No. 1. 



Siwiac — Slimmer IVhcat — Editorial. 



39 



For the Farmers' L"abiiiot.'» 



Sii|tiiac. 



Mr. Editor: — Youf' Correspondent En- 

 •]uirer asks " whether a person collecting and 

 drying^ a quantity ot" sumac berries could dis- 

 pose of them at a price that would compen- 

 sate for his labor !" 



Ilavinof some commercial knowledge re- 

 spectingf the article of sumac, I can answer 

 him with certainty in tlie negative. The ber- 

 ries alone are not used, but the leaves of the 

 plant are collected, dryed, and coarsely 

 ground. Some berries may possibly be mixed 

 with tiie leaves, and do not probably injure 

 the quality, as they also possess a considera- 

 ble portion of tannin orastringoncy. In ma- 

 ny partes of the United States sumac abounds, 

 and the leaves are occasionally gathered and 

 prepared for sale. They are inferior to the 

 imported, and command a less price. Wheth- 

 er this inferiority be intrinsic, or whether the 

 result of unskilfulness in preparing the article 

 for market, I am unable to say ; probably both 

 causes in some measure operate to the preju- 

 dice of tiie American sumac. 



Most of the American that reaches the 

 Philadelphia market comes from Alexandria, 

 D. C. The best of the impoited is known as 

 Sicily sumac, and brings at wholesale about 

 3 cents per pound ; the next in quality comes 

 from Trieste and commands 2 to 2^ cents per 

 lb., whilst the best American I have seen will 

 not at this time sell for more than 1^ cents 

 per lb. 



This price it is evident cannot compensate 

 for the collection of it while labor in the 

 United States is h\^\i and in demand, although 

 the plant grows spontaneously and in abun- 

 dance. The time will however arrive when 

 fiumac, an article extensively used by manu- 

 facturers, may be gathered in this country, 

 and a chemical analysis and comparison with 

 the foreign plant would be desirable. The 

 want of scientific and practical investigations 

 of this and many other American productions, 

 is further evidence of the advantage farmers 

 would derive from the cultivation of scienti- 

 fic knowledge in well conducted Agricultural 

 schools, such as the State of Pennsylvania 

 owes it to her rural population to endosv. 

 Yours, respectfully, A. S. R. 



Slimmer TThcat. 



The real Summer Wheat, (triticum ccsti- 

 vum,) or Blea, Tremois of the French, is 

 often more productive than the common sorts. 

 It may be sown so late as the 1st of May, 

 when grass seeds ought always to accompany 

 it It ripens about the time of common 

 wheat In England it often weighs GOlbs. 

 per bushel, and the price equal to other kinds. 

 Seed of this valuable variety could easily be 

 imported from Fiance, 



THE FARmCRS' CABINET. 



AUGtJST 15, 1838. 



To Correspondents. — The following com- 

 munications not being received in season for 

 the present number, are on file for publica- 

 tion in our next. "Observer, No. 15" — ^An 

 article from Morrisville on Spring Wheat — 

 On the making of Stone Fence — Agriculture 

 of the Ancients — Farm Accounts — Notices 

 to a Young Farmer — Complaining — Easy 

 Shoes — A Montgomery county Farmer oa 

 Things in General — Ice Houses, &lc. &.c. 



The fir.st and second volumes of the Cabi- 

 net may be obtained at the office, neatly halt' 

 bound, at one dollar and twenty-five cents 

 per volume. They can also be sent by mail 

 to those who desire them, done up in flexible 

 covers — price one dollar each — subject to 

 newspaper postage only. 



Union County, Pa. — A gentleman writes 

 to us from New Berlin, under date of the SIst 

 July, as follows: — " Our crops of wheat and 

 rye have turned out well — the wheat very 

 well, and generally well filled. Some of the 

 rye is light. The hay is very abandant, and 

 I have never known the crops to be secured 

 in such fine order. But the dry weather has 

 operated injuriously on the summer crops. — 

 The oats are short, and in many places light. 

 It is believed that corn cannot reach half an 

 average crop. Potatoes, where planted in a 

 loose mellow earth, are almost entirely dried 

 up. A rain soon would bring forward those 

 planted under a sod." 



A Thought. 



Amonst the various causes which we hear 

 assigned by farmers, to account for their want 

 of success in the prosecution of their honora- 

 ble calling, who ever heard one ascribe it to 

 carelessness, idleness, or extravagance ; and 

 yet, in nineteen cases out of twenty, one or 

 another of these causes, or all of them com- 

 bined, have been the real cause of the want 

 of success in the prosecution of agricultural 

 pursuits^ 



auantity of rain which has fallen in each monUi 

 since January 1, 1838. 



Isl month, 2.20 



2dmonlh 2.19 



3d month, 3.17 



4tli month „....3 58 



5th month 3.57 



6th month 6-66 



7th month 2-37 



PhilaUel[:hia, August 9, 1838. 



?tf"Th« regular monthly weeling of Ihe Horticaltn- 

 ral SoeielT, will be held tt tb« Biual plae«, on Taeidajr 

 evening, lh» 14ih iistant. 



Th« meetiBg of the Affri«ultiiral Sociew will be held 

 n the Philosophical Hall, tn Fifth streei, below Cbes- 

 nul, on Wednesday morning, J5th insl., at II o'clock. 



