wheat- growing States. Why is this? May the evil be overcome ? It 

 is no solution of these questions to answer that the soil has been 

 exhausted of those peculiar constituents essential to the growth and 

 maturity of wheat, for this argument would lead to the conclusion that 

 nature had not by her laws made provision for the perfect growth of 

 wheat at all, and that ultimately this production must become utterly 

 extinct. But this is an unwise as well as unprofitable conclusion. We 

 must, therefore, resolutely face the fact that the cause of the failure is 



