1819. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Ill 



HARROWING WHEAT IN SPRING. 

 BY MYRON ADAH3. 



Messrs. Editors : — lis none of the improvoments 

 in agriculture do I find farmers ho alow to believe as 

 in harrowing wheat after the ground has settled in 

 the spring. Some i a or fifteen years ago much was 

 said on this subject in the Genesee Parmer, showing 

 the resultsof experimt ats and explaining the reasons 

 why it should operate beneficially upon the crop. 



Fanners know that a hard crust forms upon ground 

 exposed to the frosts and drying winds of March and 

 April, and that this crust greatly retards vegetation. 

 But the great objection is, it will pull up all the wheat 

 to harmw it. Having- practiced harrowing my wheat 

 every spring for the last eight or ten years, and uni- 

 formly with good effect, I feci disposed to recommend 

 the practice to my brother farmers. Of late years I 

 have been in the habit of plowing in my wheat at the 

 time of seeding with a gang plow, leaving it in the 

 furrow. In the spring after the ground has become 

 dry, the last of April or early in May, I harrow 

 lengthw ise of the furrows, then crosswise, loosening 

 up the ground thoroughly. I should like to do this 

 just before a rain. If the land is to be seeded with 

 clover, I sow on the seed and harrow it in. This 1 

 think far more safe than sowing early and trusting 

 to the heavings of the frosts and the wash of rains 

 to cover it. Early sown clover is often killed by the 

 drouths so common in April. 



I have been amused at the earnestness with which 

 some of my neighbors would remonstrate with me 

 for harrowing my wheat. " Such a fine piece of 

 wheat" say they, "to be spoiled in that manner : he 

 ought to be sent to the mad house." 



And afterwards, when the crop showed for itself 

 it was not ruined, " Oh, it was such a good piece of 

 land it will produce a good crop in spite of your ex- 

 periments." A field of wheat looks bad while under 

 the process of harrowing, as it is prostrated and part- 

 ly covered with earth ; but after a shower it starts 

 up fresh and vigorous like a field of corn refreshed 

 by a shower after being hoed. I have often examin- 

 ed as to the amount pulled up, and do not believe it 

 will average a bushel upon ten acres. Farmers try 

 it : and be not frightened by the appearance. I 

 never yet heard of a field injured by it. 



East Bloomjield, JY. Y., April,' 1849. ' 



SALTING STOCK. 

 BY J. H. BEECH, M. D. 



Messrs. Editors : — A correspondent of the Far- 

 mer some time ago offered some speculations about 

 salting stock — questioning the utility of the prac- 

 tice, and asking for actual experiment. Believing 

 the question important, and that sufficient time has 

 elapsed for those better qualified to have given details 

 of experiments, if they had previously made any in 

 that line, or to have given an answer on scientific 

 physiological principles, I have no apology for wri- 

 ting, provided I succeed in making my article worthy 

 your publication. 



The animal system has no power to create any of 

 the elements of flesh, organised tissue, or saluta- 

 ry secretions. But the organs of nutrition and as- 

 similation have wonderful power to modify the chem- 

 ical constituents of the animal body, into a part of 

 that body, when they are supplied. Healthy, perfect 

 animals cannot be raised, or kept unless all the vari- 

 ous chemical constiuents of bone, meat, fat, &c, are 



furnished in food, or drink, or in the atmosphere they 

 breathe. Combinations of gluten, starch, oil, be., 

 found in the food of herbivorous animals, supply much 

 of the material for organized tissue, and fat; and 

 abundance of carbon for the purposes of respiration. 

 But a variety of mineral Bubslances, are • qually ne- 

 cessary, to wit : phoBporus lor the formation oi ner- 

 vous tissii", bones, white a. id yolk of eggs, and milk. 

 It is furnished in the grasses and seeds of plants. 

 Sulphur exists in flesh, eggs and milk. It is found 

 in most spring and river water, and in some plants 

 with their azotizedcompoundp. Lime is a well known 

 ingredient in the animal structure. It is equally 

 abundant in the vegetable kingdom, and in all hard 

 water. Iron is a " sine qua n on" 1 in red blood, ani- 

 mal flesh, yolk of eggs, and milk. It is supplied in 

 some water and in many vegetables. 



Common salt is no less important in the animal 

 economy. It is contained in flesh, in the egg, in 

 milk, and other fluids. It is a combination of muri- 

 atic acid and soda. The first named, is essential to 

 the gastric juice, making it a ready solvent of many 

 substances which would otherwise be useless to the 

 purpose of assimilation. Soda is necessary in the 

 production of bile. Common salt is scarcely found 

 in plants, except such as grow in salt marshes, salt 

 licks, or sea water. This deficiency must be supplied. 

 Instinct and appetite impel wild animals to seek such 

 marshes, and licks, where they choose the raw mate- 

 rial in the most concentrated form they can find it. 

 Domestication prevents animals from obeying this 

 desire, and renders it our duty and interest to mingle 

 it with their food or treat them regularly with this 

 luxury, as their actions prove they esteem it, 



By the advice of some old farmers I have fed rny 

 pigs with salt freely and regularly, especially while 

 fattening, for four or five years ; and am satisfied 

 that it is of great service in giving permanency to 

 the appetite and solidity to the flesh, — besides being 

 well paid for expense and trouble in grateful grunts, 

 and smacking chops. Gaines, JY. Y., 1849. 



FEEDING BARLEY TO PIGS AND EWES. 



I saw in the Farmer, seme time since, a recom- 

 mendation for feeding ewes that had lambs, barley 

 meal. I wish to ask if any of the readers of the 

 Farmer have tried the experiment ; and if they have, 

 what has been the result ? It has a very bad effect 

 on sows that have pigs — drying up their milk and 

 eventually starving the pigs. Likewise, barley straw 

 and barley beards will dry up milch cows. 



In regard to sows and pigs, one circumstance has 

 happened under my observation. A farmer had a fine 

 sow which had a nice litter of pigs, and he thought 

 he would take extra trouble and have nice hogs. He 

 had some barley ground and he gave the meal to the 

 sow, and if he had not left off feeding it as he did he 

 would have lost all. He made out to save two or 

 three out of the litter by feeding other slops. 



Yours, foe, Arista. 



Will some of our correspondents respond to the 

 above inquiries ? — [Ed. 



Vermont Sugar. — The Creen Mountain Free- 

 man says that the " amount of maple sugar made 

 annually in the State of Vermont, according to the 

 best estimates we can obtain, is about five millions 

 of pounds." 



