62 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTEMBER 4, 1833. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPT. 4, 1833. 



JIIL.DEW IN WHEAT. 



New Berlin, Union County, Penn. Aug. 10, 1833. 

 To the Editor oftht X w England Farmer. 



Sir, 1 find there is :i difference between your 

 correspondents B. and H. C. as to the cause of 

 mildew, rust, or blast in wheat. Does it arise from 

 any particular state of the air, or of the ground ? 

 Tlie question is important, for a mistake in our 

 theory may lead to very injurious practical results.. 

 This part of Pennsylvania affords almost every 

 variety of soil which can exist in any country 

 which is not of primary formation. We have fine 

 alluvion along the rivers and larger streams, and 

 as rich valleys between the riilges of our moun- 

 tains, as arc any where to be found ; and all sorts 

 of gravel and slate, red and black, from the sides 

 and" tops of high mountains, which yield nothing. 

 We have som of country, (not large,) 



where thirty-five bushels of wheat to the acre is 

 uot an uncommon crop ; anil a good many funis 

 and fields in our limestone valleys, which yield 

 forty bushels, and perhaps a little over, to the acre. 

 Within a few miles there is land, that would re- 

 quire a special effort to get ten. Our farmers are 

 not all equally good, perhaps as various as the soil. 

 In the summer of 1829, the mildew did im- 

 mense injury in, this country. The wheat in a 

 district of country from the Blue Mountain to the 

 Alleghany, near a hundred miles long, and thirty 

 or forty, perhaps fifty miles wide, was affected, and 

 in some districts entirely ruined. A large portion 

 of the farmers of Centre County, and many here, 

 used old wheat for seed. It seemed impossible for 

 us, seeing its effects on every kind of soil, to sup- 

 pose that the mildew was occasioned by anything 

 in the ground. There has been nothing like it 

 since, nor previous, within my recollection. 



We had about the time the straw began to turn 

 its color, after the grain was formed, while in its 

 soft, milky state, sultry weather, with occasional 

 showers and sunshine, in quick succession. I re- 

 collect being at a field of mine, just after a very 

 slight shower, hardly enough to lay the dust. The 

 sun shone out with great heat. It seemed to me 

 there was a slight vapor, not a fog, but I supposed 

 the stuff which logs are made of. A man who 

 works for me, and has had long experience as a 

 farmer, observed at the lime that he was afraid our 

 wheat would be mildewed. I did not then pay 

 much attention to it. Though in two or three 

 days afterwards, 1 was satisfied he was right. In 

 a few days more the country rang with talk of it. 

 Many men in whose observation and judgment 1 

 have great confidence thought the mischief in our 

 neighborhood was principally done that afternoon. 

 Experii nee here, I think, does not teach that 

 there is any danger of having too much straw, 

 provided it will stand up till the grain is nearly or 

 quite hardened. If it falls, of course we expect 

 light heads. Nor can the kind of manure be sup- 

 posed to have occasioned mildew ; for there are 

 in the district before mentioned, thousands of acres 

 of wheat every year, on which no manure of any 

 kind has ever been put since it was first cleared, 

 except gypsum and green crops, ploughed under. 

 Yet the wheat in this land did not escape more 

 than others. I recollect hearing of but a single 

 exception that season, and that was a piece of laud 

 newly cleared, with its first crop. It had adjoined 



an old field, and that year was enclosed with the 

 field, and was all, old and new, in wheal. That 

 on the old land was blasted, and that on the new 

 escaped. 1 know of no reason but this — new 

 ground is not sown so early in the i'all as old by 

 some time, two or three, and sometimes four 

 weeks. It is not ill general so soon ripe the next 

 season, though the difference is not so great : 1 

 have known the difference to be a week or ten 

 days. 



My belief is, that the cause of mildew is atmos- 

 pherical ; and that there is not more than live or 

 six days in the life of wheat, in which the state of 

 the atmosphere can produce this effect. And in 

 the ease of the old and new land fanned together, 

 if that particular state of the air bad happi ned :■■ 

 week later, the new land wheat would have been 

 blasted, and the other would have been too hard 

 to be injured. I believe further that grain which 

 is late in ripening is most likely to lie afii end. I 

 infer this from observing that green stalks, grow- 

 I y slumps, or partially shaded, will be quite 

 light headed, while the rest of the field 'will be 

 sound and good. I infer it also from the fact that 

 -the straw is often quite rusty, and the wheat not 

 at all or very slightly affected. I do not see any 

 reason to doubt that the same state of the atmos- 

 phere that produced the rust would have blasted 

 the wheat if the grain had not become. too hard. 

 I think this position is fortified by the considera- 

 tion that the grains are not all equally shrunk. I 

 do not know of any difference of soils as respects 

 mildew except this. Wheat on a light sandy or 

 gravelly soil, with a southern exposure, has shorter 

 straw, and goes through the process of forming 

 and perfecting the grains in a shorter time than it 

 does on the same land exposed to the north ; ami 

 much shorter than on heavy limestone lands. A 

 mile distance with the different exposure, will 

 make sometimes a week of difference in the time 

 of cutting the grain. There is less time for the 

 mildew to operate on the former than the latter, 

 and of course the chance of escape is greater. 



1 make no apology for the length of what I 

 have written, nor for coming between B. and II. C. 

 arcades umbo undoubtedly, because you can do as 

 you please with it. You will not publish it, un- 

 less you should think it may, in some degree, aid 

 you and my brother New Englandmen, to find out 

 where their enemy is, whether above or below the 

 ground. If not published it will be but an hour 

 spent in reminiscences, which I might have em- 

 ployed less profitably to myself. 



Yours, James Merrill. 



lie must also duly currycomb and dress him 

 wipe away the dust, pick and clean him, feed and 

 cherish him, and constantly employ himself in do- 

 ing something about him, as looking to his heels, 

 taking up his feet, rubbing upon the solos. 



Nay, he ought to keep him so well dressed that 

 he can almost see his own face upon his coat; he 

 must likewise keep his feet stopped and anointed 

 daily, his heels free from scratches, and other de- 

 fects, ever having a watchful eye over him ; and 

 overlooking all bis actions, as well feeding as 

 drinking ; that so no inward infirmity may seize 

 upon him, without his being able to discover and 

 endeavoring to cure the complaint. 



The next thing requisite to a groom is neatness, 

 as to keeping the stable clean swept and in order; 

 saddles, housing-cloths, stirrups, leathers and girths 

 clean, and above all his horse clean dressed and 

 well rubbed. 



Lastly, diligence is requisite in a daily discharge 

 of his duty, and observing any the smallest opera- 

 tion, whether casual or accidental, either in bjs 

 ■countenance, as symptoms of sickness ; or in his 

 limbs and gait, as lameness : or in bis appetite, as 

 forsaking his- meat; and immediately on any such 

 discovery to seek out a remedy. 



To Correspondents. We have two poetical effu- 

 sions on hand ; one from a lady, and the other 

 from a gentleman, which were received too late 

 for this week's paper, but shall appear in our next. 



Gama Grass. Those gentlemen, who, by letter 

 or otherwise, have requested us to furnish them 

 with seeds of Gama Grass, are respectfully inform- 

 ed that we have none ; but should we be able to 

 procure it, we will send them small parcels for 

 experiment. We doubt, bowever, whether that 

 plant will succeed so far north as New England, 

 though perhaps it may be acclimated, and cer- 

 tainly deserves the trial. 



CARE OF HORSES. 



An old English writer says that the groom, or 

 man who has care of horses, should demean him- 

 self in so kind and gentle a manner towards horses 

 as to engage them to love him ; for a horse is 

 reckoned one of the most loving creatures to man 

 of all other brutes, and in every respect the most 

 obedient. 



Therefore if he be dealt with mildly and gently 

 his kindness will be reciprocal ; but if the groom 

 or keeper be harsh and choleric, he will put the 

 horse out of patience, and make him become re- 

 bellious, and occasion his biting and striking. 



Therefore the groom should frequently dally, 

 toy, and play with the horses under his care, talk- 

 ing to them, and giving them good words, leading 

 them out into the sunshine, there run and show 

 them all the diversions he can. 



ITEMS OP INTELLIGENCE. 



Tlic Brought. Farmers in the neighborhood of Boston, 

 especially in the vicinity of the sea, are suffering severely 

 by dry weather. The Hingham Gazette states that the 

 drought has already been so severe that many fine fields 

 have been almost entirely ruined, and grazing lands, 

 upon high grounds wear an appearance of desolation. 

 The air is cool and dry, and there is no appearance of 

 refreshing rains. We learn that on the south shore 

 generally the drought is equally severe, but as we have 

 not noticed any complaints from the interior, it is proba- 

 ble that the extent of the dry weather has been circum- 

 scribed to narrow limits. Should the weather continue 

 as unpromising for a week or two to come, as it has 

 been for several weeks past, the result will be almost 

 ruinous to our agricultural interests dependent on the 

 the products of autumn. 



The Nasturtium. Our Horticulturists and floral ama- 

 teurs will be pleased with the information in the follow- 

 ing paragraph from the London Literary Gazette. 



There is this season a rich and beautiful variety of the 

 nasturtium, which has sported several colors both more 

 deep and brilliant than that to which we have been ac- 

 customed in the plant. We have seen one almost blood- 

 color, and several of fine browns and dark reds. The 

 n-ardens are also this year improved by some pretty an- 

 nuals from Mexico. A florist tells us that the nastur- 

 tium has not sported (as the term is) before for two hun- 

 dred years. — Boston Courier. 



In fifty-one towns in Maine, containing a population 

 of 45,900 souls, there is no retailer of ardent spirits. 



