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pains cannot be taken to keep specimens of this wheat perfectly pure and free from weed- 
seeds or other grain of any kind whatever. 
For my own part, if the price of a very superior wheat keeps up, as it has for many years, 
I am confident that it will pay to cultivate wheat somewhat as we do corn. If not, why 
not? The yield is not quite in so tangible a shape or so large a pile, but it is correspond- 
ingly of more value. Let as many farmers as can be persuaded to do so, make the effort 
this season, on even a fraction of an acre; sow in drills, in some dry spot, where it will not 
winter-kill. In spring work it as soon as possible with the cultivator, and continue to work 
at proper intervals as long as possible, to keep down weeds, to aerate the soil, to invigorate 
the plants, &c., precisely as we do corn. Why should not the result be the same? Why 
should we not do this?’ Only because we have not been accustomed to do it, and because 
we ‘‘haven’t time.’’ These reasons are altogether unsatisfactory. We all know that a single 
grain, sown by itself, will tiller out, if it has room, over a space of four or five feet in diam- 
eter, with 20 to 50 or more stalks, containing from 300 to 1,500 grains. This yield is never 
even approximated in field culture. The more we reflect on these facts the more we must 
be convinced that the yield which it is not only possible but easy for us to obtain from our 
soils has not yet even been approached. 
CONSULAR CORRESPONDENCE, 
From Russia. 
The following extracts from a letter written by Eugene Schuyler, esq., United 
States consul at Moscow, to the Commissioner of Agriculture, give interesting . 
data eoncerning Russian flax, fruits, and wine. Further experiments in the intro- 
duction of apples from that country, for the northwest, should be undertaken 
The Duchess of Oldenburg has already proved one of the most hardy and 
reliable apples of the extreme northwest, and it is probable that other varieties 
from northern Russia may be found equally valuable: 
The chief agricultural products of my district are flax, hemp, the cereals, and apples. 
Good varieties of wine are made in Russia, but only in the Caucasus and the Crimea, which 
are in the district of the consulate of Odessa. 
The best flax districts are not far from Moscow. 
With regard to hemp, a Mr. Puzyanof has invented a mode of bleaching it so as to be 
perfectly white, and of softening the fibre, without injuring its durability. If you wish, I 
will endeavor to procure for you the particulars of this invention. 
The apples of the Crimea are fully equal to the best apples of America; those of central 
Russia, while not so good, are very fair. I received some time ago a letter from Mr. Smith, 
the editor of the Wisconsin Farmer, saying that in the district lying between Lake Michi- 
gan and tke Rocky mountains all the late apples are winter-killed, and requesting me to 
send him some grafts of Russian apples, as the climates are similar. After consultation 
‘with Mr. Krasnoglazof, the best pomologist of Russia, I forwarded to Wisconsin some grafts, 
but do not yet know if they reached their destination safely. Mr. Kraznoglazof advised 
me to send out young trees in the autumn, as that would be much better. I would suggest 
to you that it might be well for you to import some trees, and give the people of the north- 
west a fair chance to try if these apples would succeed there. Should you wish any sent, 
please give directions as to the mode of sending them. 
Beets are also very largely cultivated for sugar. Almost all the sugar used in Russia is 
produced in the country. 
There is near Moscow an imperial agricultural academy. Iam unable to say whether it 
is good; but two students there have come to me for information about the agricultural 
aad of the United States, saying that they were dissatisfied with the instruction given 
ere. 
From the Azores. 
The United States consul at the Azores, Charles W. Dabney, esq., writing 
from Fayal, presents this picture of the primitive condition of agriculture in a 
country that contains no theoretic farmers, and remains in blissful ignorance of 
“book farming”’ and the mechanical contrivances for shirking honest labor : 
Imagine, sir, that the plough used by all here is of the same improved shape as was used 
anterior to the flight of the Israelites from Egypt. and their carts are of a type coeval! 
I once imported one of the lightest ploughs used in Massachusetts. I used my personal 
influence to induce one of the most enlightened farmers to try it. In a very short time he 
