No. 2. 



Spring Wheat, ^'C. — To the Sportsman. 



65 



Kor the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Spring ^Vhcat, &c. 



The harvest is gathered, and now farmers 

 rest a little from their severe labors, and can- 

 vass the results of their exertions. Among 

 the most interesting themes last spring, " Ital- 

 ian Spring Wheat" was conspicuous. The 

 name, and the good stories told of it, were in 

 every man's mouth, and almost everyone who 

 could get a half bushel of seed prepared a 

 place to receive it. Such high and sanguine 

 expectations were raised that some doubted 

 not but it would succeed almost by the " way- 

 side, among thorns, or in stony places." — 

 Some, however, reasoned that " good ground" 

 would not hurt it, and shaped their cour.se ac- 

 cordingly. But all have been more or le.ss 

 doomed to disappointment. 



I visited! eleven different lots of it, before 

 it was harvested. Some sown on ground ei- 

 ther recently manured, or heavily manured 

 on the potatoe crop last year; the others sown 

 on ordinary corn ground in the room of the 

 oats usually sown on such land.* My own 

 lot was about equal in appearance while grow- 

 ing, to the best I saw. This I threshed out 

 immediately from the field — the yield was 

 seven bushels per acre ! which I think as 

 much as any of my neighbors will have. The 

 grain is of inferiori'quality, weighing 55 lbs. 

 per bushel. Those who sowed on ground 

 where they would have gathered 85 bushels 

 of oats in an ordinary season, will not have 

 more of the wheat than was put in for seed. 



Here, then, is the result of the experiment. 

 Many of us have bought information enough 

 on this subject to prompt us now to do what 

 we can to prevent certain northern specula- 

 tors from again lining their pockets with the 

 earnings of such of us as have been credu 

 lous enough to listen to the assertion that their 



♦Wehaveoflateheard much said both for and against 

 Spring Wheat. According to the statements of a few 

 persons it has succeeded to admiration — but the great 

 and overwhelming mass of testimony is against it.— 

 The faihire of the genuine kind, if indeed there be any 

 answering this description, may be attributed to. the 

 soil, climate, peculiarity of the season, or some un. 

 known cause. We have long entertained an opinion, 

 and have before expressed it, that the most of the wheat 

 gold in this market during the last season as the Ital- 

 ian Spring Wheat, is nothing more nor less than the 

 common Spring wheat, long since tried and discarded 

 by our farmers. We presume that but a very small 

 portion sold in this city under cover of Mr. Hatha- 

 way'* name was received from him. His name was 

 undoubtedly used by many to defraud the farmer. We 

 have at various times endeavored to press upon our 

 farmers the necessity of saving' their own aeeia. A lit 

 tlo care and practice wilt enable them to do so with 

 great advantage. The present instance is another ar- 

 gument in its favor. If our correspondent had sown 

 his Spring wheat in the fall, we think he would have 

 bad a good yield ; and we have come to this conclusion 

 from facts we have gathered from farmers, that in 

 neighborhoods where it was sown at different periods, 

 that sowed earliest, and subject to the influence of 

 frost, afforded a better grain and a larger yield than 

 that lown later in the feason. 



wheat will make 20 bushels per acre where 

 "oats will hardly grow." We own we don't 

 deserve their pity. 



Mahlom S. Kirkbride. 



Morrisville, 8th mo. 3d, 18.18. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



To tbe Sportsman. 



' The race of birds was not formed in vain. Each cm© 

 has his task to perform; we sin in wantonly de- 

 stroying them: first, against Him who made t?iem 

 for his glory; then, againstourselves, willingly igno- 

 rant of their untaught 'labors of love.'" — Injury 

 from destroying birds — Far. Cab. Vol. id, page 332. 



Sportsman, stay thy hand ; 



Spare thou that little bird ! 

 And o'er the fruitful land, 



Still let his song be heard ! 

 Of all the feather'd train 



Who cleave the air of heaven, 

 Not one is made in vain, 



Nor yet for sport was given. 



Hark ! to the robin's lay 



That pours from yonder grove, 

 To hail the break of day, 



And bid all nature move ! 

 Hark ! to the nightingale, 



Whose notes at twilight come 

 From yon green flowery vale, 



To charm the peasant home ! 



A^nd see, how heaven ordains. 



That birds in time of need. 

 With insects from the plains, 



Their helple.ss young should feed ! 

 That thus, the farmer's hope. 



No hidden worm destroy; 

 That he may save his crop, 



And birds their food enjoy. 



And shall the sportsman's gun 



Arrest the parent bird ? 

 And leave the work undone, 



It sought at nature's word ? 

 Must harmless songsters bleed. 



To please the heartless youth? 

 Pause, sportsman ! pause, and read 



The page of nature's truth I 



God hears the raven's call. 



And answers to his cry ; 

 He guards the sparrow's fall. 



With kind, protecting eye ! 

 If birds are thus His care. 



Who life to TTian hath given; 

 Then, sportsman ! O, beware ! 



Nor tempt the frown of heaven ? 



E.C. a 



C«dar Brook, N. J-, 1838. 



