20 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JULT 36. 18W. 



[For the New KiiglnniJ Farnier.J 

 S:»1XIT IBf ■WUEAT. 

 To T. G. FesiSPiidcn, 



Editor N. E. Farmer: 

 Dkaii Sib : As a practira! fiinncr, 1 havo l)peM 

 <1< siriiu" ol nvairni>; inysf If of the exjiericnce of 

 otlriTs of inj' orcii|).iti(iii. w liencver niwi wherever 

 I chance to fiiiil it. And, anions other souri es, 

 I hav(! (h'rivcd much satisfaction and |iro(it, hy 

 reailin;; your vahiahlfi [lapir, the " N. E. Farmer," 

 and ; our >■ Coinphle Farmer." liirt, yet I nnisl 

 say, that I have some re:,. son to ei>m|dain, either 

 of some of yonr prcscrii tini.s lor |iractical piir, o- 

 8PS, or of tny iniBunderstaiidiiig or niisai plyiiifr 

 them. 



For instance, Smut iii H'lierd. — Last year, 1836, 

 I prepared my seed wheat, first hy washing in 

 pirrc w.nter, then steeped twenlyfonr hours in siaji 

 smls, then rolled in dry lime. 'Mils prodnced no 

 efi'f.ct on the crop, so f:r a.-! ronid he perceived 

 by comparing it with my neisflibor's field ailjoiii- 

 injl, the seed of which was ohtained nt the same 

 ])luce with iM'me, lint sown vviihon: any prepara- 

 tion. Alioli! one third | art of the hea<is in each 

 field were smutty. 



Ai^ain this year, 1 resolved to try a>;arii — sowed 

 ahont six hnshels, prepared one h;df liy first wash- 

 ing, ihi'ii siirrinjf in tliii-U white wash, made hy 

 liourinir hniliMfr water on (piick lime ; jet it re- 

 main eijjhteew Ininrs, then ap[]lied dry lime. — 

 .Ahont on(!fonrlh part of the heads are smutty. — 

 The other half was soaked eii,'hteen Ikhms in a 

 lye, made liy dis.s-olving '.ive pounds of I'otash in 

 as many pails of water. This wheat, exee[il per- 

 haps, 100 kerncl.s, remains still in the fi-'ound — 

 the strenjllli of tlie lye having' destroyed the vej;- 

 etative principle. Among those t-liat have "come 

 li()," thore is the usual proportion of smutty heads. 

 My neighbor sowed hisw^rreut without any pre|ia- 

 ration, ;md though inferior in [u-ospeet of a crop, 

 yet there is about the same jiroportion of «iiutiy 

 iiea<ls as in mine. Again ; 1 lead in your 'paper 

 that seed kept o.ver one year is not so likefy to 

 sunit. 1 pureiiased one bushel to lest the trntfi 

 of this. Ikit find llii.s too, has smutted as well as 

 the rest. Now 1 ask, why have I thus been dis- 

 a; pointed ? Not in regard to the total loss of the 

 one lialf referred to, whi(;li was the I'onsequence 

 of being "wi.se above what is written," but in re- 

 gard to s«u(<. Was it owing to my "wrong do. 

 ing," to the season, or the fallibility of the prc- 

 Bcriplioiis found in th(^ New I'.iigland Farmer, 

 vol. 11, p. 31-2, 380, &c? Complete Farmer, p. 

 118, (■2d ed.) Ami in volume 15 of tlie N. E. 

 Farmer, to which I cannot refer for want of an 

 index, ( ^.houlil be glad of more n:formatioii on 

 the subject, that I m;'.y avoid, if possible, liiture 

 di.sappointiiMint. A Yol'.ng Faumer. 



July llth, 1837. 



I5v THK Editor. — \Vc are not soretligt we ran 

 mill any thing material on the subject of smut in 

 wln;at, which we liave not given in thi! works al- 

 luded to above. It is possible that the conlcifrion 

 of smut nuiy exist in the mauiMe, the soil, or be 

 caught from nniterials infi'cted with the disease. 

 Ifthe bdlowing preventives and preciuitions should 

 not prove eli'ecliial, tve should be glad to be in- 

 formed of more edieient retuedies. 



1. Wheal is not to be sown on groimd which 

 lias borne smutty wheat in the year preceding. — 

 This would hi; hiid policy if smut were out of the 

 question, as two wliiie crops should never succeed 



each otiier, which is against the rules of rotation 

 in husbindry. 



2. Manure tainted with smut, should not be 

 used Uir wheat land, unless it be made into a 

 compost, in which lime is an ingredient. 



3. When maniir<^ is used, it should not be 

 spread too thh-kly, but as evenly as po.sssihle. 



4. Pure seed siionld not he left within the reach 

 of infectious materi:ds. The caution extends not 

 only to avoiding the use of a threshins floor em- 

 ployed for smutty wheat, hut li atof lainte<l sacks, 

 casks, iind vc-^sels for measuring wheat. 



5. Wheat should be sov/<'d early, that the crop 

 may ripen early, and it should not be kept back 

 by being fed in the spring. 



6. The seed shoiiid he of good quality, not light, 

 unripe, inovlJy, bruise<l nr \V(M-m eaten, or other- 

 wise imperfect or injured. 



7. None but good land, and land which admits 

 of early cro()S, should be employed in raising 

 wheal. 



8. Wlieatshould not lie sown in very wet wea- 

 ther, even when the soil is dry. 



9. A change of seed is recommended by wri- 

 ters on this subject, and few that are wise wi 1 

 procure worse seed to sow than they possess td- 

 ready. 



10. The pure.st jiortions of the plants in a crop 

 should be set apart for seed ; and when ripe these 

 plants should he harvested by lhem.selves, and the 

 sei'd preserved apart in a safe place. This rule 

 wi I c<immonly prove more imj ortant than the 

 one pro(-erdiug. 



11. The thick sowing of wheat is improper, for 

 the double reason that it | rodin-es ft'eble plants 

 and dampnes.s, both of which encourage .smut. 



12. No favorable moment for sowing wheat is 

 to he lost, nor any unfavorable moment to be 

 adopted, from a supposed necessity of paying at- 

 tention to the state of the moot). — Mass. Agr. Rep. 

 vol. v., p. 134. 



From the preceding, and from other sources of 

 information, we are inclined to believe that siniit 

 in wheat is contagious. That a small quantity of 

 smut is sufficient to contaminate a whole field ; 

 and that the steeps, the lime, &c., intended as 

 .inlidotes to smut, in order to be efl'eclual, must 

 be univeisal in the neighborhood ; as the conta- 

 gion may be caught from one field to anoti er, as 

 rtell as from different parts of the same enclo- 

 sure. 



(Selected fur the .\. n. Farmer.) 

 POND MUD. 

 " The m\id from ponds, when they are cleaned 

 out, has ahvajs been an objiMt of allention to far- 

 mer.s, so far as regards its collection ; but it must 

 he presumed that its difierent properties, and eon- 

 .secpiently llie tiiost judicious modes of its appli- 

 cation to the land, are either hut little uuder.stood 

 or iieglecHed ; for some cart it ilirectly upon the 

 ground, and plough it in, either for turnips or .''or 

 corn-crops; olheis spread it u|ioii old leys; and 

 many lay it out in thin heaps to dry, after which 

 they riiix it with lime or dung. Upon this It has 

 been remarked, hy an eminent agriculturist, that 

 in reasoning with the farmers upon the cause or 

 principle by vvbiih they are gniiled in those dif- 

 l( rent proceedings, the reply is generally 'that 

 it has been their practice to do so — that it has aii- 

 svvered very well — and that ihey know of no bet- 

 ter mode of treating ii.' It may he ob.scrvefl, that 

 ponds, being usually placed ut the lower jiarls o( 



the fields, receive, after every hard rain, a part of 

 the soil, as well as of the substances with whicli 

 they have been manured. If the ponds be largo 

 and deep, they may also acquire much <lecayed 

 vegetable matter, arising from the aquatic pl.-ints 

 with which such pools usually abound ; and if 

 near the yards .-it which cattle are commonly wa- 

 tered, they must likewise receive a portion of their 

 dung: such mud is^ therefore, [larticularly appli- 

 i-able to light soils, both as conlHining nutritive 

 matter, and adding to the staple and consi.-tency 

 of the land. ^ he most common time of mudding 

 ponds, is during the siunmer months, when it is 

 usual to let the slime lie near the edge of the pond, 

 until the water is drained from it. A spot is thru 

 maiked, either upon a head land of the field upon 

 whicli it is to be laid, or as near it jis pos.'^ible, of 

 a size' to rai.se a compost with alternate layers of 

 either lime or dung. 



If dnngrali be had, the best mode of )ireparing 

 ibis manure, is to lay a foundalion of miir!, of 

 .■ihoiit n foot or a foot ai d a hcdf in dejith, of all 

 oblong fin-Ill, and not more than eight feel in width, 

 upon vvhii h the freshest yard dung is laid to about 

 double that depth ; then a thin layer of rnud ; af- 

 ter which alt rnate layers of mini and dung, until 

 the heap lie raised to about five or six feet in 

 heiglii — kee| ing the sides and end square, and 

 coating the whole with mud, at least twice, at dif- 

 ferent periods. 



If quick lime be used, and tliere remains any 

 moisture in the pond scourings, it will be suffi- 

 ci.ntly fallen for turning, in a few da}s ; but if 

 the compost be made with farm-yard dung, ii may 

 require to remain six or eight weeks to ferment 

 and decompose, before it is in a proper state for 

 turning. To form them, in the first instance, with 

 holh quick lime and manure, is injudicious : the 

 former ought never to be brought in contact with 

 the latter — though :Tianures maybe advantage- 

 ously incorporated with an old compost, in which 

 a little lime has been used. It appears the better 

 mod? to apply it in the latter end of autumn, or 

 early part of winter, and to bush-harrow it well 

 after it has been hardened by frost. 



Sta mud or Sleech, has been also been u.sed in 

 some |ilac<s in large quantities, and has been found 

 of so very enriching a nature, as to amply reinii- 



nerale for carrying it to considerable distance. 



It is generally laid upon grass in aiituiMi, and 

 |donglied In without any addition in the follow- 

 ing spring. It is also found that its rfircts re- 

 main longeron the land than marl; and although 

 that which is over-marled is spoiled for grass, yet 

 that never happens to sea-mud." — British Hus- 

 bandry. 



Whitf. Weed. — What benefit is white v/eed to 

 the farmer? One would be led to suppose, from 

 witnessing the great amount of this article grow- 

 ing over many fields, that it was some valuable 

 thing, sufli'red to grow and spread itself, or care- 

 fully Cultivated, until scajirely « blade of grain can 

 lie seen without a very close inspection. What 

 benefit is it.' We never heard any person (save 

 one) say it was good lor any thing but to poison 

 and root out every thing valuable fi oiii the ground. 

 We never heard one speak of it, hut to scold ihat 

 it should have existence ; still it is suffeied to 

 keep (jniel possession. If it is a noxious weed, 

 why not destroy it ? It can be done — and now 

 is the lime to do it. 'I he field is even now while 

 for the harvest. Mow can it be done ? Simjily 



