440 AGRICUT.TURAL REPORT. 



CEREALS. 



I'rc^afalioii of (jmiit in cacuain. — The metliod propoticd by Luu"\ d, 

 aud favorably lepoited ou by the Freucli Academy of Sciences, is that of 

 storiug grain in large upright cylinders having openings above and below 

 for admission aud removal of material. Tlie cylinder being filled, a 

 vacuum of about 10 centimeters is produced by an air-pump, thus de- 

 stroying insect life and drying any grain -which may have been stored 

 in a damp condition. 



Prcventhif/ heatbuj in firaln-siaelcs. — A simple instrument has lately 

 been devised, under the iiamc of the hay-stack ventilator, for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining and couuteracting the heating in the interior of 

 stacks of hay or grain. It consists mainly of a wrought-iron tube, about 

 3 inches in diq,meter, long enough to reach into the middle of the stack, 

 provided with a conical point at the tip, and pierced for about two-thirds 

 its length with numerous holes. A screw arrangement is affixed t» the 

 posterior extremity, by which it can be connected with an accompany- 

 ing discharge-pipe. For use this ai)paratus is to be driven horizontally 

 into the stack to be investigated, either by means of a mallet or by a 

 screw arrangement, and the temperature ascertained after a shert inter- 

 val by introducing a self-registering thermometer. Should the tempera- 

 ture be too high at any point in the stack, a tin tube is to be affixed 

 vertically to the outer end of the iron tube, and an outward current of 

 air from the interior of the stack produced, by means of which the heat 

 is speedily carried off without any injury to the stack. Hooks may be 

 attached to the tip of the instrument, by which small samples of the 

 central part of the stack can bo brought out. 



A large wheat-field. — A farmer named Mitchell, in the San Joaquin 

 Yalley, California, had 36,000 acres in wheat early in March of the pres- 

 ent year, and expected to increase the area to over 40,000 acres by the 

 middle of that month. 



A California iclieat-croj). — The Haywood (California) Advocate states 

 that Mr. John Minges, near Grayson, would market from his ranch this 

 season 4,000 tons of wheat. 



^ Successive volunteer crops. — Mr. Benjamin Ely, of Buckeye Township, 

 Yolo County, California, laid down 45 acres to wheat in 1865, and after- 

 ward harvested five successive crops without sowing, plowing, or har- 

 rowing after the first season ; but hogs were turned in on tho stubble 

 ground. The field averaged 05 bushels per acre yearly for the five 

 years, and on the sixth year produced a good crop of hay. 



FRUIT. 



Fruit shipments of Southern Illinois. — The Centralia (Illinois) Senti- 

 nel of August 15, 1872, reported the following shipments from that 

 point during the preceding week: By express, 40,000 pounds of peaches, 

 and 290 pounds of grapes ; by freight, 6,025 pounds of grapes, 10,980 

 pounds of apples, 1,120 pounds of pears, and 998,250 pounds of peaches. 

 Total, 1,056,665 pounds; or 528^^ tons. Producers realized but little 

 over expenses of gathering, boxing, freight, and commission. 



Belaivare strawlerry shipments. — According to official statements, the 

 first considerable shipment in 1872 of strawberries from the Delaware 

 Peninsula (Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland) was on May 

 23, three car-loads, and the shipments gradually increased u]) to 51 car- 

 loads, forwarded June 3. The season virtually closed on June 17, by 

 which time 434 car-loads had passed north over the Delaware Eailroad, 



