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THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



The preceding cuts represent machines manufactured by A. B. Farquhar, York, Pa. The 

 first shows the thresher at work. The second represents the same machine geared, with 

 power ready for work, and with the elevator and straw-stacker attached. These machines 

 thresh the grain, separate it from the straw, and clean and bag it ready for market. 



WHEELER S THRESHER AND CLEANER. 



The above cut represents a very good thresher, manufactured by the Wheeler and 

 Meelick Co , Albany, N. Y. It is a two horse power machine and is a thresher and cleaner 

 combined. 



Diseases and Insects of Wheat. The diseases and enemies of wheat are more 

 numerous than those of any other cereal, and have sometimes, in certain localities, nearly or 

 wholly cut off the entire crop. The most destructive diseases of wheat, and the ones which 

 the farmer has most frequently to contend with, are smut and rust. The destructive insects 

 are numerous, the principal being the chinch bug and Hessian fly. 



Smut is a disease of grains in which the kernels assume a dark brown or black appear- 

 ance, or are converted into masses of blackish powder. It is caused by parasitic fungi which 

 are propagated by spores, and which absorb the nutritive juices of the stalks or heads to 

 which they are attached. There are many varieties of this minute plant growth or fungus, 

 hence, that which attacks wheat ( Tilletia caries), is of a different species from that of oats, 

 rye, or that which produces distortions of the ears of corn. It usually first attacks the 

 weaker grains, hence, it is essential that only the largest and most perfectly-developed 

 seed should b e sown, and also those obtained from a field unaffected by the disease. The 

 usual remedy is to soak the seed in very strong and quite hot brine before sowing, stirring it 

 well, and skimming off all the imperfect kernels that rise to the top, afterwards mixing it 

 thoroughly with slaked lime, and sow as quickly as possible. This process seems to destroy 

 the germ of the fungi, and is one of the best remedies known. Another method to cleanse 

 the seed is to soak it in a tub for two or three hours in a solution made of four ounces of 

 sulphate of copper to a gallon of water, or the grain may be put in a basket on an elevation, 

 under which a board may be placed in a sloping condition with a tub under the end to catch 

 the solution as it is poured over the grain and filters through. A flannel cloth should be 

 placed over the tub to strain out the smut that washes from the grain. When it ceases to 

 drip, the contents of the tub can again be turned into the basket over the grain, and the pro 

 cess repeated until it is thoroughly cleansed, after which it should be spread on the barn-floor 

 and dried by being mixed with a little lime. , 



Bust is also produced by the growth of microscopic vegetation, and is most common in 

 wet, hot weather. Winter wheat is more liable to be attacked by it than spring wheat, and 



