358 



Seed Wheat. — Irrigation. — Tare. 



Vol. IV. 



Seed Wheat. 



At a meetingr of the Philadelphia Agricul- 

 tural Society, on the first day of May, Mens. 

 Vilmorin, one of the most extensive seed 

 dealers in Paris, presented to the society, by 

 the hands of Mr. John Vaiighan, twenty- 

 two parcels of different varieties of wheat 

 for trial : they are the produce of different 

 countries and climates, one of them from 

 Odessa. They are deposited with the Edi- 

 tor of the Farmers' Cabinet for distribution 

 amongst farmers, under the condition that 

 they will give an account to the society of 

 experiments made with them. 



Irrigation. 



Upon the borders of Sherwood Forest, 

 (England,) are the water meadows of which 

 he was speaking; a little river ran through 

 the forest in this part, at the bottom of the 

 valley, with sides moderately sloping, and 

 of considerable extent, between the river at 

 the bottom, and the common level of the 

 surrounding country above. This little river, 

 before reaching the place, ran through a 

 small town, and gathered, doubtless, some 

 refuse matter in its course. From this river 

 the water was taken, at the upper end of 

 the valley, conducted along the edge or bank, 

 in a canal or carrier, and from thence, at 

 proper times, it was suffered to flow Out very 

 gently, spreading over and irrigating the 

 whole surface, trickling and shining when 

 he saw it (November) amongst the light 

 green of the new-springing grass, and col- 

 lected below into another channel, from 

 which it was again let out to flow, in like 

 manner, over land lying still further down 

 towards the bottom of the valley. Ten 

 years ago, this land, for production, was 

 worth little or nothing; he was told that 

 some of it had been let for no more than 

 twenty-five cents per acre : it has never been 

 manured, and is yet now most extensively 

 productive. It is not flooded ; the water 

 does not stand upon it, it merely flows gently 

 over it, and is applied several times in a 

 year to each part — in March, May, July, and 

 October. In November, when he saw it, 

 the farmers were taking off the third crop 

 of hay cut this season, and that crop was 

 certainly not less than two tons to the acre. 

 This last crop is generally used as green 

 food for cattle : when he spoke of tons, he 

 meant tons of dried hay. After this crop 

 was off, sheep were to be put upon it, to 

 have lambs at Christmas, so as to come 

 into market in March, when they command 

 a high price : and upon taking ofl* the sheep 

 in March, the land would be watered, the 

 process lasting from two to eight or ten days, 



according to circumstances, and repeated 

 after taking off every successive crop. Now, 

 although this water has, no doubt, consider- 

 able sediment in it, yet the general fact 

 shows how important water is to the growth 

 of plants, and how far, even, it may supply 

 the place of other sources of sustenance. — 

 Wehsler^s Speech. 



It is a fact, however, that the grasses 

 growing on those watered meadows are quite 

 of a different species from those indigenous 

 to a dry sand upland soil; and this accounts 

 for the numerous crops which they yield — 

 the herbage is peculiarly coarse and long. 

 Thousands of acres of the most productive 

 water meadows, could be formed, compara- 

 tively at little expense, in many parts of 

 our country. — Ed. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Tare. 



Sir, — In the " American Farmer " for the 

 present week, there is honourable mention 

 of the English tare, the most valuable crop 

 that can be cultivated on a farm for summer 

 soiling ; but as it is evidently written by one 

 who has not had the means of an intimate 

 acquaintance with it, it is not wonderful that 

 there are some inconsistencies in the account ; 

 the writer, however, deserves all praise for 

 bringing it into notice, and it only remains 

 to be put to the test of experience, when its 

 superlative value for soiling all kinds of cattle 

 will be made manifest. 



The writer observes, " there is no hin- 

 drance in our climate to its cultivation," and 

 yet he adds, " it is doubtful whether tares 

 sown in the fall or autumn would survive 

 our winters." He also says, " tares are of 

 two kinds, winter and spring, but not dis- 

 tinguishable from the appearance of the 

 seed." Now, every one acquainted with 

 the subject knows, that there is a very mark- 

 ed difference in the appearance of the seed 

 of the winter, and summer tares, the first 

 being round, small, and black ; the latter 

 much larger, flatter, and light coloured ; and 

 it is very generally believed, in the tare-cul- 

 tivating districts, that the winter variety will 

 not produce large crops if sown in the 

 spring ; nor will those of the summer variety, 

 if sown in the autumn, even should they 

 survive the winter ; and I have been led to 

 make the same remark. 



Professor Low observes, very justly, " it 

 is one of the most esteemed crops of England, 

 when used as green forage ; they are cut for 

 this purpose after the pods are formed, but 

 long before the seed is ripe ;" but he is very 

 wrong when he adds, " being in the class 

 of crops not allowed to mature their seeds, 



