3S 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



VOL. 1. 



120 bushels barley, at da. . . 90 00 



124 " potatoes, at ^s. . 46 .50 



630 " wheat, at 8s. 9(1. . 689 OG 



12 cart loads pumpkins, at 8s. 12 00 



14 bushels white beans, at 12s. 21 00 



12 " onions, at Gs. . 9 00 



60 " mangel wurtzol, at 23. 15 00 



Straw sold at the barn, . 37 00 



Fall feed sold, . . 23 50 



Apples converted into pork, . 37 50 



Apples sold, . . . 85 50 



$1719 77 



EXPENSES AS FOLLOWS : 



For seed grain, $59 91 



" seed clover, 15 45 



" plaster, 21 .50 



" team & manual labor, 307 09 



manure. 



i6 00 



$429 95 



Profits, $1289 82 



Although the foregoing may be called a 

 fair business, yet I am fully persuaded that 

 the time is not far distant, when the profits 

 of farming will double the foregoing state- 

 ment, and this by improvements which are 

 every year made and making in agriculture 

 and agricultural improvements. 



The first great secret at which we shoiilu 

 aim, is the perfection of the soil, in nutritive 

 qualities, by the application of various ma- 

 nures, and clearing it from stumps, old logs, 

 roots, stone, and all manner of foul seeds. — 

 And the second is, the introduction and use 

 ot the most approved and labor-saving miple- 

 ments; and third, a judicious rotation of crops 

 of the most profitable kinds. And here I 

 cannot forbear — although so much is com- 

 municated in your useful paper on tiie sub- 

 ject of clover almost every week — I say I 

 cannot forbear entering my decided convic- 

 tion ot the utility and very great importance 

 of the general cultivation of this soil enrich- 

 ing grass. And this I do from actual c.xpe- 

 riment, one ciise of which was made on lot 

 No. 10 in the feregoing recapitulation. That 

 field is 80 rods square. In 1833, it was in 

 wheat, about 18 bushels per acre. 



In the spring of that season I sowed two 

 acres through the middle of the field to clo- 

 ver. In the following spring, 1834, 1 sowed 

 the south 4 acres to peas. Tlie next 2 acres 

 was the clover strip. The ne.xt 2 acres 1 sow- 

 ed to barley, and the remaining 2 acres to 

 peas. In September the whole field was sow- 

 ed with wheat at the same time. This was 

 done purposely as an experiment, and the 

 difference in tiie crop was strikingly mani- 

 fest. The result of the experiment was about 

 as follows: 



That part which was after barlry was the 



poorest, very considerably, say 20 bushels 

 to the acre. That after peas a medium crop, 

 say 25 bushels to the acre. That alter clo- 

 ver was very heavy — at any rate more than 

 40 bushels to the acre. The whole field av- 

 eraged about 30. I ought to have stated be- 

 fore, however, that 2 acres of the peas were 

 sowed with plaster at the time of sowing 

 peas. No material difference in the pea crop, 

 but the wheat on that part was at least 25 

 per cent, larger than that which had not re- 

 ceived the plaster. — Genesee Farmer. 



Selection of Seed Wheat. 



The selection of good seed of any kind, to 

 plant or sow, is an object of no small import- 

 ance to the cultivator, and we accordingly find 

 farmers, who are careful, pursuing some plan 

 or other which shall ensure them the best 

 seed for their sowing. In case of wheat, 

 some select the largest and best ears or heads 

 which they can find; others throw up their 

 wheat in a windy day, and select that which 

 is blown the least distance, as being the 

 heaviest and most plump. We think, how- 

 ever, that the best plan, and the one which 

 will be most sure to give the heaviest grain, 

 is to put it into some thick liquor, and take 

 those kernels which usually sink to the bot- 

 tom. Liquors may be made sufficiently tiiick 

 to bear an egg, by various substances in 

 them — by potash, as in comm.on lye, by soap, 

 or by salt. Darwin recommends a solution 

 of salt sufficiently strong to bear up an egg, 

 and the wiieat plunged into this. This might 

 be done at the time of sowing, or even be- 

 fore, if the wheat wet in it be carefully dried ; 

 but at sowing time, when it is common to 

 soak or wash wheat in lye, it would be a 

 small matter to make the liquor as strong as 

 possible, and thus select the heaviest and best 

 of your seed while preparing it for the ground. 

 It would be but a little labor to test the plan 

 on a small quantity, and ascertain the facts 

 concerning it. 



On the Manufacture of Beet Su- 

 gar in the United States. 



The fact that crystalized sugar could be 

 obtained from the beet root, was first noticed 

 by Margraft", in 1747, but excited little no- 

 tice till 1790, when Archard, a German 

 chemist, directed the men of science in France 

 to that subject. A report by the Institute, 

 about tiiis time, slates that raw sugar so pro- 

 duced costs about 16 cents per English 

 pound. In 1810, colonial sugar had become 

 so dear, liiat the government directed their 

 attention to the process, but, notwithstand- 

 ing this, it was still so imperfect as to be 

 given up, with the uiin of several manufac- 



