VOL,. Xli. NO. 38. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



r.Ol 



without aid. The failure from dry seasons and the 

 injury often done the smaller grass seeds by fer- 

 mentation and bad preservation, tended to keep 

 alive this unfortunate opinion. 



I^xperience has, however, given us better instruc- 

 tion, and we find that when blessed in the season, 

 ho that sows abundantly shall reap in full propor- 

 tion. 



1 was led to think Ihat my individual suggestions 

 would be in more proper place if separately made, 

 rather than if otherwise connected. More espe- 

 cially as I had another object in view. 



A few years since, when in England, I applied 

 to a well accustomed and intelligent seedsjuan in 

 London, and requested liiiii to give me in writing 

 an account of the quantity of seed used by farmers 

 in laying down their lands to grass. '1 he original 

 paper he handed me, you have herewith. The no- 

 tice he takes of tares and beans is immaterial; so 

 also the account hi; gives of the quantity of St. 

 Foine and Lucerne seed used where the quantity 

 is lessened one half by being sown in drill. These 

 two latter grasses have not succeeded, in my efforts 

 of culture. It cannot indeed be expected that we 

 should be able to procure any belter substitutes 

 for the grasses long familiar to our farmers. 



The prevailing spear grass (if 1 may so call it,) 

 which the English use with clover in laying down 

 their grounds, is denominated rye grass ; the quan- 

 tity used is one bushel thereof with 14 lbs. of clo- 

 ver for an acre. 



It may not be amiss to add, that in England the 

 use of clover for turning in as a benefit to the soil, 

 is of very extensive practice. 



In the most inquisitive research after the herds 

 grass in many parts of England and Scotland, I 

 found but one spire which resembled the herds 

 grass; this I brought home with me; but its re- 

 semblance was faint and diminutive — not distinct. 



I have thus given you the information in detail 

 which you requested of me, for such use as you 

 may see tit to make thereof, and atn, with much 

 respect and regard, 



Yours, truly, 



JOHN WELLES. 



Boston, March 10, 1841. 



The following is a copy of the original paper 

 furnished by the London seedsman, alluded to in 

 the foregoing: 



" Tares, 4 bushels ; St. Foine, 4 or 5 bushels ; 

 Lucerne, 10 lbs. per acre, if broadcast — if drill, 

 half the quantity; clover, 14 lbs., and rye grass 1 

 bushel ; beans, 6 1-2 bushels, in drills." 



From the Albany Cullivator. 



A REMEDY FOR THK GRAIN WORM. 



Messrs Gaylord Sf Tucker — Western Vermont 

 was very noted for raising grain, especially wheat, 

 from its first settlement until about the year 1820, 

 when the grain worm was first discovered in rye, 

 barley, summer and winter wheat; its ravages were 

 more confined to the wheat crop of the winter va- 

 riety. This formidable enemy came more and 

 more numerous, until after repeated trials we were 

 obliged entirely to abandon wheat raising. No 

 remedy appeared to present itself whereby we 

 could gain any success. It is but a few years 

 since those who have cast their wheat upon the 

 ground in the fall have been successful. The 

 spring varieties are now more generally sown; 

 which happens about the 15th of May, to carry the 



ripening process beyond the reach of the fly, and 

 summer fallows are going out of date. 



In 16:17, I tried an experiment which proved suc- 

 cessful in avoiding the depredations of the grain 

 worm ; since then I have not cultivated the winter 

 grain, and therefoie have not agnin tried the reme- 

 dy. As soon ns the calyx or envelope of the ker- 

 nel was formed and while the wheat was in blos- 

 som, I prepared some boys with traps and hired 

 them to catch an aninial well known in these parts 

 by the name of skunk. They caught two of these 

 noxious animals, which I hung up in two different 

 parts of my wheat field about the height of the 

 grain heads ; and the result proved on strict exami- 

 nation that within a circle of several rods around 

 these animals, no larvoe or grain worms could be 

 found, and at the same time in other parts of the 

 field, some considerable intrusions of the worm 

 ivere noticed ; but they did not infest this field of 

 three acres to that extent that they did others in the 

 neighborhood. The contrast as I suppose was oc- 

 casioned by the strong effluvia that spread in all di- 

 rections over it. I have also noticed that flies 

 never prey upon the carcass of this animal as they 

 are well known to do upon other dead flesh; and I 

 should suppose that all animals that were endowed 

 with but a small shnre of instinctive common sense, 

 and were blest with but small olfactory organs, 

 would shun the powerful weapons of this animal 

 without one salutation. 



The skunk is an animal which we frequently find in 

 the fields, probably the same species and about the 

 size of the polecat; its hair is long and shining 

 with one or two stripes from the head along the 

 back and tail, clouded with white, the remainder 

 black ; it has a long bushy tail ; lives and burrows 

 in the woods and hedges, and often under barns and 

 out-houses. When undisturbed, this animal is 

 without any ill scent or disagreeable effluvia; but 

 when attacked, the skunk discovers his sin- 

 gular but effectual method of defence. It emits 

 a fluid of the most nauseous and intolerable scent 

 that has ever been known: so odious, subtle, 

 penetrating is the ill-scented matter, that there is 

 no animal that can long endure it, or will venture 

 to approach him when he is throwing it out; it in- 

 fects the air all round; with the wind it may float 

 a mile or more. No method has ever been found 

 to extract the scent on which the fluid has been 

 thrown; time, earth and air, after a long period af- 

 ford the only complete remedy. This ill-scented 

 fluid !s an unctuous yellow matter contained in two 

 tumors or bags attached to the abdomen, at the ter- 

 mination of the back bone, and surrounded in such 

 a manner by circular muscles that on contraction 

 the fluid is forced out with great velocity and 

 force. 



I have taken out these bags, and have no doubt 

 they may be preserved any length of time by dry- 

 ing, or put them in glass jars in which any quan- 

 tity of twine might be enclosed; by pressing the 

 sack, the cord would become incorporated with the 

 matter; then at, or just previous to the appearance 

 of the wheat fly, which is about the last of June, 

 while the grain is in the blossom, or milk, string 

 this scented cord around and across the grain fields 

 in different dirpcti(ms, and it would thoroughly in- 

 corporate the whole field, and I have no doubt form 

 a safe and effectual barrier in preventing the en- 

 croachments of the wheat fly, and many other 

 winged insects. 



'1 he above I cheerfully present for your consider- 

 ation, with liberty to publish, hoping it may be of 



some use to the public directly or indirectly, by 

 leading the way to a more pleasent if not effica- 

 ceous remedy to prevent the ravages of so formida- 

 ble an enemy. 



Yours, SOLOMON W. JEWETT. 



MiddUhury, VI. Jan, 1841. 



From the New Genesee Farmer. 



SPROUTING GARDEN SEEDS — RAISING 

 ONIONS. 



Messrs Editors — The approaching season will 

 soon resume the interest in the field and garden, and 

 it may not be unprofitable at this time to consider 

 what will be the best course to pursue. The fol- 

 lowing statements are advanced as proof of the very 

 great advantage derived from the simple process of 

 sprouting garden seeds before planting. The pos- 

 itive knowledge of its benefits is derived from six 

 years practice. There is no difficulty to be ap- 

 prehended if the same judgment be exercised that 

 is required in the common operations of the garden. 



First, soak the seeds in water from six to twenty- 

 four hours — some seeds being slower to admit 

 moisture than others, is the diflference in the time 

 required. After soaking, drain ofl^ the water, and 

 mix the seeds with a suflicient quantity of earth to 

 absorb the moisture remaining on the seeds; stir 

 them often, that they may vegetate evenly, and 

 keep them in a moderate degree of warmth and 

 moisture until they are sprouted, when they are 

 ready to be put into the ground. If the weather 

 should be unfavorable, put the seeds in a cool place, 

 which will check their growth. 



The advantages of this practice cannot be better 

 shown, than by relating the management and im- 

 provement of the onion crop in our own garden. — 

 The culture of the crop in 1840, was as follows: — 

 Just before the a|)proach of the preceding winter, 

 there was a light dressing of fine manure put on a 

 piece of land designed for onions, containing 2 1-2 

 acres, and the same ploughed. It remained until 

 a thiw in the winter; it was then ploughed again ; 

 the frost was not all out of the ground : it was con- 

 sequently left very rough, and more of the soil was 

 exposed to the frost, which was beneficial. It was 

 left in that situation until the time of sowing. In 

 April, as soon as the soil was sufficiently dry, the 

 ploughing was commenced, and the second day at 

 night the sowing was finished, with seed prepared 

 as before stated. In ime week the onions were up, 

 rows were soon visible nearly twenty rods, and no 

 weeds yet appeared. The operation of stirring the 

 soil with rakes and hoes was then commenced, and 

 the weeds were not suffered to grow during the 

 summer. (It is a mistaken notion that it is not 

 time to hoe a garden until it is green with weeds.) 

 The first of September the onions were harvested, 

 and the product was over two thousand bushels of 

 fine onions from two and a half acres. 



W. RISLEY. 



Wet Fekt. — How often do we see people tramp- 

 ling about in the mud, with leather soaked through, 

 and how often do such people when they return 

 home, sit down by the fireside and permit their feet 

 to dry, without charging either their stockings or 

 shoes. Can we then wonder at the coughing and 

 barking, and rheumatism and inflammation, which 

 enable the doctors to ride in their carriages. We 

 entreat our readers, no matter how healthy, to guard 

 against wet feet Medical Mv. 



