208 



NEW Ei\GLAND FARMER. 



to note when their petals had begun to fall to the 

 ground ; that is, as many petals had fallen as what 

 remained to expand. Tlic old red cherry were this 

 year equally as late as the apple. 



Most respectfully yours, 



ISAAC STEAIIXS. 

 Mansfield, Mass, Jime 6, 1850. 



WHEN SHOULD GRAIN BE CUT* 



It has ever been the practice with most farmers to 

 permit their grain crops to remain in the field until 

 fully matured. This, it was thought, was indispen- 

 sably necessary to secure the complete development 

 of all those characteristic excellences iipon which 

 the value of most grains, used for food for man and 

 beast, is found intrinsically to depend. To cut it, 

 therefore, one day before its entire and perfect mat- 

 uration, was supposed to detract to some extent from 

 its nutritive powers, and consequently to diminish 

 somewhat the value of the crop, without securing 

 any advantages worthy of consideration in re- 

 turn. The assumption uj^on which this hypothesis 

 is predicated, is, that the stalk acts merely as a con- 

 duit, or tube, through which, as the grain demands 

 it, the nutriment is conveyed from the soil. No 

 allowance is made for the action of the vitalizing 

 fluid, or sap, which is supposed to act merely as a 

 solvent, and is arrested and rendered incapable of 

 operating any favorable action upon the grain, as soon 

 as the crop is cut, though the stalk be replete with 

 sap, and the grain unfilled, or immature. My own 

 experience, however, aided by the experiments and 

 observations of others who have made these phenom- 

 ena a subject of critical and patient investigation, 

 induces me to adopt an altogether different view of 

 the case ; and this, I find, is the fact with raanj' of the 

 most distinguished scientific writers both in this 

 comitry and iir Europe. 



In the 2d volume of British Husbandry, pp. 136, 

 137, it is said, — 



" The question has been for some time agitated, 

 regarding the state of rijaeness in which grain should 

 be reaped ; and it has been recommended as a general 

 rule of ijractice, to cut down the crop before the up- 

 permost grain can be shaken out. Taking all things 

 into consideration, it seems to be the most prudent 

 plan to have the grain cut before it is fully ripe ; but 

 in this a medium course should be adopted ; for, 

 although grain, if allowed to become too ripe, as- 

 sumes a dull, husk}' hue in the sami^le, yet, if not 

 ripened enough, it shrivels in the drying." 



Cadet de Vaux asserts that " grain reaped eight 

 days before the usual time, has the berries larger, 

 fuller, and finer, and better calculated to resist the 

 attacks of the weevil. An equal quantity of the corn 

 thus reaped, with corn reaped at maturity, gave more 

 bread, and of a better quality. The proper time for 

 reaping, is that when the grain, on being pressed be- 

 tween the fingers, has a doughy appearance, like a 

 crumb of bread jiist hot from the oven." 



Mr. C. Howai-d, in the lleport on Select Farms, 

 says, " Wheat ought never to be allowed to remain 

 uncut till it is fully ripe. Experiments, easily made, 

 will prove to every cultivator of it, that by permit- 

 ting it to stand imtil the straw has lost its succulcncy, 

 he gains nothing in plumpness or bulk of grain, but 

 loses much in color and fineness of skin ; besides 

 which, he incurs the risk of shelling, by the high 

 wind, or by its being cut under the influence of a 

 burning sun. 



" AVhen fully ripened by standing in the shocks, no 

 dry hour should be lost in getting it well secured." 



Landon observes, that '* in harvesting wheat, the 

 best farmers, both in England and on the continent, 



agree that it ought to be cut before it becomes dead 

 ripe. When this is the case, the loss is considerable, 

 both in the field and in the stack-yard ; and the 

 grain, according to Von Thaer, produces an inferior 

 flour." 



These extracts from the most distinguished the- 

 oretical and in-actical writers on agriculture, might 

 be multiplied ad iiLfiiiitum ; but enough has been pre- 

 sented, I presume, to show what is the general belief 

 upon this important subject. Mj' own experience, 

 also, goe.s to corroborate the correctness of the theory 

 which proposes that all grain intended for human 

 food, or for feeding animals, be cut at least five days 

 before it becomes mature. In the summer of 1836, 

 I had a piece of oats, about four acres, which were 

 remarkably stout. As hay was that season rather 

 short, and as less than a medium crop had been har- 

 vested, I wished to preserve the straw of this field 

 in a condition which would render it in some measure 

 an efhcient substitute for English hay ; and with this 

 view, cut the whole of my oats at a period of their 

 growth when the straw was perfectly green, but not 

 before the berries had become somewhat hard to the 

 touch, though by no means ripe. From appearances, 

 I was induced to believe that about five days of dry, 

 warm weather would be required to ripen the crop ; 

 and in this opinion I was afterwards confirmed by 

 the time required fully to ripen a small strip which I 

 caused to be left near the centre of the field, the 

 produce of which was afterwards carefully threshed 

 and weighed. The weather was favorable during the 

 harvest, and the sheaves were stored without injury 

 from the wet. On comparing the produce of that 

 portion of the field to which the sickle had been in- 

 troduced first, with the produce of that which had 

 been allowed to become fully matured before cutting, 

 there was no perceptible difference either in the size 

 or weight of the grain ; but there was a marked dif- 

 ference in the appearance and value of the straw. 

 That which was cut first, retained its green, brilliant 

 hue, and was eaten by my cows and young stock with 

 the greatest eagerness and avidity ; whereas that from 

 the other section was rejected, and was used for lit- 

 tering horses, hogs, sheep, and other animals kept on 

 the farm. Since then I have made it an invariable 

 rule to cut my oats (of wheat I raise but little) as 

 soon as the heads begin to turn. I allow the crop a 

 fair time to make, and bind in small sheaves, which 

 I expose for several days to the sun, if the weather 

 be favorable ; if not, I stack them a while before de- 

 positing them in the barn. 



A COUNTY FAEMER. 



June 1, 1850. 

 — Germantown Telegraph. 



Mathematics of Bees. — The warmest admirers 

 of honey, and the greatest friends to bees, will 

 never, I presume, contend that the young swarm, 

 who begin making honey three or four months after 

 they are born, and immediately construct these 

 mathematical cells, should have gained their math- 

 ematical knowledge as we gain ours, and in three 

 months' time outstrip Mr. Maclaurin in mathematics 

 as much as they did in making honey. It would 

 take a senior wrangler at Cambridge ten hours a 

 day, for three years together, to know enough of 

 mathematics for the calculation of these problems, 

 with which not only every queen bee, but every 

 undergraduate grub, is acquainted the moment it is 

 born. — Sidney Smith's Sketches of Philosophy. 



Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver, 

 and adulation is not of more service to the people 

 than to kings. — Burke. 



