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THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



^hicli produce good crops of corn, we believe wheat may be grown, inasmuch as there 

 is nothing lacking which enters into the wheat plant, and all that is necessary is to 

 impart to the soil a certain degree of texture and tenacity, which all good natural wheat 

 soils possess. For this purpose, heavy rollers and other mechanical means must be 

 employed ; and a presser something similar to CroskiWs Clod Crusher^ of which we 

 have often spoken, would be of great benefit. We do not wish to be understood to say 

 that consolidation is the only thing necessary in all cases, to ensure a wheat crop on 

 soil Avhere corn, barley, and oats flourish ; for the land may in winter be so wet as to 

 destroy the plant : yet if drained, and means be taken to render the surface compact, 

 we believe such soils would produce first rate crops of wheat. 



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LEACHED ASHES ON WHEAT. 



Whatever diff"erence of opinion there may be respecting the particular ingredients to 

 which the fertilizing power of leached ashes are owing, nearly all agree that they are a 

 valuable manure for the wheat crop. And as there are, in difierent parts of the country, 

 old asheries from whence old leached ashes can be obtained at a mere nominal price, 

 we are surprized that they are not much more extensively used than they are. The 

 good effects of 100 to 200 bushels of old leached ashes per acre are most decided on all 

 light wheat soils, and are visible often for years after their application. This prolonged 

 benefit is probably derived from the lime, of which the leached ashes contain some 30 

 per cent. It is not impossible, however, that leached ashes contain the double salt of 

 silicate of alumina and soda, which Prof Wav found was the real agent of soils in 

 retaining ammonia and other fertilizers, and that therefore by adding leached ashes, we 

 add ammonia, or at least the means of obtaining it from the atmosphere in the most 

 available form for the wheat plant ; and that it is this alkali that so much benefits the 

 crop, and not the potash and soda which may be left undissolved from the ashes. If 

 this is the case, the older the leached ashes are, the better ; — the more they have been 

 exposed to rain and the air, the more ammonia will they contain, and the more good 

 will they do to*" the wheat crop. And it would indicate that on all our wheat soils 

 leached ashes would do more good than the unleached ashes, from the foct that 

 ammonia is so much more necessary as a manure for wheat than the alkalies potash and 

 soda, which are washed out in leaching. 



These views, however, are at present somewhat hypothetical, and further experiments 

 are necessary to confirm or refute them ; yet the fact that leached ashes are a first rate 

 fertilizer, remains a fact still, though we cannot decidedly account for their good eft'ect ; 

 and we would recommend all farmers who can obtain them, to do so, and apply them 

 to their light soils previous to sowing wheat this month. 



Lice on Hogs — A Remedy. — "Broomsedge" complains in the JVew York Ploio 

 for August, that his hogs have suffered much from lice, and asks the editor or some 

 correspondent, for a remedy. As the subject is of general interest, we suggest sulphur, 

 to be given in food eaten by the swine, as a preventive. This well known mineral is 

 particularly obnoxious to all insects, and has never failed to clear cattle of ticks when 

 fed to them in their salt. The itch or scab insect that burrows in the skins of sheep, is 

 destroyed by sulphur ; and we doubt not that lice on hogs and calves may be driven 

 off by the same remedy. It is said to clear fruit trees of parasitic insects and fungi, 

 either by filling with sulphur holes bored into their trunks, which are then plugged, or 

 by putting it around their roots. We hope that "Broomsedge" will try this remedy, 

 and report the Jesuit. 



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