No. 11. 



Mildew, Blight or Rust. — Large. Calves. 



363 



farmer and gardener of such established skill. 

 It merely proves that we busy, money-making 

 men, write as we talk — without always duly 

 weighinor our words! I apprehend, too, th-it 

 he is a little wide of the mark in supposing 

 that grass amongst grain would tend to keep 

 it warmer in sudden changes of temperature 

 — "would keep in the heat," to use his own 

 words. So keen an observer should not have 

 committed this oversight. Our earliest and 

 our latest frosts are observed on grass, and 

 particularly clover, which is one of the best 

 conductors, and consequently promotes sud- 

 den transitions from heat to cold. 



But I have done with the blemishes and 

 the beauties of Messrs. Smith and Gowen, 

 and shall conclude with a few "notions" of 

 my own. Mildew or rust of wheat and rye, 

 is a parasitic plant, whose mode of existence 

 in its incipient stage we know not, but the 

 causes which call it into activity are probably 

 numerous, — extremes of cold and heat; mois- 

 ture and rapid evaporation ; rank growth, es- 

 pecially when occasioned by unfermented or 

 fresh manure; bad condition of the ground, 

 whether loo rich or too poor ; the interference 

 of other vegetable matter, especially at tiie 

 critical period of the grain's maturing; and 

 in strong soil, where the wheat tillers freely, 

 the use of too much seed, which leaves no 

 room for the sun's rays to penetrate the 

 ground, and give proper hardness and sub- 

 stance to the straw. 



And now tiie remedy, or rather prevention, 

 for remedy there is none. Change your sys- 

 tem so far as to avoid manuring immediately 

 preceding the crop of wheat. Get the ground 

 in as mellow and perfect order as possible; 

 fresh manure is a rapid generator of weeds 

 and fungi, it should never be put on clean 

 wheat ground. Use good seed (occasionally 

 changed) and so early that it may take root 

 before winter sets in, and will be so far ad- 

 vanced in the spring, when grass-seed is sown, 

 as to prevent a rapid vegetation of the latter, 

 (if you still adhere to this part of the old sys- 

 tem ;) take great pains to spread your seed 

 evenly over the surface, and not so thick as 

 to overload the soil, a very common error of 

 farmers in this vicinity. 



Steeping the seed-wheat in pickle, dusting 

 or rubbing it with air-slaked lime, and the 

 use of saline manure, are recommended by 

 Sinclair, Le Couteur, Buel, and others. 



A rigid observance of these precautions 

 will not always, but may frequently secure 

 your crops from blight. The sun, the air, 

 and the sky, are beyond our control, but the 

 earth and plants may be greatly modified and 

 subdued by judicious culture. The husband- 

 man will in most cases be rewarded for care 

 thus bestowed ; and as a last resort, if his 

 crop be attacked by the mildew, cut it im- 



mediately, even in the milky state: it will 

 shrivel less when down than wiiile standing. 

 Algn. S. Roberts. 

 Fountain Park, May 30, 1841. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Cabinet. 

 Large Calves. 



Mr. Editor, — I received your paper with 

 gratification and pleasure, and perused ita 

 contents with much interest. I notice a let- 

 ter from " A Subscriber," wishing to procure 

 an "Ayrshire Cow," — Mr. Coming imported 

 one about throe years since, that has proved 

 a very good milker; she is now seven years 

 old, and has a Ijeifer calf by Mr. Prentice's 

 Durham Bull Leopard, now five months old, 

 and promises to be a very useful animal : the 

 cow is again in calf by " Young Prize," our 

 Hereford^Bull, and Mr. C. will sell the cow 

 and calf, delivered to the boat in Albany, at 

 ^'300, should your correspondent wish to pur- 

 chase her. 



I see, by many of the agricultural papers, 

 notices of large calves, — / think it is a cer- 

 tain criterion of bad breeding. I have no- 

 ticed through lite that the offspring of a wcll- 

 brcd animal generally comes small, and makes 

 less improvement the first year than any 

 other; therefore, if I purchased calves for 

 stock, 1 should never choose an overgrown 

 one ; time increases their bad points. Another 

 great error I have noticed, — persons make 

 distinctions between breeds of cattle without 

 putting their hand upon them. It is totally 

 absurd for a man to form a correct idea of the 

 quality of an animal by the eye alone; that 

 is ascertained by the hand ; the handling (as 

 it is termed) is the governing point in pur- 

 chasing with all butchers and graziers, and 

 any man with a grain of information on the 

 subject, must be aware that breeders should 

 look to that point, beyond all others, in the 

 males which they make use of ; it is the only 

 way to keep right. Hard handlers require 

 much more food, and must be forced with ex- 

 pensive keep to make them ripe; this I have 

 known by experience from boyhood ; and I 

 am satisfied that when the good quality of 

 flesh, as above described, is found in a milch 

 cow, the milk will invariably yield much more 

 butter in proportion, than that which is drawn 

 from an animal inferior in the touch. If short- 

 horn breeders had paid more attention to these 

 matters, there would not be so many " tight' 

 hides," bad forms and bad milkers, which now 

 disgrace their name. An inferior Durham is 

 a very unprofitable animal, but the better sort 

 must always maintain a high rank, and will, 

 with the Herefords, be the staple breeds of 

 the country. 



I am, dear sir, yours, most respectfully, 

 Wm. Henry Sotham. 



Albany, May 24, 1841. 



