No. 7. 



Preparing Seed Wheat. — Editorial Notices. 



229 



Preparing Seed Wheat. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' CohincI : 



In some neio'hbourhoods, particularly in 

 Now Jersey, the wheat was found last har- 

 vest, to be very considerably injured by 

 Finut. Diflerent siiirgestions have been 

 made for a prevention of this evil. Some 

 wet it, and roll it in lime, and believe they 

 derive benefit from the process. The fol- 

 lowing' I find in tlie Winchester Farmer, 

 liom a correspondent of that paper, dated 

 the !:25th of x^ugust, 1845, in Frederick 

 county, Va. The results seem conclusive. 



U. 



I send you the following' memoranda in 

 reference to preparing wheat against smut : 



Oct. 1st. Sowed one and a half lands of 

 mixed wheat — blue stem and white — which 

 was soaked in brine several hours on 

 (he 27th ult., but was taken out and spread 

 10 dry; then a land and a half with the 

 fame, rolled in lime and then spread and 

 dried. 



Oct. 2nd. Sowed six lands of Egyptian 

 v;heat, soaked and washed in a strong- brine 

 ior ten hours and rolled in lime, the smut — 

 (.•{' which there was a great deal — being 

 skimmed off. In the middle of these is one 

 land without any preparation. 



June 17th. From four positions in Egyp- 

 tian whoat, I can reacli 9, 13, 4, and 17 

 smut heads; from four positions in that 

 brined and limed, 0, 0, 2, and 1 ; being 43 

 heads in that unprepared, and 3 in that pre- 

 pared. 



June 23d. Four positions in unwashed 

 Egyptian give 9, 32, 1.5 and 12 smut heads; 

 that washed, 0, 0, 4, and 0, being 68 to 4. 



Walking through the blue-stem I gather- 

 ed thirty-three heads of smut in that brined 

 only, and in that brined and limed but 3. 

 The 4J bushels of Hampshire white (unpre- 

 pared) is full of smut; the three pecks of 

 Berkeley white has hardly a head. This 

 was soaked in brine eight hours, and rolled 

 with one quart of lime water-slacked. 



THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AND 



Philadelphia, Second Month, 1845. 



A FRIEND at Easton, Md., inquires about tlie Italian 

 Rye Orass, which is favourably spoken of in Caiman's 

 Tour. We have not been able to learn that it is cul- 

 tivated at all in this vicinity— we doubt whether the 

 seed can be procured hero. Stickney's variety of Rye 

 Gra=s is said to be preferable to the Italian, and may 



bo sown cilheriu sprins; orauti i. About two bush- 

 els are sown to the acre, and the price hiny be from 

 three to four dollars a bushel. It may he obtained of 

 our seedsmen. "There is iiuirh dim reine of opinion," 

 says the Farmers' Encyclopedia, "respecting the merits 

 and comparative value of Rye Grass. It produces an 

 abundance of seed which is easily collected, and rea- 

 dily vegetates on most Idnds of soil under circum- 

 stances of different management; it soon arrives at 

 perfection, and produces in its lir.st year of growth a 

 good supply of early herbage, which is much liked by 

 cattle." The above remarks are perhaps more par- 

 ticularly applicable to British farming. The second 

 crop, or latter math, as the English call it, of Rye 

 Grass is quite inconsiderable. 



In addition to the advertisements of our friends, 

 Coates, Powell and Prouty, sccdi^men, &c., of this city, 

 we give that of A. B. Allen, of New York. But little 

 excuse can be offijred by the farmer who sows indiffer- 

 ent seeds, or operates with poor implements. Every 

 facility is offered for obtaining the best of both. 



A NUMBER of the inhabitants of Moorestown and its 

 vicinity, Burlington county. N. J., met on the 2d inst., 

 and calling Chalkley Gillingham to the Chair, and ap- 

 pointing Wm. Parry, Secretary, they resolved to form 

 an Agricultural Society. A committee was appointed 

 to draft a constitution, &c., which will be submitted 

 to an adjourned meeting to be held on the 26th of this 

 month. There is a good deal of enterprise in that 

 neighbourhood, and we hope much good may be done. 



The Farmers' Library is translating and publishing 

 "./? Treatise on Milch Cows,'' by Monsieur Ouenon, of 

 France; "whereby the quality and quantity of milk 

 which any cow will give, may be accurately deter- 

 mined, by observing natural marks, or external indi- 

 cations alone ; the length of time she vtill con'inue to 

 give milk, &.c." With Practical Observations and Re- 

 marks on Cattle, by John S. Skinner. 



Committees have made favourable reports to the ag- 

 ricu tural societies of Bordeaux and Aurillac. They 

 say: " M. Guenon has established a natural method, 

 by means of which it is easy to recognize and class the 

 different kinds of milch cows according; 1st. To the 

 quantity of milk which they can yield daily; 2d. The 

 period during which tliey will continue to give milk; 

 3d. The quality of their milk." And all this is to be 

 done by observing, as the author says, the shape of 

 certain quirls of the hair, on particular parts of the 

 body! What will those of our readers say to this who 

 have been in the habit of smiling with some incredu- 

 lity, at the grave annunciations of the phrenologist 

 who dives at once into the intellectual character of his 

 subject, by passing his hand over the skull cop? Let 

 them subscribe for the Library, and read for them- 

 selves. 



It was stated a couple of weeks ago, in the J^ational 

 Standard, that Job and Joseph Black, near Salem, N.J., 

 had then recetitly slaughtered si.\ spring pigs, the 

 averaie weight of which was 322 lbs. They were ten 

 months old, and had consequently gained, each, a full 

 pound per day. This denotes prrlty gcod living. 



