NEW ENGIiAND l^ARMER. 



Published by John B. Russell, at jVi. 52 J\/orlh Market Street, (at the Jlfrricullural Warehouse) — Thomas G. Fessendek, £A7or. 



VOL. vin. 



BOSTON, 1 RH)AY, MAY 21, 1830. 



No. 41. 



ORIGINAL COMMUMC ATIONS. 



FOK THK NKW t.**^^\.KnU PAKHKK. 



LFGIIORN WHEAT, &c. 



Mr Kditor — If yoii iliiiik the following woi 

 tliy a place in your vuiuable paper, yon arc at lib- 

 erty to publish it. 



In the 6Stli l):iKe, number nine, of tlic [)resent 

 volume of the New England Farmer is published 

 the reriult of an experiment, by Mr Setii Davis, of 

 Newton, on the Italian or Leghorn Wheat. He 

 state.s that his object is, not to tell what ho has 

 done, but to learn how others have succeeded ; 

 and in compliance with his wish I Iiave written 

 the followinj;. 



Early in the (spring of 1828, I procured at the 

 New England FarmecSeed Store, a quart of Ital- 

 ian or Legiiorn wheat, left tliore for distribution, 

 said to be the kind which pro.luced tlie straw from 

 which the Leghorn bonnets are made. On the 

 26th of Rlarch (the weather being fine) after clear- 

 ing the wheat from some fold seeds, I sowed it 

 on about three rods of ground, a. light, dry, sandy 

 loam, pretty bountifully manured with dung front 

 a stable, and well dug in with a spade. Part of 

 it I sowed broad cast, and ])art in drills. Both 

 came up, and grew very well. Thinking to try 

 tlie experiment a little farther, I called at the 

 New England Farmer OfBce, and received of Mr 

 Russell four quarts more of the Italian wheat kept 

 there for distribution. On the 16th of April, at 

 the time I sowed Iny oats, I soweii' about 20 rods 

 of gromid with the four quarts of wheat. The 

 ground was a moist loam, situated in a valley, and 

 not sufficiently dry to sow it before. The grounil 

 was planted with corn last year; the hills split 

 and harrowed down this spring, ploughed twice, 

 the furrows bushed down, the wheat and grass 

 seed 90we<l, harrnwcd, and buKhed in. I then ra- 

 J ked over the ground to clear off the corn stubble 

 and other rubbish. It came up well and grew, 

 I'll but did nut look so promising as that sowed in 

 f March. About the last of June, at the time peo- 

 1 pic cut and scald rye straw for braiding, I cut 

 V part of the wheat which I sowed in March, which 

 ijj was about four to four and a half feet high, and 

 si pretty stout strawed. Our folk.s scalded and pre- 

 " ■ pared it as they usually do rye straw for braiding ; 

 ,but after preparing it as usual, they found it very 

 thiik, stiff and britti", and of a bad C(jlor, and 

 wiii'lly unfit to braid into any kitnl of hat or bon- 

 net. The remainder I left to ripen, which yielded 

 n large full kernel, very white and free from smut. 

 Tlie other four quarts, sowed the 16th of April, 

 although sowed on a deeper soil, had no com[)ari- 

 son with that sowed in March. It was not so 

 tall by about a third ; the straw was small, the 

 grain shriveled and blasted, and there was but 

 . I little more than three pecks of wheat from the 

 ' 'whole. Whether the difference in the quality of 

 the two parcels of wheat was owing to the times 

 of sowing, or to the difference in the soils, I can- 

 not tell, but think it was partly to both, as 

 the ground on which the last parcel was sowed, 

 was probably too low and moist. 



The grass seed, which I .sowed with the above 

 wlieat was a pound of lucerne, which I procured at 



the New Fuiglan I Farmer Seed Store. It came up 

 tolerably well, but grew i)oorly, dwindled nway, 

 and mo.-it of it ilied before winter. A few root.s, 

 however, survived the winter, but did not flourish 

 ■ his season, and were very slim and short. This 

 is the second time I have been disapjioinled with 

 this kind of grass, ami conclude that my land 

 does not suit if, or 1 do not know how to cidtivote ih 

 j al.so sowed English rye gras.s, with oats on a piece 

 of moist loamy land, adjoining the above. It 

 came up, spread, and looked very promising in 

 tjie fall, but was all killed by the winter; there 

 was not a root left alive last si>ring. If any of 

 your correspondents will hare the goodness to 

 give pome informatioii, through the medium of 

 your valuable paper, respecting the cultivation of 

 said grass, they will oblige the writer of this arti- 

 cle. But to return to the wheat. 



In the spring of 1329, wishing to try the Ital- 

 ian wheat again, and having no land suitably pre- 

 pared, I ploughed a strip of grass ground, nearly 

 40 square rods, on a side fiill, a weak, gravelly 

 soil. I spread on it a load of stable dung, and a 

 load of manure from my liog stye. I harrowed 

 it over, and sowed on it about a peck of wheat. 

 After w.ishing it, to clean it of foul seeds, I mixed 

 it with air slacked lime, and dry sand, sowed it 

 and harrowed it in. It came up tolerably well, but 

 did not grow very rapidly. At harvest lime, the 

 straw and ear were very short and small, espe- 

 cially where the ground was not mannied, but the 

 k»rnel was pretty v/hite and fidl. There was n 

 irltle short of a bushel of wheat, when cleaned. 

 It is probable that the birds waited consi<lerable, 

 as they were very numerous on the field at the 

 time of harvesting, and the field was not in sight 

 of my house. 



I also let one of my neighbors have a peck of 

 my Italian wheat ; he sowed it on a [liece of 

 ground, well adapted to grain, by the side of some 

 of our native wheat. The ground for both kinds, 

 being pre[)ared and manured alike. In June, he 

 told me he was sorry he hail sown the Italian 

 wlieat, fiir it v\as far inferior to the nr.live. 

 He said it was not so tall, and did not look so well 

 as his other wlie.-it, and that he should lose his 

 labor. But after the heat of summer came on it 

 grew very rapidly, gained gromid of his other 

 wheat, and at harvest time was nearly a third tal- 

 ler than his native wheat, and much heavier 

 grain. L. E. 



Remarks by the Editor. — Iii the New England 

 Farmer, vol. i. page 212, are some directions for 

 cultivating the Leghorn wheat, when straw for 

 manufacturing pur|)osesi.s the object of its culture, 

 in a letter from Mr Applf.ton, our Consul at Leg- 

 horn, to Samukl Dana, Esq. In these it is ob- 

 served that, 'the grain which produces the 

 straw worked into hats in Tuscany, is here cal- 

 led " Marjola," or March grain. It is sown in 

 IVIarch, and arrives at its appropriate m.nturity, 

 for the manufacturing of hats, from the twen- 

 tieth to the thirtieth of June. It is sown on 

 somewhat dry and elevated grounds, which should 

 be broken tl.ree, four, or more days successive- 

 ly, to prepare it for planting the seed, where four 

 times as much seed as is usually planted of wheat 



intended for bread, should be planted on the same 

 space o/ground ; for the thicker it is planted, tlie finer 

 xcill be the straw. It is here gathered while the 

 plant is in blo.fsom, which is in Tuscany, about 

 the end of June. When it has risen to this state 

 of maturity it is about eighteen inches high,' &c. 



Mr Dana in the satne article say.«;, ' I should re- 

 commend to those who intend to cultivate this 

 wheat, to have one field for the purpose of raising 

 seed where the preparation of the ground ehoidd 

 be like that which good cultivators of spring wheat 

 use, and I am clearly of opinion that the cirlier it 

 is sown in spring- the better will be the chance of 

 a crop. 



' Those wiio cultivate for the straw had better 

 sow broad cast, and eight times as thick as is usu- 

 ally sown for bread stuff, the ground shoidd be a 

 light loam, without any manure. It is well knowti 

 to all farmers that the thicker any grain or grass, 

 flax or other plants are sown the finer will be the 

 straw ; and a gravelly knoll, such as we some- 

 times observe in a rye field, where there is a slen- 

 der straw almost without heads, appears to be well 

 adapted to produce fine straw, and where the 

 field or patch of ground can be surrounded with 

 other grain (so as not to have any outside rows,) 

 the straw will be brighter and less liable to rust.' 



k6r the new e.ngla.vo iaruer. 



A SKETCH OF VEGETABLE AN.\TOMY 

 VEGET.\BLE ECONOMY, &c. 



Cf«'-^x".ed from page 338. 



Trees, sbruOs, iSic, like animals, iiavc their 

 youth, vigor, and old age. They are designed to 

 flourish a certain time, then decay and perish. 

 When the vital powers (inherent powers) are so 

 far exhausted by age as not to produce leavts 

 sufficient for the purpose designed, or when leaves 

 have been produced, but arc prevented by insects 

 or otherwise from p'.'rforming their functions, 

 death is the consequence. Some trees, liowever, 

 which are vigorous, having lost their leaves by 

 insects before they had (lerformed their office, by 

 an effort of nature throw out leaves again the 

 same year, and of course survive the shock. A 

 new layer of albernum and a new liber seems 

 necessary every year to the life of the tree, and 

 these cannot be formed without leaves. 



If the bark of an apple tree be careftdly remov- 

 ed about the 20th of Jime, a soft pulpy matter 

 will he fouixl next the wood : this is imdoubtedly 

 the rudiments of a new liber, and perliaps of a 

 new layer of wood ; this substance, however, be- 

 comes the bark of the tree, which may receive 

 little or no injury, if the operation be neatly done ; 

 but to every mark made in the pulpy matter, there 

 will be a corresponding figure in the new bark. 



When a plant of Indian corn is broken off be- 

 low the insertion of the ear, and thus deprived of 

 all nourishment from the earth, the grain, though 

 small, will continue to increase in size for some 

 time, and is the last thing to perish. In this case, 

 the leaves, &c, continue to perform their functions, 

 although feebly, and the whole plant thus severed 

 is made subservient to the growth and perfection 

 of the grain. 



The situation of leaves is various. Radical 

 leaves are such as grow directly from the root, as 



