103 



THE FARMERS' MONMULY VISITOR. 



wheat has not the most suftercd, and the last sown, 

 the least. 



Two years ago, a farmer of the name of Bajitiste 

 LaloiKle, liad a very good crop of wheat >vhen all 

 hts immediate neifi-ldiors' cmps were cut off. He 

 ifowed as earlv as lu.s neighbors, but fortunately for 

 Iiim he was careless, and left his fences down, and 

 Ills sheep and nalUe wore constantly in his wheat 

 until lute in the spring'; by this means it was re- 

 tarded and his crop saved. 



Another man naniffd Jacque Sincttedit la Kante, 

 ploughed up an old meadow of about 1 3-4 acres of 

 land, in tile fall of iS'Hi, intending to sov»- it in oats 

 in tlie spring-. It was ronscquontly left until his 

 regular wheat eroj) ^vas put in, as well as all his 

 other grain, when finding that he had no seed oats 

 left, lie sowed two niinots of spring wheat late in 

 May, and they produced him the large yield of 

 41 :^-l mincts. 



ilis regular wheat crop did not give him three 

 seeds for one. 



It will be observed that in this case the old sod 

 had time to heat before tiie grain was sown. 



In the .spring of I r!37, I sowed some wheat on tlie 

 9Gth May, and it was not in the least injured by 

 tile fly, nor sufi'ered irom the rust, but ripened per- 

 fectly well. 



Last year I did not begin tu sow wheat until the 

 2rth Way, and sowed some on tlie 1st June : the 

 wheat again escaped the fly, nor did it suffer I'rom 

 the rust, so much dreaded by lato sowing. As part 

 of the l.ind sown last spring had been in wheat the 

 year before, there was to be seeri now and then 

 tufts of wheat far advanced of the others, probably 

 the product of the seed fallen from tlie previous 

 crop, and invariabij^ every grain of tliat advanced 

 wheat was destroyed by the fly, v/hich shows tliat 

 tlie enemy had been there. 



I have never suffered much from rust, except 

 when I have sown wheat immediately after ma- 

 nure, and then I have invariably, so that 1 never 

 nov.' do it 



The plan tliat I intend to follow this spring will 

 he to sow early on all tlie land that was ploughed 

 in the fail, so as to get a good root before the dry 

 weatlier comes on, and in order that foul weeds 

 raay not get the start of the wheat. Then when 

 the land is dry, and before the wheat has sliot up 

 the gram stem, to cut it down with sheep or light 

 cattle, or mow it down with a scythe, so as to re- 

 tard it, so that the fly shall Iiave lived its d.ay be- 

 fore the wheat be shot into car. 



On lighter loamy soil that does not require the 

 frost to pulverize it, I shall sow the grain late on 

 spring [douffhing, and be governed by the fact 

 whether I sow the 3 or 4 months wheat as to the 

 precise time of sowing. 



I may be in error in the system 1 pursue, hut I 

 lay it fr.inkly before the public ; but I think 1 am 

 not, and ifitiiethe means of imlucing more intelli- 

 gent agriculturists to show their views of defeating 

 the attack of these destructive insects, a great 

 public benefit will be obtained. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



R. U. HARWOOD. 

 Montreal, April 3. 



Bitrlinglon, Vt. 1st May, 1S30. 



Hon. Isaac Hii.l, — Sir; — I have received tlie 

 first four numbers ofyour '^Visitor," and am much 

 pleased with their contents, but siiould like tliern 

 better if tliey contained more communications from 

 the many intelligent, practical farmers in your 

 State. 



In your hist number, I noticed three communi- 

 cations on the culture of wheat; altljough they are 

 all valuable, perhaps 1 may add little tolhem. As 

 to smut, I believe if clean seed is sown, the follov;- 

 ing ]>rcparatioii of it is an infallible remedy — also 

 that it will soon eradicate all sinut from foul seed: 

 Soak the seed twenty-four hours in a strong brine, 

 strong as can be made, letting it cover the grain — 

 drain it off and stir in fresh air slaked lime until it 

 is dry, when it may l>e sown. 



It is still better to have the wheat spread on'ti 

 floor when the lime is stirred in, and let it be until 

 fully dry, as the lime will adhere better to the grain. 



VVhoat so prepared should not be passed through 

 a smut mill, as the brine would then be sure to de- 

 stroy a part, and if soaked too long, nearly all. 

 Another advantage of soaking in brine, is tlrit it is 

 so much heavier than water, that oats and all ligiit 

 seeds will float on the surfrce, and may be taken 

 off. I have known this practised twenty years on 

 my father's farm, and by others,and never saw any 

 smutly wheat fr.?in clean seed so prepared, even 

 when adjoijiing fields would contain so much as to 

 almost ruin the grain. 



I believe the liistory of the wheat worm or we- 

 vil, has so far baflled all investigation. The reme- 



dy proposed by. your Canterbury corrcspondei.it 

 was published in the "Cultivator" in 1S3I, since 

 which, many similar ones have been published. 

 While some of the practical men say it is a com- 

 plete remedy, others say it is partially so, and some 

 that it is entirely usele.'^s— all those opinions are 

 the resi:U of actual experiments. Que thing I be- 

 lieve Is fully established, that its ravages are con- 

 tinued only about six weeks, and Unit very forward 

 winter, or late sown summer wheat escapes. We 

 here sow, as near as may be, the aSth of IVIay, and 

 entirely escape the wevil and early frost=, v.dien if 

 sown the 2.">th of April, it would be nearly or quite 

 destroyed. I last year had v/inter wheat sown the 

 10th of Sept. — it was slightly attacked by the grain 

 worni — sown late in Oct. near it, destroyed^yoth 

 May near it, was not touched. 



I last year made some experiments with sv::!vip 

 mucli, of the kind called by Mr. Hitchcock i:i his 

 Geology of Massachusetts, compart peat. I appli- 

 ed it to a sandy soil, and found it quite as good for 

 corn as stable manure. New England abounds 

 with it, and lis nature as a manure, is proljahlybut 

 yet but little known. I shall this year use five 

 hundred loads — shall make various experiments 

 with it, and, if worth printing, will hereafter send 

 you the result. 



I have an early variety of corn,^ wdiich is at the 

 same, lime more productive than auy other in this 

 quarter. I planted la',t year on turf land the 27th 

 of jMav, and picked it for seed the 23d of August. 

 It was all cut up in August, and fully ripe. I will 

 send some to any gentleman of your place for dis- 

 tribution, who may wish it. 



Wisiiing you abundant success in your new uii- 

 derta'vng, 



I am, sir, very respectfully, 



Your obedient servant, 



CHAUNCY GOODRICH. 



*.My coin is the feenaiiie Ilnllon corn — T prociwpd tlii'set*! 

 Iliree > far.-- since fram llieexlrenip norttierll p-urortliisSlau-, 

 wlierP it lias hiien rnijeil llie la^l ttiirty years. 



'J'lie lliill'ir is a Veniioiu vari«^ly of c-rri. Ttie sped was 

 'lislf iliiiu tl Uir jiiali t!ie l^l;!!-? ab>i;ir Ihiriy vPars since liv a 

 iMr. llnll.Tn, a taiiner lit Cavenrli.ch. Mr. Hue! ot .\lliaiiv, 

 l>riiriir'-d il finin Mr. DilUeii, aiuj so ha^ namf-d ir. Ry lic- 

 iii;^ plantcil sii long, so lar soii'.li, it has Iternme a l.irire, and 

 for ii.s, a late variety ; tlnin;li in the latitude ot .AHiaia-, or 

 soiilli of il, iv early .Al: u!in liave trit-d il in tliis nn.irU", 

 hive civen it up as ton l;itf for field culture. I last year pro 

 cured some trniii Mr. liners seediinan of Alb iiy. r-nd plant- 

 ed aside of iny V'eruioat Diitlon. It was three weeks later. 



[]3^Any corn raised as far north as Burlington 

 may be planted at all places south of this meridian 

 with safety. We think for another season much 

 of Mr. Goodrich's Dutton corn might be disposed 

 of here. If it shall ripen v\'ell. Seed corn should be 

 kept on the ear, and in this manner transferred from 

 place to place. We have about three acres of the 

 "Brov.'n corn" planted on the 5th of May, which 

 has come up well, and is very flourishing t'or the 

 season (May 31.) — Ed. yisitor. 



r'roni 111? Philad. Farmer.^' Cahiiiet. 



Apple Orchards. 



I. have observed that the generality of orchards 

 decline in about twenty-five or thirty years. This 

 is owing to many causes. First, the sowing of 

 oats, which seldom fails to kill the trees ; it ought 

 never to be done; again, in about the time specifi- 

 ed, the tree has exhausted the land, which is too 

 poor to support it. I would recommend the follow- 

 ing plan — the benefit I have proved. Grub round 

 the trees and take the mould and grass away ; then 

 manure them ; lake off the old scurffy bark — a 

 spade is a good implement fDr this. Then let your 

 hands take a stick about two feet long (the end in 

 each hand) and rub briskly up and down ; this will 

 in a small degree, loosen the bark, and give room 

 for the sap to flow freely. After this you mav put 

 round Ih: trees, say the second year, corn cijjs ; 

 those I'rom your hog pen are best. Cut olT the 

 sprouts but no large limbs. A SuBscniEEU. 



up for himself, he will labor under no embarrass- 

 ments arising from a lack of knowledge in his cal- 

 ling. Every one ought to be deeply and thoroughly 

 impressed with the vast Importance of understand- 

 ing fully his duties, and dl.^charging his obligations 

 with fidelity and piinctmility. 



The wearing apparel of a farmer should not only 

 be prepared by his industrious wife and daughters 

 (and (Very farmer should be so blest) but it ought 

 to be the production of his own farm, instead ofgo- 

 ;ng to cities and town.g to purcliaae imported broad 

 cloths on credit, by vi'hieh, at the end of the year, 

 his store bill will balance that of his firm. Too ma- 

 ny fb.rmers and mechanics, deeming the emplo3'- 

 ment in which they themselves have prospered too 

 humble for their sons, have directed them to the 

 firncied dignity of the learned or mercantile profes- 

 sions. Extravagance, of course, kept pace with this 

 erroneous })rlnciple — agriculture, the main busiues-s 

 of our country and the source of its wealth, was 

 neglected — to this was added, the successive fail- 

 ure of crops — provisions doubled in price — the im- 

 portation of forcisrn grain ccvimcnrr.d ; and when 

 pay day came, as it always assuredly does, thou- 

 sands, who thought they stood firm, were reduced 

 to bankruptcy, either by their own indiscretion, or 

 the failure of those for whoin they had vouched. 



Our forefathers with industry and economy suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining a decent and comfortable living 

 for themselves and families ; but our expenses, 

 have on an avera.ge, within the last thirty years, 

 been quadrupled. No necessity existed for this — 

 nothing can justify it. To correct the evil, wt^ 

 must wed the hands to labor, the head to knowl- 

 edge — we must practise economy and industry. — 

 Those who have forsaken rural labors, and been dis- 

 appointed in their Utopian dreams of riches and 

 happiness, shou-ld return to their legitimate call.ng 

 — they will be kindly received, and amply remun- 

 erated for all the labor they may bestow upon the 

 soil, which never refuses to yield a rich return to 

 the fostering hand of industry. We live too high 

 — we dress too fine, and we have the fashion of 

 cooking, eating, and dressing from at least four 

 difterent European nations to follow. Let every 

 farmer's daughter then bo fully instructed in all 

 that jicrtains to intelligence, industry, domestic 

 economy, in all things necrssary to render her a 

 frugal industrious /tou,^<-'~U'ifc — a comfort to her 

 husband and an ornament to society. Our nation is 

 as one family, — whatever benefits one class or one 

 district, indirectly benefits the whole ; so that u'hat 

 injures one class of people, or one region of our 

 country, indirectly inflicts an injury upon all. A 

 reformation in the habits of thr- people is necessary 

 to a system of iudustrv, frugality, and prosperity. 



N. P. 



From the IMiila.l. F.irniers' (Cahiiiet. 



Culture of Hemp and FI.i.v. 



'We frequently see the culture of silk recommend- 

 ed in the Cabinet. It would, in my judgment, be 

 of greater interest to the farming community in 

 general to pay more attention to the culture oi'icool, 

 and also to that of krjnp and flax, ns the wearin.rr a,p- 

 parcl made from these articles is far more servicea- 

 ble, than that of silk. Let the farmer give his 

 sons and daughters a good education; then let 

 them labfir with their own hanrls, and thereby he- 

 come familiar with that Industry and econnmy" that 

 is essential to the successful and thrifty firmer. 

 First, let the son take luld of the plough; learn 

 the management of a farm; acquaint hliiTself with 

 the different kinds of stock — in a word, let hiin be 

 instructed in all that is essential to constitute him 

 a good practical ajjruulturist ; then when he ' sot.i 



Hog's Troughs. 



Wooden hog's troughs, of almost any construc- 

 tion, arc apt to crack and rot, and generally last but 

 a little while. They are too, so light, that, unless 

 very strongly secured, they are liable to get dis- 

 placed by the rooting of the hogs. The cheapest 

 trough, in the event, is a stone one. This will nev- 

 er rot; it will never crsck and split ; it will never 

 get turned over by the hogs. The cost of it in the 

 outset, is considerable, but when made and fixed in 

 its place, there is an end of all further trouble a- 

 bout a hog's trough as long as you live, or your 

 children and your children's children after you. It 

 is an excellent inheritance for an honest man to 

 j leave fur such of his descendants as love pork. Be- 

 sides its durability, it will be found also that the 

 food keeps sweeter in it, than in .wood, which ia 

 perpetually lermenting and decomposing-. 



Get a granite block of the right dimensions for 

 a trough — us large or as small as you wish — and 

 tlic.-e hx? such blocks to be procured almost every 

 where in this State, — and employ a stone cutter to 

 dlgjt out. Let the work be done as sysleinatloallv 

 and ai! handsomely as you jilease — only be careful, 

 as of cour.se you will, to have the excavation made 

 larger at the top than at the bottom— the sides 

 shelving outwards. This will prevent cracking, 

 should w'ater freeze solid in it in winter. He mav 

 dig tli..nrough to hold one, two or three pails full, 

 according to the contents you want, or according 

 to the size of the block. You will find such a trough 

 a valuable concern in the piggery. 



We have one made ten years ago, out of a rcjcot- 

 ed window sill. It weighs about four hundred 

 pounds. It is now where we put it when it was 

 new, and as perfect as it was then. It cost fifteen 

 shillings— that was rather less, perhaps, than it 

 could be aff.)rded tor; but the purchase was our 

 good i\ic\i- — it having been made by a stone mason 

 out of curiosity in a leisure day or two, and no oth- 

 er person appearing to dare to purchase so rare ah 

 articlo. — Maim. Cultivator. 



