236 



Ashes Indian Wheat. 



Vol. II 



tace and harrowed in at the time of seeding : 

 the proper quantity, we conceive to be, on 

 clays, 200 bushels : on sands and loams, from 

 100 to 150 bushels to the acre. 



Wood Ashes, we have seen it stated con- 

 sists principally of potash or vegetable alkali, 

 united with carbonic acid,* and that these 

 substances have been proved by analysis, to 

 exist in most plants. Now, if these be the^ 

 principal ingredients in the composition of 

 ashes, as they are known to be promotive ot 

 the vigorous growth ef plants, may not ashes, 

 besides possessing the mechanical qualities 

 we have before ascribed to them — of decreas- 

 ing the tenacity and warming clays — and of 

 giving tenacity to sands and loams — We say, 

 may they not, also, contain, to a considerable 

 extent, the principle of nutrition .' We in- 

 cline to this belief; and we think we are borne 

 oilt in our opinion by the fact, of the astonish- 

 ing difference in product they are known to 

 effect, even when used in small quantities. 

 The mere disintegration, or the division of the 

 particles in the one soil, or the conferring 

 substance upon the other, could not, if they 

 possessed no other than stimulative powers, 

 impart such lasting vigor, and give such pro- 

 ductive capacity to plants, as are invariably 

 witnessed. For stimulation wWhont nourish- 

 ment, good and wholesome nourishment, 

 would, by mere force of its own action, bring 

 about repletion, and consequently, premature 

 decay and dissolution. Is vegetable alkali, 

 combined witn carbonic acid and potash, es- 

 sential to the growth of plants 1 Certainly, or 

 we would not, by analysis, be able to find 

 them forming the component parts of healthy 

 plants. We admit, that the lacteals of the 

 roots even of healthy plants, might take up 

 tliese substances in their liquid or gaseous 

 forms; but then, if they did not contain con- 

 genial food, but were merely stimvlative, 

 the very excess of the lattei', would produce 

 ileath in plants, as do alcoholic stimulants in 

 t!ie human subject. — Farmer and Gardener. 



MANGE IN HOGS. 



A correspondent of the Southern Planter 

 says: — "During my travels through the 

 State, especially towns and villages, I see a 

 vast number of swine dying with what is call- 

 ed the 7nange, while many others are on the 

 eve of e.xpiring. This disease is very easily 

 cured, if persons would only take the trouble 

 of pulverizing sulphur, and giving each hog 

 affected, one table spoonful in a little corn 

 meal dough, twice a week for two weeks, 

 they will shed the scurf and become perfectly 

 clean. The sulphur at the same time de- 

 stroys lice and fleas on the swine." 



* Gypsum has also been detected in ashes. 



Indian Wheat. 



This is the name applied to a grain, which 

 recently has been brought into notice by its 

 extraordinary productiveness, and of which 

 as inquiries are constantly made of us, we 

 propose to give what information we possess. 



The plant refered to is, without question, 

 the Tartarian Buck-wheat ; or as it is called 

 by others, the Siberian Buck-wheat. It be- 

 longs to the tribe of the Polygonum from its 

 many sides; and its name Buck-wheat is 

 supposed to be a corruption of Beech-wheat 

 from the resemblance of its seeds to the 

 Beecli Mast. The cultivation of this par- 

 ticular kind of Buck-wheat is not new in this 

 country nor in this state. The recent ex- 

 citement in regard to it seems to have been 

 accidental; its value perhaps being more 

 particularly brought into view by the failure 

 of common Wheat through the grain worm 

 and by rust; and the loss of the Indian Corn 

 by the inclemency of the seasons. This 

 particular kind has been several years culti- 

 vated in Pennsylvania; and a beautiful sam- 

 ple of it was brought to us from the north- 

 western parts of that state three years since ; 

 but without any name by which to designate 

 it, or any account of its cultivation or its 

 yield. It has been likewise for several years 

 cultivated successfully in Hampshire County 

 in this State. It was said to have been intro- 

 duced into Germany a century ago; and 

 within a few years has been cultivated in 

 Great Britain. It is supposed to possess con- 

 siderable advantages over the kind that has 

 been usually cultivated, not only because it is 

 considerably heavier in the grain, but is gene- 

 rally considered more palatable. It is said to 

 do well even in the poorest soils ; is not af- 

 fected by cold; and being more disposed to 

 branch out and spread its stalks, requires not 

 so much seed for its cultivation as the com- 

 mon kind of buck-wheat. Some persons, 

 who have cultivated it demur to the fact of 

 its being more productive; and complain of 

 its flotir as being blackish and rather bitter. 

 These differences can only be reconciled by 

 supposing differences in the modes of cultiva- 

 tion ; in the nature of the soils, upon which it 

 grows; in the kind of manure employed; in 

 the manner of its being cured; and in the 

 manufiictureofthe bread itself 



With a view to give the best information 

 we have been able to obtain of its cultivation 

 and history here, we subjoin some extracts 

 Irom letters received in answer to our inqui- 

 ries. 



"Of its origin, says one of our correspon- 

 dents, I know nothing; but report says some 

 years since a traveller fed his liorse at a pub- 

 lic house, in a town a few miles north of us 



