FARMERS' REGISTER 



563 



year are so frequently struck, is owing to tho co- 

 lumn of heated vapor tlial rises from the partially 

 JerKienting mass within, which vapor is one ol 

 the best conductors (or (he electric matter of the 

 cloud. Alter this vapor ceases to rise, barns are 

 in no more danizer than other buildings of equal 

 elevation ; and the necessity of protection, or in- 

 surance, arises from the lact ihat the greatest dan- 

 ger is at the precise time when the greatest value 

 is accumulated in tiiem. Common prudence de- 

 mands that protection by rods should be given, or 

 insurance against such casualties ellected. 



PASTURE. 



From tlic American Farmer. 



An English writer recommends to mix a (ew 

 sheep antf one or two colts in each pasture for 

 horned cattle. Another says, "the followinff eco- 

 nomical experiment is well known to the Dutch, 

 that when eight cows have been in a pasture, and 

 can no longer obtain nourishment, two horses will 

 do very well for some days, and when not bins is 

 left, for the horses, four sheep will live upon it ; this 

 not only proceeds from tlieir difi'cring in their 

 choice of plants, but from the formation of their 

 mouths, which are not equally adapted lolay hold 

 of the grass. — New grass, stocked very hard with 

 sheep will unite and mat at the bottom, and form 

 a tender and inviting herbage. In North Wiltshire, 

 (famous for cheese) some dairymen mix &heep 

 with cows, to prevent the pasture from becoming 

 too luxuriant, inihe proportion of about one sheep 

 to a cow." 



WHEAT-SOWING. 



From tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir, — As the time of wheat-sowing is advan- 

 cing, and while the growers of that crop are eu tier- 

 ins under the injuries inflicted during the present 

 season, by blight in all its ditierent varieties, I 

 would desire to address a few words to those of 

 our friends who would be willing to hear and 

 to reflect upon the subject, in the hope that some 

 means might be devised by which to escape such 

 ravages for the future, or at least, to guard as 

 much as possible against effects which, however 

 variously the cause has been accounted for, have 

 never been miscalculated or misunderstood. 



That there has been a woful fi\lling away of 

 hopes in reaard to the wheat and rye-crops of the 

 pre.^ent year, is admitted, especially on vvarm and 

 light soils, where the prospect, even until after the 

 opening of the spring, beloliened better things ; 

 nay, at that season, "the crops never looked bel- 

 ter," as was the constantly expressed opinion of 

 travellers and the papers of the day; and the first 

 intimation of the lurking evil was a son of patchy 

 appearance of the wheat, occasioned by innumera- 

 ble little tufts standing up in all directions, some- 

 what like what are often observed on the springing 

 of the seed after sowing, the fiold-mice carrying 

 off the grain and depositing it for their winter store: 

 and this appearance was observed in March, just 

 after the time that all veg»'tation had sufiered by 

 ten days of exceedingly cold winds^ after as many 



days of unseasonably warm weather, which had 

 produced a premature growth of vegetation, that 

 had set all the old men and women throughout the 

 country conceiting that we should sutier for ihia 

 by-and-by, and which we have done, as well in the 

 winter grain, as in fruits of various descriptions; 

 all which has been attributed, and perha[)s justly, 

 to a prematurity of growth ; lor it has been observ- 

 ed that the county of Lancaster did not suffer in 

 the same degree; their crops were less forward, 

 owing to the land being heavier and colder and 

 more exposed, by an undulating surface. 



It has been said, by a writer in the Cabinet, 

 and I have strong reason to agree with him in the 

 opinion, that our climate is loo hot and dry for the 

 cultivation of wheat, which yields better, and is 

 less liable to be afiected with blight in cooler cli- 

 mates and on stronger soils. Now if this be the 

 fact, and I have no doubt it is, cannot we contrive 

 to create, artificially, a state of things which would 

 bring us nearer the end desired ; retard the pro- 

 gress of the plant in the early stages of its growth, 

 and thus increase its strength, and render it less 

 obnoxious to the sudden and extreme changes of 

 the atniospheie, to which I believe, almost all ihe 

 evils of ihe present remarkably changeable season 

 are to be attributed 7 I think we can ; and pcr- 

 hajis it would be the shortest way, first to consider 

 how we would act if our object were to force on- 

 ward a premature growth, and obtain the largest 

 and most vigorous crops before the commencement 

 of winter. "^Now, to accomplish tliis, every one 

 would say, pulverize as much as possible the seed- 

 bed designed (or wheat, by ploughing early an 

 oat-earlh''or stubble, the crop of which had been 

 raised after corn, which had been so often worked 

 over as to be rendered as light as an ash-heap to 

 appearance ; and, when you have obtained a par- 

 liculaily fine light tilth, spread it with manure 

 (iom the winter cattle-yard, and, if possible, add 

 a good coat of lime : turn all in with the plough, 

 and, upon this hot bed, immediately sow your 

 wheat early in the autumn, so as to secure, if pos- 

 sible, a growth of a dozen inches in height before 

 the setting in of winter. 



Now this, I believe, is the usual course which 

 is pursued, with the hope of obtaining a large crop 

 of wheat at harvest, unafiected by bfght, smut, 

 &c., and, in very favorable seasons, it is possible 

 that this might be accomplished ; but in nineteen 

 cases out of twenty, I should expect that just the 

 reverse would be the result. Then, to retard the 

 growth of the crop, and enable it to become strong 

 before winter, it is only as much as possible to 

 reverse the course, by sowing the crop on a clover- 

 lay after one plougliins, deep and carelully per- 

 formed, with very small furrows, laying the land 

 whole and unbroken, and as flat as possible, al- 

 lowing it so to lie unsown, until alter rain has (alien, 

 and the surface has again become dry enough 

 to work well under the harrows, perhaps lor twelve 

 or fourteen days; then, to sow the seed, two 

 bushels per acre, harrowing it in the way the land 

 was ploughed, and await the result. 



The manure, in this arrangement, should be 

 spread on the younir clover very early in Ihe 

 spring as a top-dressiiig ; and, lo fit it for this pur- 

 pose,°it ought lo have umiergone fementalioii ; 

 to induce this, the manure should be taken perio- 

 dically from ihecaitle-yard during winter, and be 

 deposited in the clover-field ; the act of removing 



