12S 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



VOL. I. 



Cultivation of Wlieat. 



* * * * I will give you my opinion 

 on raising wheat which I have gathered 

 from my own experience, and from a close 

 observation of my neigiibors. Every farmer 

 ought to select a piece of land in the spring 

 of the year for a summer fallow, of a suitable 

 soil, and a field tbat wants improving, and 

 through the course of the summer remove all 

 the stones, if it should be stony land, and 

 convert them into a good substantial wall 

 around tlie field, and if necessary drain it 

 sufliciently with under ground drains, which 

 will take the smaller stones tiiat are not use- 

 ful for fencing, and give it as many ploutrh- 

 ings as you think is necessary, and if the 

 field should be infested with Canada thistles 

 it ought to be ploughed so often as to prevent 

 them from making their appearance above 

 ground that season; fori know of no way 

 to destroy them so effectually as this. But 

 they ouolit not to have a breathing time at all 

 through the course of the summer. After 

 your fal'ow is turned over for the first time, 

 it will r3quire but one or two extra plough- 

 ings, ai/d the next year cffter harvest, you 

 will fiii'l little or nothing of that noxious 

 weed. / But if any should be left they will 

 be feelie and sickly plants. After your land 

 is prepired in this way, draw out your ma- 

 nure atout the first of iSeptember. The ma- 

 nure tiat is intended for the summer fallow 

 ought be thrown in heaps or ridges in the 

 springof the year in the barn yard, unless it 

 be of he depth of from one to two feet in the 

 yard. To prevent it from leaching in wet 

 weather, prepare it by fermentation through 

 the simmer, which will also destroy all the 

 foul leeds that may have collected in the 

 wiritfr, as the smaller grains require manure 

 of ths kind, that is sufficiently fermented and 

 deconposed. As our success in farming de- 

 pend: much on the manner and quantity of 

 maniring our land, each farmer should so 

 consruct his barn yard as to keep the manure 

 in a imall compass, and to water his stock in 

 the wd or have them returned to it immedi- 

 ate! J after watering, to prevent them from 

 wasing manure in the high way, and other 

 places. After the proper time for sowing 

 arrives, which is about the middle of Sep- 

 temler, then spread your manure very even 

 over the ground and give it a ploughing im- 

 mediately after spreading, by laying it in 

 lands for sowing. Then prepare your wheat, 

 giving it a thorough liming with quick lime, 

 eithe: by wetting the wheat first and mixing 

 as much lime with it as will adhere to it, or 

 by letting the wheat stand in strong lime 

 water over night before sowing. This pro- 

 cess is indispensably necessary to destroy 

 the eggs of the Hessian fly, and to prevent 

 it from being smutty, and also cause it to 



come up stronger. The quantity of seed 

 wheat ought not to be less than two bushels 

 to the acre. Some number of years ago, our 

 wheat crops failed altogether and it was 

 supposed that our land would no more pro- 

 duce wheat; but by taking a different 

 method of preparing our land, such as I have 

 stated, we can raise as good crops of wheat 

 as when our land was new; for 1 believe the 

 'whole secret in raising wheat consists in 

 preparing the ground in a proper manner. — 

 And we can raise good crops of wheat on 

 stubble ground, such as barley stubble, peas, 

 or oats, and even wheatstubble will produce 

 good crops for some number of years if kept 

 ! in a high slate of cultivation ; although I ap- 

 , prove of rotation in crops. By a farmer im- 

 I proving one piece of land to a degree of per- 

 fection, both as it respects the soil and fen- 

 j ces he will soon find his farm in good order ; 

 and there is but little danger of your crops 

 being winter killed, if they are put in as they 

 ought to be, and the improvement on the 

 land cannot be lost. 



Shoeing Horses in Winter. — Canada, 

 where the winter is never of less duration 

 than five months, they shoe their horses in 

 the following manner, which serves for the 

 whole winter: — The smith fixes a small 

 piece of steel on the fore part of each shoe, 

 not temi)ered too bard, which turns up about 

 1-3 of an inch, in the shape of a horse's lan- 

 cet; the same to the hind part of the shoe, 

 turned up a little higher than the fore part, 

 tempered in the same manner. In going up 

 a hill, the fore part gives a purchase that as- 

 sists the horse, and in going down prevents 

 him sliding forwards. 



New AND Cheap Paint. — More impervious 

 to the weather than common paint, — Take of 

 unslacked lime a quantity sufficient to make 

 two gallons of white wash when slacked — 

 mix it with a due quantity of water — add to 

 it 2^ lbs. of brown sugar, and about 3 oz. 

 of salt. The exact proportion of each will 

 be best ascertained by experiment. This, 

 when applied as a paint, becomes perfectly 

 hard and glossy — by mixing either ivory 

 black or lamp black with the ingredients, a 

 beautiful lead color may be had, or a yellow 

 by mixing simple ingredients — this paint is 

 now almost altogether used at the south for 

 houses, fences, &.c. 



Algiers 



New Cement. — The French in 

 have discovered a new plaster or cement, 

 made of 2 parts ashes, 3 of clay, and 1 of 

 sand — which being stirred and mixed with 

 oil will resist all weathers better than marble. 



