No. 1. 



Bb'sht, Mildeio. — The Borer. 



35 



even for horses; it is never given to cows, 

 being by far too hot a food for them ; all ani- 

 mals will, however, leave every other kind 

 of food for this, and while feeding on it, the 

 coats of the horses shine like velvet. During 

 the roughest weather, the most protracted 

 winter, the severest frosts, the deepest snows, 

 and under a deluge of water, the crop of 

 gorse remains uninjured — a certain resource, 

 and obtained at no earthly expense, save only 

 the labour of cutting : of four times the value 

 of a crop of grain, and bringing a rental of 

 at least that proportion above the best wheat- 

 land in the country — so much for travellers' 

 stories ! Z. 



For the Fanners' Cabinet. 

 Blight— Mildew. 



Mr. Editor, — I am particularly pleased 

 with the review of the interesting papers 

 which have of late appeared in the " Cabinet," 

 on this all-important subject, by the very in- 

 telligent editor of the Farmers' Monthly 

 Visiter ; more particularly with the theory of 

 the Hon, Samuel Hatch, which is there re- 

 corded, and which I must ask leave to copy 

 for insertion in the Cabinet. From the views 

 there taken, and the way in which they are 

 expressed, it is easy to believe that Mr. 

 Hatch " has been in the habit of doing every 

 thing well." 



He says, "blight, or mildew takes place 

 generally at a time when days are hot and 

 nights are cold ; the day heat throws up an 

 undue proportion of sap into the stalk, and the 

 close burden of stalks shields the surface of 

 the ground, so that it continues to force up 

 the sap through the night, while the chill air 

 strikes with full force upon the stalk above : 

 in this state of the atmosphere, the stalk 

 bursts just below one or more of the joints, 

 and at once arrests the further growth of the 

 grain." He is of opinion that " there is no 

 remedy for blight when the grain has arrived 

 at a certain point, and when the weather fa- 

 vours the process; but rye and wheat are 

 more apt to escape when sown early ; winter 

 rye before the first of September, and indeed 

 the earlier both winter and spring grain of all 

 kinds is sown the more likely it will be to es- 

 cape blight; a change of seed should take 

 place every three or four years." 



Mr. Hatch has succeeded, by a simple pro- 

 cess, every year to make the flour from his 

 rye but little inferior to that of wheat ; he 

 invariably cuts it about four or five days 

 sooner than the crop is usually cut, and when 

 the joint of the stalk is green. It is first 

 carefully dried in the field, and when removed 

 to the barn, the sheaves are set singly, to be- 

 come perfectly so. After the grain is thresh- 

 ed and cleaned, it is spread abroad and turned, 



when, at the end of three weeks it will be 

 found to have lost at least one bushel in 

 twenty : it is then put into close bins, in the 

 assurance that it will make perfectly sweet 

 flour, imparting elasticity and life and excel- 

 lent flavour to the bread into which it is 

 manufactured. He very properly observes, 

 " Any fermentation causes injury ; if the 

 grain is not properly cured in the field — if it 

 is exposed, after it is cut and cured in the 

 sheaf, to dampness — if it is kept close after it 

 is threshed, so as to gather moisture — if it is 

 sufltred to heat after it is floured — or even if 

 after the flour is made into dough it be per- 

 mitted to ferment beyond a certain point — in 

 either case, the article is worth scarcely half 

 price." Gerard Smith. 



Schuylkill Co, 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Borer, again. 



I AM glad to find that the experience of a 

 " Montgomery County Farmer" confirms the 

 correctness of my own opinions; for he says, 

 " The most efl^ectual preventive that I have 

 tried is to keep the ground for a few inches 

 round the tree entirely clear of all rubbish, at 

 all seasons, not suffering grass, loose bark, or 

 clods of earth to touch the tree." Now this 

 is precisely what I recommend ; but perhaps 

 I go an inch or two deeper than my unknown 

 friend, and, like the Indian who makes his pica- 

 ninny " all face" by exposing him naked to the 

 influence of all kinds of weather, I make the 

 upper part of the roots for a few inches from 

 the trunk of the tree, as hardy and as impen- 

 etrable and unpalatable to the worm as the 

 trunk itself I think it will generally be 

 found that when the worm enters a root he 

 does comparatively little injury ; because if 

 one or two roots be entirely eaten off", the 

 main body of the tree remaining sound, new 

 roots will very soon take the place of the old 

 ones, and the tree will be none the worse; 

 but when the trunk is injured or destroyed, a 

 new one is not so readily formed. 



As regards the proper mode of planting, my 

 friend says he is " aware that very shallow 

 planting is all the fashion with nurserymen, 

 and perhaps the trees may grow as well or 

 better for a season, but most people want them 

 to last awhile as well as grow." 



I can assure him that my object in advising 

 shallow planting, is not only to make the 

 trees grow well or better for one season, but 

 for at least fifty; and in my journeyings 

 through the country, it gives me great plea- 

 sure to see fine thrifty orchards, which origi- 

 nally came from my hands. I am so entirely 

 convinced of the propriety of shallow plant- 

 ing, both by reason and experience, that until 

 I meet with much sounder and more forcible 



