THE GENESEE FARMEK. 



327 



Warren C. Jonks, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, who took 

 the fourth April Premium, in acknowledging the receipt 

 of the books says : 



" It would have done your heart good if you could have 

 seen the reception, the opening of the package, and the 

 etsdamations of my better half when she discovered that 

 )'ou had uot only given full scripture measure, but run- 

 ning over ; the joy of Loui over the Shanghai book, and 

 csf Olla Stephen, my three-year-old, over the Morgan 

 horses ; and even Dora, the baby, seemed to crow more 

 lustily. Your name has found a place iu my household 

 that will not soon be effaced." 



CJorn for Fodder. — We have several communications 

 tu'^ng farmers to sow corn for fodder. It does best in 

 drills, so as to admit the use of the cultivator. Sow plenty 

 of seed — say forty kei-nels to the foot. 



Inquiries and Answers. 



Sowing Wheat after Wheat. — Will you be kind 

 enough to advise, through the Farmer, whether a portion 

 of a field which is now bearing a good crop of wheat will 

 answer to seed again with wheat in the fall? I would 

 rather do this, if so advised, as it would thus form con- 

 nexion with the remuiuing portion of the field, (a) In 

 case you think a second crop of wheat advisable, would it 

 be well to plow the land miraediately after the present 

 crop is cut, thereby turning down all the stubble, which, 

 from the abuudance of the crop, must be very considera- 

 ble, and again plowing immediately before seeding ? {h) 

 The portion of the field now bearing wheat had applied to 

 it, at seeding time last fall, about 275 lbs. per acre Peruvian 

 guano ; would another application of guano be a proper 

 manure for a second crop ? — or is the opinion of many 

 fiirmers in this neighborhood correct — that the frequent 

 application of guano will ultimately injure the land? (c) 

 A Subscriber.— Z?a/'i^a»fi?, N. Y. 



(a) Under such circumstances, we should have no hesi- 

 •tatlon in sowing wheat after wheat. Wheat will do as 

 well after wheat as any other crop, provided the soil is 

 rich enough. By the aid of judicious manuring, Mr. Lawes 

 obtained a crop ot wheat of 55 bushels per acre, on a soil 

 that had grown a crop of wheat twelve years in succes- 

 sion ; and last year, after fifteen successive crops had been 

 femot'cd, the crop on one heavily manured plot was 50 

 bushels^per acre. There can be no doubt that on a good 

 loamy soil, and with the aid of proper manures, wheat can 

 be grown without any intervening crop. Rotation of crops 

 is not a necessity. It is advantageous, as enabling the 

 former the better to enrich the soil, pulverize, consolidate 

 and clean it. 



(6) We haveliad no experience on this point. Should 

 prefer to plow it twice, unless the soil is somewhat light. 

 In such a case, it might be better to cut the wheat pretty 

 dose to the ground, and then harrow the field, for the pur- 

 pose of starting the seeds of weeds, &c. We think, how- 

 orer, that it would be in most eases best to plow twice. 

 In sowing wheat after peas, the soil is sometimes so dry 

 that th« seed will not germinate. This may be the case to 

 some extent after wheat, and by twice plowing this diffi- 

 cnlty would be obviated, and the soil be nearly as moist 

 afi after a regular summer fallow. We may remark, al- 

 though the climate of England is very different from that 

 of this country, that in the experiments of Mr. Lawes, 

 previously alluded to, the soil was always plowed ticice, — 

 once immediately after the crop was removed, and again 

 just previous to sowing. In addition to this, the crop was 

 band-hoed twice iu the spring. 

 {e) Peruvian guano is as good a manure as can be ob- 



tained for the second crop. The idea that guano will 

 injure the land — that it is merely a stimulant — rests on no 

 satisfactory evidence. Guano, like common manure, con- 

 tains all the elements of plants, and, with perhaps the 

 exception of potash, soda, and cai'bonaceous mattei', in the 

 right proportion required by most plants. If by the con- 

 tinued use of guano the soil should become deficient in 

 potash and soda, a few bushels of unleached ashes per acre 

 would supply the deficiency, and if it becomes deficient in 

 carbonaceous matter, turn under a crop of clover. In fact, 

 apply the ashes and plaster to the clover, which they will 

 greatly benefit, turn in the clover, and there will be no 

 danger of impoverishing your soil by the use of guano. 



In saying this, we do not say that the use of Peruvian 

 guano will be profitable. That is a question the answer 

 to which must depend on the price of wheat. If wheat is 

 worth §1.50 per bushel, the use of Peruvian guano will 

 be profitable ; if only 75 cents, it would hardly pay, — un- 

 less on soils that without guano would not produce more 

 than four or five bushels per acre. 



Will you or some of your correspondents give us the 

 botanical name of pea-nuts ; also, some information in 

 regard to their cultivation ? (a) 



Will gypsum incorporated with fermenting manure 

 prevent tlie escape of ammonia? (J) 



Do gypsum and ashes, when mixed, have any effect 

 upon each other, chemically ? {c) 



I beg leave to differ with an assertion made in the June 

 number of the Farmer, namely, that bones can not be dis- 

 solved by moistened ashes. Ilad the writer of that article 

 been with me at the time I received the June number of 

 the Farmer, I could have shown him a small quantity of 

 bones reduced to a jelly by the use of stronrr oak ashes. 

 Large, hard bones, require some time to tlissolve, but 

 they will dissolve eventually, {d) M. Garnset. 



(rt) The pea-nut, or pindai-, (AracJm Tinj^ogaia), like the 

 pea and bean, is a leguminous plant. Of its cultivatien 

 we know but little, and should be glad if some of our cor- 

 respondents who have raised it would give us the desired 

 information. It is grown to a considerable extent in the 

 Southern States, and yields on good soil from 60 to 75 

 bushels of nuts per acre. The seeds are planted in rows 

 about a foot apart each way. As soon as the flowers ap- 

 pear, the vines are earthed up from time to time, so as to 

 keep them chiefly within the ground. 



(6) It will not. If the gypsum was dissolved in water, 

 it would do so. Read the article on Manures in the Bimii 

 Annual for 1858. 



(c) If they were both dissolved in water, they would be 

 mutually decomposed, carbonate of lime and sulphate of 

 potash being formed. In the dry state, as generally used 

 for manure, probably no change takes place — certainly 

 not to any considerable extent. It requires 400 lbs. ot 

 water. to dissolve one lb. of gypsum. 



{d) -BtFt'ng ashes may remove the gelatine of the bones, 

 end convert it into a jelly, and the bones might crumble 

 ■to pieces ; but they would not be dissolved — the phosphate 

 of lime of the bones would still be insoluble. 



Grafts from Dwarf Pear Trees, &c. — (J. T. Ser- 

 geant.) You can cut buds or scions from your Dwarf 

 trees, and bud or graft them on the Pear stock. The par- 

 ticular kind of stock does not affect the variety of fruit 

 which is worked on it, to any appreciable extent. 



Meahan's Hand Book of Ornamental Trees is the best 

 small and concise work on the description and propaga- 

 tion of ornamental trees. Price 75 cents. 



