VOL. \VI. NO. 10. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



77 



Italian Spring Wheat. — John L. Pierce, of 

 :>e\visl)iii-y, Penii. iiiforins the editor of tlie U. S. 

 Jazette, that a new species of Wheat has been 

 aised in the western counties of New York, and 

 s, in a great measure, superseding winter wheat, 

 t has never failed in any instance. Its character 

 nd qualities may be partially learned from the fol- 

 Jwing curtilicate : 



Extract from the Cultivator, [)rinted at Albany 

 N. Y. for May, 1836.] 



J. BoKL, E.sq., — Sir: I semi you inclosed, a 

 mall sample of Italian spring wheat. Tliis sa'm- 

 le is taken from a parcel J jKircliased a few years 

 nee, anil is part of the four years crop since the 

 itroduction of the original importation. The 

 ;ed was brought to this country in 1832, by Si"- 

 or J. B. .1. Carbonia, from the city of Florence, 

 1 Italy. The cask was sold for charges; and I 

 aught it, finding it a heavy and beautiful grain, 



revailed with several of our farmers to sow it 



he result was most gratifying. Sowed side and 

 de with our country spring whe.it, it e.xceeded 

 two feet in height, standing on the ground, and 

 ielded double the quantity, weighing 63 pounds 



the bushel. It has succeeded well every year 

 ncc, producing from 25 to 35 bushels to the 

 ;re, grows well on every variety of soil on which 

 has been sown. Very few of our farmers will 

 m sow winter wheat, finding tliis wheat a sure 

 op- Your ob't servant, 



by that means preserved, as they have mostly n 

 cow-yard wiih a fountain of w^ter in it ; in this 

 the manure is ke|)t, and the catlle run during the 

 day to get water. 



These barns are so constructed that the lower 

 story holds all the stock, and frequently have gra- 

 naries and (-arriage houses, with room for all the 

 hay, wheat, &c., pro(luce<i on one or two hundred 

 acres. This building is much more convenient 

 ci'sts less, takes less room, and the business is 

 more easily conducted, than by building corn- 

 house, stable, carriage-house, hay an<l straw sheds, 

 all separate, as some of our farmers do, requiring 

 four times the roof, which is the most costly part 

 )f the huililing, some of which are frequently of 

 a temporary character, and are often a disgrace to 

 a hamlsome farm ; whereas the barn in a conven- 

 ient, substantial, cheap building, considering the 

 accommodation it aflbrds. 



Robert Smith, Esq., of Baltimore, give the 

 account of his dairy farm arrange- 



_ Jat Hathaway. 



Rome, N. Y., March 24, 1836. 



A letter from the same place, dated June 9th, 

 137, says the Italian spring wheat looks finely • 

 IS a heavy grain, often weighing 63 pounds to 

 e bushel, makes handsome ana good flour is a 

 hite chaff bearded wheat, standing tluee feet on 

 e ground, some four feet. From 20 to 36 hush- 

 3 per acr.- was obtained last year, according to 

 d and culture. Any Innd suflicient in heart to 

 ing good oats, will bring a fine crop of this 

 heat. The m.llers speak well of it, and it makes 

 .•eet and good bread. 



Mr Buel,the editor of the Cultivator, rn answer 

 various inquiries, says, the Italian spring wheat 

 in great repute in Oneida county. It is in great 

 mand, and has been purchased up at $3 per 

 shel. Thorburn, the seedsman, has obtained a 

 IV bushels atanexpertseof about $4,50, and sells 

 at $5. 



Mr Pierce, the gentleman who communicates 

 Bse fiicts, ,s m Philadelphia with samples of the 

 leat for sale. — Boston Cou. 



FARM ACCOMMODATIO.VSPOR CATTLE 



tanners differ so much in their opinions, situ- 

 ons, pursuits, resources, &e., that i{ is qtiite itn. 



e to lay down any general plan withrec^ard 



lions for their 



ssihl 



the arrangement of aeeommodat 

 ink. 



In Pennsylvania, there is a lau.Iable emulation 

 long the farmers in building good barns wh c 

 commodate their stock comfortably. I "^ 



thrashed out, the straw is replaced ready to m 



.nshlera.del.rm'i^i';;;:^::^,;;;-^"^ 



1 . i"ciiy ail tile inanure w th 



;- much attjnt on centre* ;,. ""'"e, witn- 



' '-'^UTes III one body, and is 



following 

 ments : 



"The barn is constructed according to the best 

 Pennsylvania models. The yard is to the south 

 of it. On the east and west sides, are cow sta- 

 bles containing 110 well-made stalls, and well ven- 

 tilated by a suflicient number of windows and 

 double doors. In these stables, in summer as well 

 as in winter, several ranges of cattle, duly littered 

 and properly .secured, each by a chain and halter. 

 At the tails of each range of cows, there is a drain 

 made of strong planks, so fixed as to receive all 

 their dung and urine. The.se several drains have 

 a sufficient declivity to carry all the fluid matter 

 to their southern terminations, where they inter- 

 sect similar drains, which convey all this liquid 

 manure into a cistern fifty feet long. This cis- 

 tern is so placed and constructed as to receive nol 

 only the urine of the stables, hut also the liquid 

 matter of the farm-yard. In it there is a pump, 

 by means of which, its contents are pumped iiK<) 

 a large hogshead, fixed on a pair of wheels, dra*n 

 by oxen. To the end of this hogshead is attacii- 

 ed a box pierced with holes, into which this liq. 

 uid manure flows through a spigot and faucet, and 

 is then sprinkled ovet the ground, as the oxen 

 move forward. 



" For the purpose of augmenting the quantitv 

 and improving the quality of the food of my stock 

 of every kind, ! have esiablishei! a steam appara- 

 tus. It consists of a boiler and two wooden box- 

 es, in which boxes is steamed the food. 'I'hese 

 boxes contain each eighty bushels. By this sim- 

 ple apparatus, every species of coarse vegetable 

 offal is (-onverted into nourishing food, and all 

 the ordinary provender is rendered more nutri- 

 tious." 



The common cattle stalls of our country .savs 

 Col. Pickering, are so ill coiuiivedand .so strai<rh- 

 tened in their dimensions, that the cattle are con- 

 strained to lie down in part of their own dung 



This dries and forms a thick coat on their hind 

 quarters, from which they are not relieved till 

 they shed their hair in the s[)ring. They are thus 

 rendered uncomfortable. 'J'o be uncomiortable is 

 to suffer some degree of pain ; and no one will 

 suppose that animals in pain can thrive, or pre- 

 serve their plight with the same food, equally 

 with others perfectly at ease. 



The practice of stacking hay and fodder in the 

 fields, and feeding the cattle round the stacks and 

 fodder houses, cannot be too much condemned. 



The disadvantages of which are, a wasteful use of 

 the provender; the .lung lying as it dropped, 

 without straw or or any other vegetable substance 

 brought to it, the manure is little in quantity, and 

 that not lying in heaps, is reduced abundantly by 

 cxhala'ion and rain, withe ut leaving any thing to 

 the soil. 



Ill good husbandry, cattle are carefully housed, 

 or otherwise confined to a foal yard in which are 

 shelters against cold rains, iluring the winter and 

 as far through the s))ring as food will last ; by 

 this means, fliere is a faii expenditure of proven- 

 der, without waste, less exhaustion of the juices, 

 becaii.se of the dung lying together in large heaps ; 

 and the dung being mixed with the straw and*th- 

 er vegetable substances brought to the hcasis as 

 litter, the whole is trod togethcrand forms a large 

 quantity of very valuable manure. 



Litter is as esscniial to cattle, when let into 

 yards, as when placed in stalls under cover, with- 

 out which, yard manure is of small account ; and 

 unless it be in full proportion to the numbe> of 

 cattle in the yard, it is not thought highly of, hut 

 is a half done thing. Good farmers in England 

 deem full litteringof cattle, when in yards, of such 

 importance, that after reaping with sickles, and 

 in-ning their wheat, they cut the stubble and stack 

 it for litter. Besides straw and stubble for litter, 

 they apply to the same use fern, and such other 

 vegetable substances as they can procure ; and 

 they buy straw from common farmers, who are 

 not in the practice of littering. In all countries 

 common farmers are indifferent to improvements; 

 Ihey work not beyond old habits; and it is pru- 

 dent that they venture not on extensive new pro- 

 jects, without first making experiments. A full 

 littering is three loads of 12 or 1300 pounds of 

 straw to each grown beast. Corn stalks may be 

 carried from the field in great quantities, in a 

 skeleton frame cart, if not cut up and fed when 

 fre.sh. 



Many farmers feed in their yards in racks, and 

 suppose that they gain every possible advantage 

 from the practice, by the saving of the dungdrop- 

 ped, trampled, and watered by the cattle ; and 

 though this practice is certainly preferable to 

 wasteful pasturing, or to feeding in the fiehls, yet 

 it ought to be recollected that the manure will be 

 lauch inferior to that made and jireserved under 

 cover. 



Where cattle are yard fed, or stall fed in yards 

 under sheds, it is of grett consequence to defend 

 beasts against the cold and damp north-east winds 

 and the cold blasts from the north-west. Mr E. 

 Diiffield theiefore advised a friend who wished to 

 have a complete farm-yard, to erect a range of 

 buildings in a south-east direction, to have double 

 stalls below, leaving the south-west and south-east 

 sides o]icn to admit the sun in the winter, and 

 give free entrance to the prevalent winds of sum- 

 mer. — Practical Farmer. 



Notwithstanding the summer has been unusual- 

 ly cool in Maine, the thermometer having been but 

 few limes above SO in the shade, and the night's 

 cool, yet the harvest will he veiy abundant. The 

 wheat is full and heavy ; oats and rye are good ; 

 Indian corn is late, but is growing well, and will 

 yield a fair crop where the land is in good tilth. 

 Turnips and other root crops look very promis- 

 ing ; of hay there is rather a scanty yield ; of po- 

 tatoes there will be an abundance, and of a supe- 

 rior quality. — Augusta Jour. 



