44 



D!(ilos:ue hclween a Father o,nd Son. 



Vol. IV. 



and expansion of the soil by alternate frosts 

 and thaws in winter ; and in this case, the 

 wheat is said to be tlirown out. 



To promote the process of tillering-, and 

 sometimes to prevent the throwing- out of the 

 plants, it is found to be beneficial to give a 

 certain tilla^-e to tlie g^rowing wheat in spring, 

 by means of the hoe, the harrow, or the roller. 

 When wheat is sown in rows this is done by 

 the lioe ; when broad-cast, by means of the 

 harrow ; and in either case the roller may be 

 also used. 



But this tillage is given to it incidentally, 

 in the course of another operation to be de- 

 scribed — the sowing of the seeds of clovers 

 and the cultivated grasses — a system very 

 prevalent in the grain regions of Europe; and 

 to some considerable extent known to Ameri- 

 can practice. Like all other systems it has 

 its advocates and opponents ; but so far as we 

 are able to judge from experience and the 

 testimony of others, the mass of evidence is 

 decidedly favorable to the practice. 



Tiie seeds of tliese plants are sown as early 

 as the state of the weather and other circum- 

 ,-tances will justiiy, in the spring, upon the 

 surface of land on which the grain crops have 

 been previously sown. They grow up under 

 the shade of the latter, and in the following 

 season they are fit for use. 



When the crops of grain with v/hich they 

 are to be sown, are sown in spring, they are 

 generally put in the ground together. But 

 when the crop, as of wheat, has been sown in ■ 

 the previous autumn, the grass seeds are sown I 

 among the growing plants, and covered byj 

 being harrowed or rolled. 



The minute seeds of those plants, consist- 1 

 ing of the clovers and rye grass, and other j 

 grasses, are, previously to being sowed, cai'e- 

 fully mixed together ; sown by the hand, or | 

 what is better by the broad-cast sowing ma- 

 cliine. In either case, the harrow follows, 

 giving a double turn along the ridges, and the 

 roller may also follow, crossing the ridges, 

 and going over the ground once. In some 

 cases the roller alone is used to cover the 

 seeds. 



The clovers and grasses thus sown, rarely 

 flower in the first year. They grow under 

 shelter of the stems of tlie larger crop, and 

 they are seen in the autumn among the .stub- 

 ble covering the surface. They continue to 

 grow, shoot vigorously forth in the spring, and 

 are in their greatest luxuriance in the follow- 

 ing summer, when they are frequently termed 

 new or one year's old grass. 



The grass seeds being sown, no fiirther cul- 

 ture can be given to the wheat, (hiring its 

 growth, nor any weeding, except pulling up 

 or cutting over above ground the larger weeds, 

 sjuch as docks, thistles, cockle and tlic like. 



Wheat sftmetinjes bccornes too luxuriant 



in the spring, especially when sown early, 

 and then it is apt to be lodged, and run to 

 straw more than to produce grain. In this 

 case it may be pastured in the early part of 

 spring with sheep. 



The produce of this crop varies greatly wjtli 

 the seasons, the nature of the soil, the char- 

 acter of the seed, and the mode of cultivation. 

 A fair good crop may be held to be thirty 

 bushels per acre. The average produce of 

 the United States will not probably exceed 

 twenty bushels to the acre. The weight of 

 the straw is reckoned to.be about double that 

 of the grain. An acre, therefore, yielding 

 twenty-five bushels of grain, at the rate of 

 sixty pounds per bushel, would yield about 

 three thousand pounds of straw. 



The straw of wheat is applied to various 

 purposes of rural economy and the arts. Its 

 intrinsic value must vary, however, according 

 to its feeding properties — the quantity of ma- 

 nure into which it may be converted when 

 used as a litter — its fitness to be employed ass 

 thatcli, for which pur]X)se, from its long and 

 rigid stems, it is generally well suitable — or 

 its use in manufactures. Its price depends 

 upon its vicinity to large towns, where it is 

 wanted for litter. 



Tlie Leghorn manufacture of wheat straw into the 

 well known Leghorn or Tuscany hats, has lately been 

 inquired into, and detailed in several publications. — 

 The variety of wheat cultivated in Tuscany for this 

 purpose, is known as the grartn marzuolo, a variety of 

 summer wheat with long bearded ears. It is cultivated 

 on the sandy hills on both sides of the Arno. The seed 

 is sown in March, very thick, and pulled when the ear 

 is fully shot, but before the grain is formed. It is then 

 eighteen inclies high, if the crop is good— it is bleached 

 as we do flax, and afterwards tied up in bundles in the 

 same manner, and carried home, to have the part be- 

 tween the ear and the lirst fruit [joint?] in the stalk 

 selected, that being the only part used. — British. Qard. 

 Mag. vol. v. p. 7(i. 



[To be continued.] 



For the Farmers' Cabinet, 

 Dialogue bctw^oen a Fat.Uer and Son* 



ON TIIE VALUE OF LIME ON BURNING LI.ME 



ON DOING GOOD. 



Frank. — I observe. Father, that in all your 

 compost heaps, you use large quantities of 

 lime. 



Father. — Yes, I consider that mode of ex- 

 pending it, the best and most economical that 

 can be adopted, as it is enabled to act in its 

 fourfold capacity to the greatest advantage. 

 1st, as a corrector of acidity ; 2nd, as a stimu- 

 lant ; 3rd, as a sweetener — according to the 

 beautiful simile of the Preacher, who ob- 

 served, " Lime to a stubborn, sour soil, is like 

 the grace of God to a wicked man's heart;" 

 and 4th, as a destroyer of all weeds, with 

 their seeds, and all noxious insects, with 

 their eggs and progeny. 



Ist. Our compost heaps consist chiefly of 

 the openingjs of ditches, the scrapings of 



