SG6 



Cone-Wheat. — " Dairy Maid'^ and " Blossom. 



Vol. V. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Coue-^^ heat, or Tnigidum. 



Sir, — In an interesting article on this sub- 

 ject in your last, an expectation is hazarded 

 on the security of the crop from the attacks 

 of the Ilessian-fiy by its introduction. On 

 perusing Tull's work on horse-lioeing hus- 

 bandry, I find some very valuable remarks in 

 his chapter on blight, which deserve, I think, 

 a republication in your pages, as they go far 

 to sustain tiie opinion therein expressed. In 

 speaking of the liability of injury of the crop 

 from tiie ravages of insects, he says, "In 

 dry summers this misfortune seldom happens; 

 much heat and little moisture being most 

 agreeable to the constitution of wheat, for 

 then its rind is more firm and hard ; and it 

 is, on the contrary, made more soft and spongy 

 by too much moisture. The most easy and 

 sure remedy that I have yet found against 

 the injury of these insects is, to plant a sort 

 of wheat that is least liable to be hurt by 

 them, viz: the White Cone-Wheat, which 

 has its stalk or straw like a rush, not hollow, 

 but full of pith (except near the lower part, 

 and there it is very thick and strong). It is 

 probable its sap-vessels lie deeper, so that the 

 young insects cannot totally destroy them, as 

 they do in other wheat, for when the straw 

 has black spots — which show that the insects 

 have been there bred — yet the grain is 

 plump, when other wheats mixed with it are 

 blighted. This difference might have been 

 from the different times of ripening, this be- 

 ing ripe about a week earlier than some other 

 kinds; but its being planted together, both 

 early and late, and at all times of the wheat- 

 seed time, and the White-Cone always es- 

 caping with its grain unhurt, is an argument 

 tliat it is naturally fortified against the injury 

 of those insects, which in wet summers are 

 Bo pernicious to other sorts of wheat ; and I 

 can impute it to no other cause than the dif- 

 ferent deepness of the vessels, the straw of 

 other wheat being very much thinner and 

 hollow from top to bottom ; this also having 

 a small hollow at bottom, but then the thick- 

 ness between the outer skin and the cavity 

 is more than double to that in other sorts of 

 wheat, so that I imagine the insects reach 

 only the outermost vessels, and enough of 

 the inner vessels are left untouched to sup- 

 ply the grain. Cone-wheat makes very good 

 bread, if the miller does not grind too fine, 

 or the baker make his dougii too hard, it re- 

 quiring to be made softer than that of other 

 flour: a bushel of cone-wheat will make 

 more bread than a bushel of other kinds, and 

 of the same goodness, but it gives a yellow 

 cast to the bread." 



I am happy to learn that a friend to the 

 improvement of the agriculture of the coun- 



try has taken measures to introduce this pe- 

 culiar variety of wiieat amongst us, and if it 

 be proof against the pcciilinr scourge of our 

 crops, the Hessianjiy, he will indeed deserve 

 the thanks of the community : this is the 

 proper season to order from abroad, seeds for 

 autumnal planting. J. Delcroix. 



Dolaware State. 



To tlie Editor of tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 

 "Dairy Maid" and "Blossom." 



Sir, — Permit me to notice a communica- 

 tion signed "Correspondent," at page 332 of 

 your last number, in which a very erroneous 

 inference is made, to wit — that Mr. Canby 

 " declines upon principle to accept Mr. Gow- 

 en's terms." 



It is somewhat strange that " Correspond- 

 ent," who seems to have regarded the ex- 

 pected trial of the cows with some degree of 

 interest, should be ignorant that Mr. Canby 

 did not decline the trial because it assumed 

 ^^the questionable shape of a bet'''' — the re- 

 verse being the case, and which I should not 

 now take the trouble to explain, but that your 

 readers may be led to infer, that as Mr. Can- 

 by had declined the trial on principle, I must 

 have proposed something that in conscience 

 was objectionable. 



Now, you may recollect, that last August 

 you copied from the Delaware Journal, Mr. 

 Cauby's statement of the yield of his cow 

 Blossom, in which he gratuitously places it 

 against the yield of "Dairy Maid," beating 

 her, in his own way, in a very unceremoni- 

 ous, if not in a very questionable manner; 

 adding something by way of felicitation at his 

 success, and of his determination, should the 

 result he valued himself upon be overcome, 

 " to try his hand again for the credit of little 

 Delaware." 



"Dairy Maid" and her owner being point- 

 ed at thus, it became me, as I thought, for 

 the credit of Pennsylvania, not to let "little 

 Delaware," much as I respected her, outmilk 

 us, — however flush, in contrast with the 

 "Keystone," the little state may be m pocket, 

 I was anxious to show that we were not as 

 yet outdrained at the teat, but lactescent. 

 This I did, through the Pennsylvania Inquirer 

 of the 18th of August, alleging that " Blos- 

 som," milking 35 quarts per day in the Jirst 

 month from calving, was no triumph over 

 " Dairy Maid," who gave on an average 3.3J 

 quarts per day in the fourth month from 

 calving ; and proposed a trial of the cows at 

 a proper period, to test their capabilities — say 

 three months after calving; — then, if Blossom 

 gave more milk in a week than Dairy Maid, 

 1 was to pay to the Delaware Agricultural 



