V-tT.. xix.Wo. 4r. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



371 



3j to be known by an ncqiia'intanco with the details 

 oi our pursuits in tliis science. 



"Tlic poacli, nectiirino and apricot arc all most 

 favorably adapted to city cuilture. Trained to the 

 wall, or planted as near as possible to thi; sides of 

 the house, they are protected anainst frosts, and 

 furnish an ornament, and at the same time a luxury 

 of great atttnction. One may realize a two-fold 

 advantagt! in these tret'S. What more beautiful 

 than the roseate flowers of the peach imd necta- 

 rine, or the snowy inflorescence of tlie apricot? 

 The warm sunny days of early April call the lat- 

 ter into life and elegance, to be soon succeeded 

 with as fair fruit. The foliage of the peaeh and 

 nectarine, too, is higiily ornamental and slowly de. 

 ciduous, while a certainty of a crop may be secured." 



From the Maine Farmer. 



SMUT IN WHEAT. 



Mr Holmes — Sir — Yon will please to give the 

 following a place in your paper for the benefit of 

 the public. There has been much said by agri- 

 culturists respecting smut in wheat and the cause 



of it. Writers have disagreed on the subject 



Some have supposed that smut would produce 

 smut, and even impregnate good wheat. Others 

 have regarded the time of sowing, and have sup- 

 posed the weather to produce the effect. But in 

 my opinion the cause of the smut proceeds from a 

 fly. In tracing the progress of the fly after the 

 wheat is sowed to its harvesting, I am satisfied that 

 the fly is capable of destroying the crop in several 

 ways which may be noticed. The fly places the 

 animalculse at ihe root, which may be found by 

 pulling up some. When the blade turns a dark 

 color, again about the time the wheat is heading 

 you will observe the fly hovering about the head, 

 which is the time the fly bores his bill into the ker- 

 nel after the nourishment for its own body, 'i he 

 milk weeping out becomes smut. The fly then 

 begins to nibble at the head and places the animal- 

 culse there called the weevil. 



"The all-wise Creator, who has supplied us so 

 bountifully with bread, and has so wisely caused 

 the wheat to grow, has created these little insects 

 for some particular purpose. Deity had a motive 

 in creating them, and I have no doubt but they are 

 endowed with sufficient knowledge to pass through 

 several grades and to accomplish this great work 

 which causes the smut, and it has this good effect, 

 it employs the thoughts of men, as well as their 

 hands, on the works of creation, and it convinces 

 us that we are dependent on a being who has crea- 

 ted all, and we are endowed with sufficient ability 

 to try experiments, and to examine into the causes 

 and effects of certain things : it therefore deserves 

 our attention. Wheat culture ought to be encour- 

 aged, which is my motive in publishing this. Let 

 us select suitable land to sow wheat on, and sow it 

 in season, do our duty, and we may be rewarded a 

 hundred fold. 



I can reco[nmend to wash wheat before you sow 

 it. Put one peck of wood ashes and one half peck 

 of lime to a bushel of wheat, and it may have a 

 good effect as a quick spur in stirring it ; also sow 

 on ashes in a rainy day after the wheat is up, es- 

 pecially when you discover Ihe fly to lurk in it, or 

 on it, sow it on bountifully. The ashes being wet 

 when it falls on the flies, it will either kill or scat- 

 ter them. I also recommend to sow more clover 

 near to the wheat, that the fly may take that in pre- 



ference to the wheat. The fly will take some 

 place in which to dc|)o.sitc Ihe aniinalculie, no mis- 

 take. SAM'L BRAULEY. 



Frnin llie Farmer's Caliiiiei. 



PRACTICE AND THEORY. 



Mr Editor — How strangely people will differ 

 on the most familiar topics ! It is seldom, indeed, 

 that farmers can be brought to think exactly alike 

 on many things relating to their businrss ; the 

 Iheory and practice will vary a little, ajiil conclu- 

 sions will be drawn from the same premises that 

 will by no means harmonize to an exactitude, al- 

 though to common observers there is no reason why 

 there should not be the most perfect agreement. 



'I'o many, the very opposite accounts which are 

 given — all resulting from experience, loo — of the 

 produce and value of peculiar crops, the various im 

 ploments of husbandry, modes of manajjement, the 

 mannet- of preparing niul applying the different 

 kinds of manure, lime, plaster, &c., will apjiear a 

 hopeless business to reconcile; and yel, with men 

 who calculate and examine with a view to set at 

 rest these discrepancies, it often happens, that they 

 are enabled lo discover much rhyme and reason for 

 these prejudices, while common folks wonder that 

 the same ostensible causes do not always produce 

 the same effects. 



At a late meeting of practical men, a strong pre- 

 ference was given to ihe use of Prouty &. Mears' 

 plough, its chief recommendation being that it takes 

 up and lays over the furrow perfectly flat ; and 

 this peculiarity was declared to bo the perfection 

 of tillage : but I have since met with an excellent 

 practical observer, who after using this plough for 

 two years, has abandoned it, under the conviction 

 tiiat the injury arising to his crops from the use of 

 it, has amounted to 100 dollars per annum! Now, 

 how is this .' Why, just thus : the first-named 

 persons are cultivators of deep, dry, free-working 

 soils, which, when turned over flat, are still suffi- 

 ciently loose and friable to be operated upon very 

 effectually by the harrow or drag ; and then the 

 advantage of casting every thing foul and weedy 

 to the bottom of a deep, wide furrow, and covering 

 it with a completely flat furrow-slice of fine light 

 mould, the land showing like a well-pulverized fal- 

 low after the crop is sown, is, in their estimation, 

 very great, insuring almost double crops, at a much 

 smaller cost of management, the weeds having 

 been smothered and completely destroyed in the 

 operation of ploughing : while the person opposed 

 to the use of this plough occupies a stiff, retentive 

 soil, which, if turned flat, resists the operation of 

 the drag, and beeomes an almost impenetrable sur- 

 face, lying dead, as he terras it, and into which the 

 roots of the crops cannot make way : and thus he 

 accounts for the loss of liis acreable product to the 

 amount above estimated. But all this evil he finds 

 remedied by using a plough which lays its furrow 

 to an angle of 45 degrees; it lies lighter and drier, 

 affording plenty of mould by dragging down the 

 aris or angular edges of the furrow lo cover well 

 the grain ; and yet the furrow-slice is not set on 

 edge, as the enemies of this plough contend, but 

 lies sufficiently over to lap. so as effectually to pre- 

 vent the herbage from springing up between the 

 interstices; and in wet seasons, immediately after 

 sowing the crop, such lands will remain dry and 

 pulverized ; while those turned completely flat, 

 will in such circumstances become mere hard pan. 

 Now Ibis appears perfectly rational, and carries 



conviction to Ihe mind of every practical man, and 

 every one can understand it. 



It is just so with the roller; the use of it has 

 been urged in the strongest maimer, and it has no 

 doubt been found to be a most valuable implement 

 on many a light land farm, while the indiscriminate 

 use of it on a clay land farm would, in many cases, 

 be the most improper that could be imagined — and 

 th.is is perfectly rational also. Then again, the 

 question as to the propriety of feeding off wheat in 

 the spring by stock ; a plan which has been found 

 at the same time of the greatest service and injury 

 to the future crop, merely because it has been in- 

 discriminately adopted on soils and under circum- 

 stances which were dissimilar in their nature and 

 properties. And then, what a difference in soils 

 with respect to their capacity to bear the liberal 

 use of lime; for while some are benefited by the 

 lavish expenditure of .500 bushels per acre, olhera 

 are rendered sterile for years by the application of 

 GO or 80 bushels. And while wit.'i some the use 

 of plaster is all-important, by others no good what- 

 ever has been experienced by the most careful ap- 

 plication ; the difference no doubt arising from Ihe 

 nature, situation, and circumstances of the soil. 

 And even in the article of barnyard manure, how 

 often do we hear persons contending for the most 

 proper season and stato in which to apply it ; some 

 considering, with Sir Humphrey Davy, that the 

 best mode of using it is fresh as it falls ; while oth- 

 ers prefer to reserve it until it is dried to a pinch 

 of snuff! A third party, however, and more ra- 

 tionally, it is bdieved, consider that until fermen- 

 tation has taken place, no dung can properly bo 

 said to be a manureio the crop ; <Aa< having passed, 

 however, and the impure gases having had time to 

 escape, the sooner it is then applied the better. — 

 Then comes^ the question, whether it is best to turn 

 it in by a deep furrow, as has been the practice for 

 years, because "all animal manures have a tenden- 

 cy to rise in the soil, while calcareous manures 

 sink in it," or whether it be not the best way to 

 use it as a top dressing to the grass lands in spring 

 and autumn, suffering it to be grown in by the crop, 

 that it thus might yield its benefits by being gradu- 

 ally decomposed in light and heat ; furnishing, in 

 the state of water impregnated with the fructifying 

 principle, the pabulum of plants — the only mode, it 

 is contended, in which it can be taken into circu- 

 lation by the plants. 



These, and about a thousand other considera- 

 tions, press upon Ihe notice of the practical man, 

 and demand his examination and serious regard, 

 filling every instant of his time with matter for 

 deep reflection, and calling for the most careful in- 

 vestigation. And yet farming has been considered 

 merely a resource for the unfortunate; an employ- 

 ment which might be taken up by those whose 

 natural abilities are not equal to the pursuits of 

 trade or the learned professions ! No wonder, then, 

 that farmers are deemed to be the least enlightened 

 class of society ; and, as if to make the matter 

 worse, they are the onhj class of men who them- 

 selves advocate openly the non-necessity — nay, 

 worse than that — the inexpediency of reading and 

 study in their operations — strange and unaccoun- 

 table as the fact appears. V. 



We ought not to be over anxious to encourage 

 innovation in cases of doubtful improvement, for 

 an old system must ever have two advantages over 

 a new one ; it is established, and it is understood. 

 — Lacon. 



