252 



Wheat— Potato Oat— Birds. 



Vol. IV.J 



the ground is hard and cold, and often wet 

 down below tliere a foot or two, and she 

 keeps among the vegetable mould, nearer the 

 surface, wliere sunshine, and the warm rains 

 of summer help to prepare food adapted to 

 the tender absorbing roots. Many a prime 

 fruit tree has been lost by two deep planting; 

 the roots die by degrees and communicate 

 gangrene to the tree, which never enjoys 

 perfect health and vigour, but gradually de- 

 clines and dies prematurely, never producing 

 perfectly developed fruit. 



Pom us. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Wlieat. 



Mr. Editor, — "Wheat, in tliis country, 

 ought never*lo be sown c-n a fallow."* The 

 period to which the sowing of wheat on clo- 

 ver lay might be prolonged, without injury 

 to the crop, is, in many situations, of great 

 advantage ; as is also the circumstance, tliat 

 it might be comn\enced on such much earlier 

 than on the fallows, without danger of sufier- 

 ing from the root rot, so much complained 

 of, when sown on fallow before rain. This 

 consideration is of double importance, for al- 

 though it is exceedingly desirable that wheat 

 shoufd be sown early, tliat it might be strong 

 before winter, yet, if such early sowing is 

 impracticable, the late sown wheat on lay 

 never suffers so much as it is apt to do on fal- 

 low, under the same circumstances ; nor is it 

 so liable to be affected by rust or mildew, 

 which is almost sure to attack the late sown 

 crops on fallows, unless the situation be ex- 

 tremely favourable. 



Tull says, " a wheat plant that is not 

 planted early, sends out no root above the 

 grain before the spring, and is therefore nour- 

 ished all winter by a single thread proceed- 

 ing from the grain up to the surface of the 

 ground ; and that is the reason why the late 

 sown crops suffer so much from the wire- 

 worm and the slug; for wlien this thread is 

 bitten off, the plant, having no other sup- 

 port, dies away ; besides this, if the land is 

 good and clean, aboutone-half the seed might 

 be saved by early sowing." This single ob- 

 servation is worth the rent of a large farm. 



B.C. 



Edgemont, Delawaro co\inty, \ 

 February 24tli, 1840. \ 



A contented mind is a continual feast. 



Be timely wise, rather than wise in time. 



Business is the salt of life. 



Be always at leisure to tlo good. 



Bear your misfortunes with fortitude. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Oi-igii» of tJie uauie "Potato Oat.>» 



A farmer's servant observed a remarkably 

 fine stalk of oats growing in a crop of wheat 

 which he was reaping in the year 1789. 

 They were preserved, and sown the next 

 year, when they produced three quarts of seed 

 the name was given them from an erroneous 

 opinion tliat they were first found growing in 

 a potato field. This* was fitly years ago, but 

 they still maintain their superiority, an-1 are 

 valued above all others ; yet it is a fact, that 

 the meal produced from them is not so large 

 in quantity or so good in quality as that pro- 

 duced either from the Scotch or Welsh oats, 

 even when grown in those countries, as any 

 of your practical friends belonging to these 

 countries can testify — pray let them speak to 

 this fact tlu'ough the pages of the Cabinet. 



S. D. 



Doylcstown, February 24th, 1840. 



*The late lamented Mr. Geo. Walker, of Holmes- 

 burg. 



For tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 



Birds* 



The great and the good protect, and the wicked and 

 i the vile destroy. 



The season for the singing of birds having 

 , arrived, let us all unite in their preservation 

 ! and protection. Let every parent discourse 

 t his children on the advantages derived from 

 ' the feathered songsters in the economy of na- 

 ture. Tell them of the millions of insects 

 1 destroyed by a single pair of little birds, dur- 

 ing the season of rearing their infant family; 

 'and the millions of millions of pernicious in- 

 sects which would be the progeny of those 

 I thus destroyed if they were suffi:!red to sur- 

 vive for a single year. Inform them of the 

 I quantities of grain and grass, and fruit which 

 I perish annually by the depredations of the in- 

 1 sect tribe, and that the birds are the only an- 

 tagonists which we can avail ourselves of 

 1 for protection from such insidious invaders of 

 our rights. Remove the smaller birds which 

 keep the insect tribes in check, and the earth 

 would soon become one great desert, unin- 

 habitable by either man or beast, for the 

 food designed by Providence for sustenance, 

 would be wholly swallowed up or destroyed 

 by the myriads of insects which would. speed- 

 ily cover its surface. Beasts of prey and 

 oilier invaders of larger growth, skill and 

 science can subdue or annihilate, but insects 

 sot all the boasted knowledge of mankmd at 

 defiance, and we have no protection from them 

 but that which is furnished by our little friends 

 the birds. 



Now where is the boy, who knowing that 

 his very existence depends on the industry 

 and vigilance of birds, will be wicked enough 

 to kill, and destroy, and persecute, and break 

 down the habitations of his friends and pro- 

 tectors. Is there one to be found in this 



