98 



^[)t ifarmcf's illontljhj bisitor. 



Harvesting Wheat. 



The proper tiiue lor li.irvefiliiif; wheat has heen 

 proved, hy repeated experinieiits, to he when the 

 stalk helow the head has changed color— then 

 the circtdatioii has ceased. The grain, althotifjh 

 it does not yield any milk on pressure, is jet soft, 

 but ripens well in the sheaf. The advantages of 

 harvesting wheat hefore the herry ripens, are, it 

 yields more ami better tlom-, and none is lost by 

 the process of harvesting. 



Mr. Cohnan remarks that in England, wheat 

 is seldom put in harns, hut generally into stacks, 

 which are raised by "staddles," made of wood or 

 cast iron, eighteen or twenty inches high. At 

 this elevation tlie stack is inaccessible to rats. — 

 In soine parts of thai coimlry, where the stacks 

 are placed on the ground, ihey are plastered with 

 lime mortar two feet uji, and while washed to 

 ])rotect thenj agaiujt vermin. The importance 

 of protecting wheal against rats is well known to 

 every farmer. The qiuinlily ealen by these de- 

 structive vermin is not the only, perhaps not the 

 greatest, injury they do— llie filth which they ac- 

 cumulate cannot be .separated from the berry of 

 the wheat when threshed, and being ground, it is 

 ' mixed with the flour, rendering it specky. When 

 the wheat is cut before the berry has been hard- 

 ened, care should he taken not to put it into 

 barns; it is more likely to heat than in stacks, in 

 consequence of the greater mass packed togeth- 

 er, and less free access of air, than in a yard. — 

 Mr. Cohnan, alter speaking of the best kinds cul- 

 tivated in Scotland, says : 



"! have seen none superior to the kinds com- 

 mon in the United States, especially the white 

 western wheal. Indeed, the bakers here, for the 

 pm-pose of producing tUe finest bread and con- 

 fectionary, prefer the best American flour." Mr. 

 Colman says that there is no country in the world 

 where the average yield of wheat is so large as 

 in England. VVilhiu the last thirty years he says 

 that the product has been doubled, although in 

 in many pans of the coujitry the crops are still 

 small — not exceeding fifteen bushels lo the acre. 

 Some estates where fifty years since the soil was 

 so poor that it did not produce wheat, was thought 

 incapable of producing it, now V'eld an average 

 crop of li-om liiriy to forly-eight bushels per acre, 

 and in favorable seasons, as much as fifty-six 

 bushels. 



Our agricultural statistics are too meagre to 

 furnish any satisfactory data from which lo esti- 

 mate the average yield per acre in this State, but 

 it is doubtless less than in England, notwithstand- 

 ing' the nalmal superiority of our soil and climate 

 to England's. In Iravelling ihrough this Stale 

 our observation has forced on us the conclusion 

 that the average yield of crops is in some sec- 

 tions decreasing, in con.serjuence of bad husband- 

 ry. This should not be, as by proper tillage the 

 soil can he made to proihice more abundantly 

 than it did when fii>^t brought iuio cultivation. — 

 Some sections of the Stales lying on the Allan- 

 tic slope, where the soil hud l)een so completely 

 exhausted by bad cultivation that wheat ceased 

 to be raised, because the [iroduct would not re- 

 munerate the farmer, now produce abund.uilly. 

 Old fields that have been iu cullivalioii from fitly 

 to a hundred years, produi'e heller crops than ad- 

 joining land naturally of ihe same quality when 

 first cleared and cultivated. F3x|)erience proves 

 that farmers consull iheir own inleresi, present 

 and prospective, by gond ijllage, as the amouiil 

 of a large field would culiivale a small one well, 

 and make Ihe aggregate product greater, whilst 

 un additional value would be added to the land. 

 — Cincinnali Com. Times. 



From the Ohio (Cultivator. 

 The Wheat C'rop"C'licat, &c. 

 From recent travels in the country, and from 

 numerous letters and notices in the newspapers, 

 wo find that the wheal lii his of Ohio are more 

 generally infested with cheat or clii'ss, than was 

 ever known before. Many field.s that we have 

 seen in this county and iu Licking, contain little 

 else than pure chess ; anil on i-oiiversiug wiih the 

 owners we find that a niajorlly of them are firm 

 with the doctrine of Ininstnuldlion ; being quite 

 certain that their wheat " turned lo chess" ; hence 

 of course, Ihry are not to blame for the loss of 

 their wheat crop. One farne'r of this county 

 who has a beautiful field of dirns, where wheat 

 was grown on sward land f«r/i/ m .lugu.it, and the 

 plnntit looked fiiin in the tiill, declnrod that the 



seed used was very clean and that no chess had 

 grown in the field for years previous ; but ou at-k- 

 ing the man who sowed llie wheal how many 

 grains of chess he thought might have been found 

 in a handful, he said perhaps half a dozen. This 

 of course was sufficient to stock ihe giiiimd ; and 

 il is more likely there were a iluzen grains, iliaii 

 half that number. Besides il is well kimuii ihal 

 seeds of chess may lie many years hiiieath the 

 soil, and then vegetate if hrought near lo the sur- 

 face, under favorable circuM)staiices, as when 

 wheat is killed by the winler. In ihe above case, 

 too, we doubt not, the early time of sowing con- 

 tributed to the loss of the wheat crop l.y the win- 

 ter. 



We admit, that in many cases, il is noi easy to 

 discover the cause of an ahundani growth of 

 chess where a good crop of wheal miglil reasrui- 

 ably he expected ; but iu no case in which all the 

 parliculars have come lo our knowledge, have we 

 been at a loss to account for the result more |ilau- 

 sibly lo ovr own mind, than to adopt the belief that 

 one distinct genus will turn into another. 



These remarks may serve as a partial answer 

 to the numerous inquiries that have been pro- 

 pounded to us of late on this subject. Those of 

 our readers who perused the Genesee Farmer 

 during our connection with il, are aware ihat this 

 is not a new question with us; and for many 

 years before our connection w ith the press, a spir- 

 ited controversy on this snhject was carried on 

 in the columns of the Farmer. We shall lake up 

 the matter more at length before long, and per- 

 haps give an abstract of the facts and arguinenis 

 of that controversy. We have not of late years 

 observed any new light on the subject, lhat has 

 tended in the least to weaken our conviction of 

 the impossibility of transmulalion. But while 

 we thus confidently express our own opinion, we 

 are not at all disposed to quarrel with our read- 

 ers who differ with u.«. We know that ihey have 

 many strong lacts that seem to support their doc 

 trine, and among them are men of much intelli- 

 gence, close observation and good judgment. 



Fly, Rust, &fc. — Use of Brine anil Lime. — In 

 proof of the ulilily of Ihe prepar.ilioii of seed 

 wheat, with brine and lime, as has been repeat- 

 edly recommended in our columns, and other ag- 

 riciiltm'al papers, we give the following extract 

 of a letter from Mr. E. D. Stnith,of Brown coun- 

 ty in ibis Slate : 



" The wheat crop generally iu this county looks 

 worse than I ever before saw it in any counlry. 

 Whal the grub worm and the fly have leli, seems 

 likely to be ruineil by the rust. But I can say 

 that neither fly nor rust has injured my crop for 

 the last four years ; during which time I have 

 each year prepared my seed by soaking in brine, 

 and rolling in lime. VVhether this has been the 

 cause of my exemption from fly and rust, 1 ilo 

 not certainly know; but this I do know; I got 

 seed of one of my neighbors — vvc both sowed al 

 Ihe same time, of the same lot of seed, hut he 

 used no preparation, and his crop was almost en- 

 tirely destroyed by the fly, while mine did not 

 suffer at all." 



Similar to the foregoing, is the following ex- 

 tract of a couuuunication by H. 15. llawley, in 

 the Prairie Farmer. Speaking of the use of 

 brine and lime in preparing seed, he says: 



" For the satisfaction of those who may think 

 the practice not worth the Ironble, 1 will say 

 suiiiethiug of my last season's crop. I sowed 30 

 acres ou new breaking, the seed lor which was 

 prepared iu the way I have slated, except two 

 casts in width across Ihe fiehl, which was sown 

 with seed not so prepared, for the sake of exper- 

 iment ; the conseipience was il was very smuity ; 

 any stranger could have found and followed the 

 strip by ilie smut and chess. That "lii<-h was 

 brined and limed had a little chess but no smut 

 in it. My other wheal, sown on stubble, without 

 being limed or brined, was smutty and had much 

 chess ; so was all the wheat in this vicinity. iMinc 

 that was brined and „limed yielded liO per cent, 

 more than ihat which did not, and hrought ten 

 cents more per bushel than the other; it weighed 

 ()4 Ih.J. per bushel, although the four pounds was 

 gained in part by cutting early." 



Cutlina; H heal Early.— \\c have for several 

 years advised liirmers to cut llieir wheat earlier 

 than is usually duHe; .'iiid all who have Irird it 

 have foniul ailvanlage by the practice. As soon 

 as the grain is out of the milk, and in what is 

 termed doughy state, il is fit to cut. and will b« 



heavier and better in all respects than if allowed 

 to become dead ripe. Especially is this the case 

 wliere the straw is at all affected with rust. Mr. 

 llawley in the cominunication before mentioned, 

 says : 



"As soon as the bulk of the crop has got iis 

 brown color, and ihe herry is doughy and soft, 

 I consider the right lime. ! then commence cut- 

 ting, and let it lie iu the swath one day if the 

 weather is good ; and do not wait for small w heat 

 to grow larger, for it never will — and thus lose 

 the best of my crop by shelling, to say nothing 

 of the shrinkage iu weight. I let thrte acres of 

 my best wheat stand until dead ri|ie, for seed ; it 

 weighed 61 pounds; the wheat along side, cut 

 one week earlier, weighed tj4 pounds." 



Great Improvement in Ibo.n MANUFAcrt'aE. 

 —A worthy citizen of this [ilace, Mr. Alexander 

 Dickerson, has recently patented a mode of melt- 

 ing iron ore, and producing bloomed iron, which, 

 in the judgment of men well informed ou the 

 subjec*, is an improvement of the greatest im- 

 portance, not only to manufaciurers, but lo soci- 

 ety al large. Mr. Dickersou's improvement con- 

 sists in combining with a closed forge fire,a light 

 chamber with an o[)ening at the top to fill in the 

 charge of fuel and ore. The value and impor- 

 tance of this simple invention will be readily ap- 

 prehended, when we say, as we do on the most 

 reliable anihority, ihat it saves half the coal aud 

 half the lime required by the old methoil, and at 

 the sail e time makes a better article — and equal 

 to the hesl Russia or Swedes iron. It ordinarily 

 takes from 300 to 350 bushels of coal to make a 

 ion of blooms; and the old forge-fire will make 

 ihree tons of iron per week, by working day aud 

 night, without intermission. 



The plan now introduced, it has been proved 

 by satisfactory experiment, would produce dou- 

 ble the amoiml, in the same time, of a far better 

 article, and at a saving of half the cost in fuel — 

 which, when we lake into account the total amount 

 of i-on nianulactured in onr country, would make 

 an immense saving, beside furnishing a belter 

 quality of iron. It requires but a momenl's re- 

 flection to see lhat this improvement is therefore 

 a mailer of national consequence and general 

 congratulation. The use of iron is becoming ev- 

 ery day more universal. 



Il is now needed in a great part of all the eco- 

 nomical enterprises of society, and this simple 

 invention, by increasing the production and less- 

 ening the cost, call scarcely fail greatly to extend 

 the use of il, and that without dependence upon 

 a precarious tariff'. 



These startling slatemenls are salisfiiclorily 

 verified by the testimony of one of the oldest aud 

 most respected iron masters iu the Union, Col. 

 Jackson, of Morris county, and his testimony is 

 corroborated, if corroboration be necessary, by 

 Seth Boyden, a machinist and inventor, whose 

 opinions on these subjects have the weight and 

 authority of demonstrations. — A'ewark (.V. J.) 

 .idv. 



ExTBAORDi.NARV I.NDIAN CiTY.— The iNew Or- 

 leans Natiiuial, in its sketch of Col. Doniphan's 

 late remarkable expedition, gives the following: 



"The Navajo Indians are a warlike people, 

 have no towns, or houses, or lodges; ihey live in 

 the open air or on horseback, and are remarka- 

 bly weallhy, having immense herds of horses, 

 cailie and sheep. They are celebrated for iheir 

 inlelligeuce ami good order. They treat their 

 women with greal alleniiou,consider them equal.-', 

 and relieve ihem from Ihe drudgery of menial 

 work. They are handsome, well made, and in 

 every respect a highly civilized people, being, as 

 a nation, of a higher order of beings than the 

 mass of ilieir neighbors, the Mexicans. About 

 the time Col. Doniphan made his treaty, a divi- 

 sion of his command was entiiely out of provi- 

 sions, and the Navajos supplied his wants with 

 liberality. A portion of thu command returned 

 III Ciivano. Major (Jilpin's command, together 

 with Col. Doniphan, went to the city of the Su- 

 mai liulians, living on the Rio Piscow, which is 

 supposed to be a liranch of the (Jeyla, made n 

 treaty of peace between the Sumiiis and the Na- 

 vajos, and then returned to the Rio del Norte. 



"Tliete Siimais, unlike the iVivnjos, live in a 

 cii\, containing proluibly, (iOOO inluibiianis, who 

 support themselves entirely by agiiculiurc. 



"The city is one of the inoit extraordinary in 



i 



