280 



Preparation of Seed Wheat. 



Vol. X. 



of his hay. Of one hundred and twenty 

 tons, how much hay will be left to send to 

 market to sell for cash, after ha-ving win- 

 tered seven horses and fifty head of cattle ? 

 To produce the extraordinary quantity of 

 milk and butter tliat will realize Sgl400, 

 how many of his roots will it be necessary 

 to give to his cows'! and how many will be 

 left for sale, after they are satisfied ? yet 

 they are all set down as profit! Twenty 

 head of swine cannot be kept from squeal- 

 ing on homosopathic doses, and fifteen hogs 

 weighing 4,500 lbs. cannot be fattened as 

 Mr. Gowen fattens his stock, altogether on 

 corn-cobs. Yet $600 are set down as value 

 for 1000 bushels of corn, and full price 

 added for the pork afterward. Up here, 

 Mr. Editor, in this rough country, v/here we 

 have but a rough plan of book-keeping, we 

 should call this a system of double entry. 

 Mr. Gowen's horses receive neither corn 

 nor oats, but are fed on ship-stuff and cut 

 timothy hay. Now suppose the ship-stuff 

 that is bought, should cost more than the 

 corn brings, that is sold, I give it to some of 

 your juvenile readers to cypher out the 

 amount of profit. By the way, I am a mil- 

 ler; and I know that in a well regulated 

 mill, very little farinaceous matter is left in 

 ship-stuft', and consequently it can contain 

 but little nutriment. It would be an im- 

 portant discovery, if hard-working farm- 

 horses can be kept in proper order on ship- 

 stuff. 



Now I dismiss the subject, — spring is at 

 hand, and I have to attend to my farm. 



H. S. 



Bethel, Berks co., Pa., March 28th, 1846. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Preparation of Seed Wheat. 



Mr. Editor, — I have noticed several com- 

 munications in your valuable paper, upon the 

 preparation of seed wheat; as they all differ 

 some what from the method I have adopted 

 for the last three years with much success, I 

 beg leave to give you my mode of prepara- 

 tion. 



I place a half hogshead nearly full of wa- 

 ter in my barn — add glauber salts until the 

 water ceases to dissolve them ; then take a 

 half bushel of wheat in a bale basket, sink it 

 gradually, stirring it with a paddle until every 

 particle of filth is washed out, which will 

 float on the brine ; raise the basket suddenly 

 to throw off the filth, let the brine drain from 

 it, place the wheat on the floor and roll it in 

 newly slacked lime, then run it aside to let 

 it dry a few hours before seeding — skim the 

 floating filth from the brine and strain it 

 through a colander or fine sieve. By this 



mode one hand can wash as fast as ten ploughs 

 can put it in. 



In 1843, I received 100 busliels of seed 

 wheat from the Western shore ; after seeding 

 more than one half I discovered smut in it, 

 and prepared 30 bushels as stated, washing 

 out a quantity of smut and other tilth. In 

 1844 I found the smut much increased in the 

 wheat not prepared ; in that prepared, after 

 a careful examination, I found only one 

 smut head; I then examined the grain, and 

 thought I could see a perceptible difference 

 in favour of the prepared wheat. 



In the fall I seeded 75 bushels of that 

 wheat, washing only 12 bushels. In 1845 I 

 examined carefully the 12 bushels seeding, 

 and found no smut; I did not examine that 

 not prepared, but found none in cleansing it 

 for market. I again compared the grain, and 

 oberved if any thing, a greater difference in 

 favour of the prepared wheat. I also dis- 

 covered a like difference in a white wheat 

 that I was seeding. 



Last fall I prey)ared my entire crop, 162 

 bushels, using 200 lbs. salts, and nearly six 

 barrels of slacked lime. I seeded two small 

 parcels of wheat, one from Pennsylvania, 

 the other from the southern part of this state, 

 both containing a large portion of smut; if 

 these prove clean the coming harvest I shall 

 consider this preparation proof against smut. 

 As we have discovered an antidote for this 

 pest, I now no longer fear it, and will recom- 

 mend to your subscribers in this part of the 

 country, the change their seed wheat at last 

 every two or three years, for I am fully 

 satisfied from experiments I have made, that 

 great gains will result from it. 



A Subscriber. 



Eastern Shore, Md., March 30, 1846. 



Vevay Vineyard. — The Indiana Farmer 

 and Gardener contains a notice of this vine- 

 yard. It was commenced by Swiss emi- 

 grants in 1801, at Veray, on the banks of 

 the Ohio. Congress granted them land on 

 long credit. They brought their own native 

 vines, and after struggling for years, they 

 gave up the culture of the foreign vine. 

 They turned attention to our native vine, 

 first to the Cape grape, and subsequently to 

 the Isabella and Catawba. After forty years 

 of e.\perience, tiioy consider our climate and 

 soil inferior to those of Switzerland for pro- 

 ducing saccharine matter, and consequently 

 wine. They say that, in this country, twelve 

 pounds of grapes are required to make a 

 gallon of wine, and, in the old country, ten 

 pounds. At one time they had forty acres 

 under cultivation; now only five. They 

 say they can cultivate other products to 

 greater profit. 



