No. 17 



Wheat Crap-^-'Hortiatltural S.detij, ^c. 



343 



lation from the Chinese ffiiide by Mr. Julien. 

 Experiments successfully repeated by Mr. 

 Bonafous — the result was, that the Chinese 

 give to the silk-worms flour ot'rice with which 

 they powder the mulberry leaves and the 

 worms eat it with avidity. Mr. Bonafous 

 found that other flour from vegetables an- 

 swered as well, particularly flour or sediment 

 from potatoes. 



For the Faimers Cabinet. 



Butter made from four Co^vs. 



Great credit is due to numbers of enter- 

 prising individuals who have at different 

 times introduced from abroad improved breeds 

 of cattle; particularly the improved Durham 

 or short horn stock so valuable for taking on 

 fat readily; but it has long been the opinion 

 of many of the best farmers in this country, 

 that the best specimens of our native cows 

 are equal, if not superior, to the imported 

 stock, for milk or butter. 



Being recently on a visit to Cyrus Cad wal- 

 lader, Esq., of Bucks county, he showed me a 

 statement of the quantity of butter made from 

 four native cows last season ; commencing 

 4th moi. 25th, 1837, and ending with the sea- 

 son. They were pastured in the usual manner, 

 and not otherwise fed, and there was made 

 from the four cows 740 pounds of butter. I 

 thought this statement, which can be impli- 

 citly relied upon, might be usefully published 

 in the Cabinet, in order that comparisons 

 might be made with others who keep dairies, 

 who I hope will furnish for publication the 

 results of their observations on the quantity 

 of butter made by their cows. R. 



6tUmu. 6th, 1838, 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Observations on a Wheat €i'op< 



From a communication of David Comfort, to 

 the Philadelphia Agricultural Society, 

 May 16, 1838. 

 In the autumn of 1836, 1 ploughed about six 

 acres of clover and timothy sod, and sowed 

 two bushels of bald white wheat to the acre 

 about the first of tenth month, October ; but 

 in consequence of the coldness of the season, 

 it did not come up for two weeks,, and then 

 looked very bad ; the fall continuing cold, it 

 grew but little. Winter set in, and when 

 the spring opened, the wheat still looked bad, 

 the ground was dry and hard, and the whole 

 appeared very unpromising. Aboutthe first of 

 April, I sowed two bushels of live wood ashes, 

 and one and ahalf bushels of plaster mixed to- 

 gether per acre. In a short time after this ap^ 

 plication, the wheat commenced growing fine- 

 ly, and the timothy sprang up thick among the 

 wheat, and both grew together. About the 

 ume the wheat shof in sar and wliile in blos- 



som, owing to much damp and foggy weather 

 the leaf was struck with the red-rust, and the 

 straw with black mildew, in consequence of 

 which the grain was shrivelled and light at 

 the common time of harvesting ; yet the straw 

 was as well grained as my neighbors, and 

 in as good condition for gathering as any in 

 the neighborhood. The timothy was now 

 coming out in ear, and the heads were gene- 

 rally from nine to eleven and some twelve 

 and thirteen inches long ; I therefore resolved 

 to let my wheat- atand tor tlie timothy tori- 

 pen. I gathered in my other wheat, and my 

 neighbors gathered tlieirs,mildewed and rusty 

 with a light grain. In four or five days after 

 I had gathered my other grain, I visited my 

 wheat & timothy and found it doing well ; In 

 five or six days more I visited it again, and 

 found it improving finely. In sixteen days- 

 after common harvesting was over, I cut my 

 wheat and timothy together, in fine condi*- 

 tion ; the grain of the wheat had improved 

 full twenty per cent., and the mildew and rust 

 were gone and the straw had a fine yellow- 

 appearance; not one head had fallen to the 

 ground. The miller who ground of this 

 wheat for family use, informed me that it was 

 the best he had seen that season, and the mil- 

 ler who bought of it, gave an advanced price, 

 stating it was the best white wheat he had 

 obtained that season. My desire is that if 

 farmers should be annoyed with mildew and 

 rust, that they try the experiment and pub- 

 lish the result. Although this wheat stood 

 sixteen days longer than usual harvest, there 

 was no shattering or loss of grain, it appeared 

 just the time for gathering it. 



Pennsylvania Hortlctiltiiral Soeiety» 



The monthly meeting' of the Pennsylvania Horticultu- 

 ral Society was held on Tuesday, the 15th of May ; tlie 

 President in thp chair. 



The ciimmwee on plants and flowers awarded the 

 premium to Robert Kilvington, gardener to William 

 Loyd, for the six best auriculas, exhibited at the society's 

 intermediate meeting of the 2d of May j there were two 

 corapetitors. 



The committee on vegetables awarded the premium 

 to \\ iUiam Chalmers, senior, gardener to Mrs. Stot, 

 Turner's lane, for the three best bunches ot asparagus ; 

 they also awarded him an honorary premium, for some 

 suphrieur sea k«le ; likewise an honorary premium to 

 Henry Rasehe, gardener to Mr. Boiie, for some very 

 fine beans, called "early six weeks," exhibited at the 

 society's intermediate meeting of the Id of May. 



The committee on plants and flowers awarded the 

 premium for the best display of plants in pots to Wra. 

 Chalmers, senior, g-ardener to Mrs. Stot. Turner's lane, 

 who exhibited cercus splendens, ixora coccinea, begonia 

 insignis, b persiflora, b aggrasiigma, toreua scabra, ho- 

 < a carnosa, verbena tweediana, ardisia crenulata, petu- 

 nia nyctigenettora, fuchsia gracilis, f microphylla, f tu- 

 j biflora, gloxinia rutulla, mimulus wheelcrii, m variega- 

 1 1», calctolaria compressa, e tricolor, c sanguinea, erica 

 andrOmdaeflora, schizanthus pinnatus, sentcia elegans 

 alba, swainsonia galegafclia, camellia mjrtifolia, cistus - 

 ! purpurea, dinanella cserulea, ballata purpurea, metro^ 

 .<:idero3 lanceolata, pelargonium Queen of Scots, p ne 

 plus ultra, p devere, p-capitatum. yellow noisette rose, 

 monthly cabbage, and a fine double stuck; he likewise 

 exhibited vegetables, viz: winter spinnage, spring do, 

 two bunches of very superior blanched rhubarb, aspara- 

 gus, sea kale, early potatoes, cauliflower, onions, let- 

 tuce, and mushroomsi 



