278 



A neiv Variety of Grain. — Quality of Milk. 



Vol. V. 



excited by the spring influences, are ready 

 at their lirst flow, to heal the wounds, and 

 produce the depository of new vegetable 

 matter: it is the torpid condition of a wound 

 which causes disease under the action of 

 cold frosty winds, snow, or protracted wet 

 during the winter. But some object, that a 

 tree will bleed, if the knife be used in the 

 spring ; facts, however, do not bear out the 

 assertion that injury will arise from this cir- 

 cumstance, even in the case of the vine, 

 although the watery sap from that tree will 

 flow from the point of the wound for days. 

 If care be taken to prune young trees pro- 

 perly for the first three or four years, they 

 might then be left to themselves in a great 

 measure, to form the figure which the nature 

 of the variety inclines it to assume." 

 PottEville. J- E. 



A new Variety of Grain. 



An English paper gives an account of a 

 new variety of grain, of which a trial has 

 been made this season, though not to a suffi- 

 cient extent to test satisfactorily its useful- 

 ness. The account states that last year a 

 mechanic in Bedale, Yorkshire, received a 

 letter from a relative in Peru, South America. 

 In it were a few grains of what he called 

 Peruvian barley, which he stated produced 

 two crops from one sowing in that country — 

 that is, when one crop was reaped, shoots 

 were proceeding from the stems, which the 

 same season brought to maturity. From cu- 

 riosity more than any other motive at that 

 time, these grains were planted in a garden, 

 and those grains that vegetated produced a 

 number of stems each, which came to ma- 

 turity. This year, not having any place 

 where the grain could be safely sown and 

 taken care of, he was permitted to occupy a 

 bed twenty-one yards long and seven feet 

 wide, in the garden of a lady of fortune in 

 Bedale. Some more of the grain was grown 

 in a little garden of his own, and the pro- 

 duce of one indifferent head was cultivated 

 in the garden of the Rev. John Monson. The 

 corn grew luxuriantly, and produced from 

 some of the grains upwards of thirty stems ; 

 from its great height and luxuriance, it suf- 

 fered from the severe weather in July, but it 

 was cut the 10th of August. There were 

 some green stems growing from the root at 

 the time, but not sufficient to justify the ex- 

 pectation of a second crop in that climate. 

 The grain when standing, has the appear- 

 ance of barley, but is much whiter, with a 

 long beard or awn. On being pulled and 

 rubbed in the hand, the awn comes off" with 

 the husk, and leaves the grain bare like 

 wheat, to which it bears a stronger resem- 

 blance than to barley, and by eome consi- 



dered a species of wheat. One hundred 

 pounds sterling was offered for the produce 

 of the small plat above mentioned, on which 

 the crop, notwithstanding the disadvantage 

 of the season, was very great. This sum 

 was refused, the owner expecting to get 

 more by selling it in small quantities. 



There i3 no doubt the variety of grain here men- 

 tioncd is the Emur, described at p. 183 of the Cabinet 

 fur January, and which produced on tlie farm of Mr. 

 Gowen, Mount Airy, a sample weighing sixty pounds 

 per bushel ; coming to maturity, under unfavourable 

 circumstances, in about three months from the time 

 of sowing— from the 6th of April to the 16th July : its 

 description is precisely the same.— Ed. 



Quality of Milk. 



Several cups have been successively 

 filled while milking from one cow, producing 

 the following results : in every case, the 

 quantity of cream was found to increase in 

 proportion as the process of milking ad- 

 vanced : in different cows, the proportion va- 

 ried, but in the greater number the excess 

 of cream in the last cup as compared with 

 the first, was as 16 to 1 ; but, as in some 

 cases the diflerence was not so much, a fair 

 average might be considered as ten or twelve 

 to one. And the difference in the quality 

 of the two sorts of cream was no less 

 striking, the cream given by the first-drawn 

 milk being thin, white, and without consist- 

 ence, while that furnished by the last, was 

 thick, buttery, and of a rich colour. The 

 milk remaining in the different cups pre^ 

 sented similar differences, that which was 

 drawn first being very poor, blue, and having 

 the appearance of milk and water, while 

 that in the last cup was of a yellowish hue, 

 rich, and to the eye and taste resembled 

 cream rather than milk. It appears, there^ 

 fore, from these experiments, that if, after 

 drawing seven or eight pints from a cow, 

 half a pint remains 'in the udder, not only 

 almost as much cream will be lost, as the 

 seven or eight pints will furnish, but of such 

 a quality as gives the richest taste and co- 

 lour to the butter. This fact has been cor- 

 roborated by chemical experiments, and holds 

 good with respect to the milk of all other 

 animals. Blachee's Essay. 



Of all animals, of whatever kind, those 

 with the smallest and cleanest bones, are 

 generally the best proportioned, and covered 

 with the best and finest-grained meat ; they 

 are the hardiest, the healthiest, and best 

 feeders ; able to bear the most fatigue while 

 living, and worth the most per pound when 

 dead. — Culley. 



