28 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



rOR THE NF.n- ENGl.AJiD FARMER. 



Mr. Editor — With much pleasure and inter- 

 est I perused an article in your paper No. 48, 

 taken from the Massachusetts Agricultural Re- 

 pository for June, 1823, on " Steeps for seeds 

 previous to sowing." The writer of that article 

 (very properly I conceive) questions their pos- 

 sessing any fructifi/ing properly, yet as he has 

 placed little or no merit to their credit, and as 

 I have made use of some of them for several 

 years past to advantage, I am induced to detail 

 some facts respecting their utility as an antidote 

 rather than an aliment. 



The present season, before planting my corn, 

 the seed was soaked in a strong salt petre pickle 

 (the same my hams were cured in) for ahoul 

 three days. I have made IhiS my practice for 

 several years past, as a safeguard against the 

 attacks of the wire imorm, wli.ch, as every far- 

 mer knows, are mvjre deadly than any other of 

 th.- worm tribe, on corn, as they sap the very 

 inundation, by directly eating into the germ or 

 chit of the seed. It so happened that immedi- 

 ately after plantmg, a heavy rain of twenty-four 

 hours laid many parts of the field under water 

 for several days. When the ground became 

 sufficiently dry to pulverize, 1 prepared to re- 

 plant, when to my astonishment I discovered 

 the sprouts forcing their way through the crust 

 now formed over them. Had not the seed been 

 soaked in brine, putrefaction would have com- 

 menced before vegetation could have ensued. 

 The last mentioned circumstance I consider of 

 sufficient importance to urge the use of the 

 brine, both with corn and wheat before sowing. 

 Although the field was literally full of the wire 

 worm, yet in no instance did I detect their rav- 

 ages on the seed.* 



My experience in the use of steeps for seed 

 wheat before sowing, has also impressed the 

 belief in their (lye from wood ashes or lime 

 water) value as an antidote against the smut. 

 Several years since I sowed my wheat with no 

 other precaution, — the ai)pearance of the seed 

 being excellent — than a slight washing with 

 water; the result at harvest, although an ex- 

 cellent year for wheat in Massachusetts, was, 

 almost seven-eighths of the crop smutty ; of 

 course of no use but for very bad fodder, whilst 

 my neighbors, who sowed the same kind of 

 wheat, but took the precaution of liming, had 

 fine crops.t 



Since the beforementioned year, I have made 

 use of lime or lye, and in no iu'^tance suffered 

 by smut, except the JVielk, (or blast) of the 

 French, which appears to be a disease taken in 

 with the food of the plant, as the car on burst- 

 ing from its prison, exhibits a jet-black appear- 

 ance, composed of a dust not very unlike that 

 contained in the kernel of the smutty wheat. 



On inspecting the roots of many of the dis- 

 eased plants, 1 discovered in I'J-L'Oths of their 

 number, pieces of charcoal adhering to the 

 feeders, or lateral roots. I found none at the 

 roots of the healthy stalks. If this, on furtlier 

 trial, should prove to be the source of the dis- 



* The copper hend I nearly extirpate by ploughing 

 deep, just as winter is setting in, which however has 

 little or uo eflV ct on the wire worm. 



t The testimony of M. 1 illet, M. Du Hamel, Mr. 

 Tull, Arthur Young, and an able writer in the Massa- 

 chusetts Repository tor .'uly, 18115, over the signature 

 of Seuex, may be considered as almost conclusive on 

 this subject. 



ease, the only advantage to he derived from the 1 

 discovery, will be to desist from the use of ash- 

 es, unless sifted, on our wheat lands. How far 

 the dust blown from the blasted heads on those 

 thit are healthy, will tend to propagate the 

 smut for the next years sowing, 1 shall at pres- 

 ent leave to the investigation of persons of more 

 leisure and ability than your humble servant, 

 PAYSON WILLIAMS. 

 Fitchburgh, August, 1823. 



From the Northampton Gazette. 

 PEAR TREES. 

 During the months of June and July last, the 

 ends of the branches of pear trees in this town 

 were observed to turn brown and perish sud- 

 denly. Many trees are nearly ruined, others 

 have but one or two limbs alfectod, and some 

 are uninjured. The mischief has been attribut- 

 ed by some to lightning, blasting winds, &.c. but 

 there can be but little doubt that the cause of 

 the injury is the insect described by Professor 

 Peck, in the Massachusetts Agricultural Journal 

 for January, 1817. On examining the inner 

 part of the wood of the withered branches, a 

 small insect has been discovered in a (ew limbs. 

 Alore would probably have been found if the 

 examination had been made earlier. Professor 

 P. calls the insect which destroys the branches 

 of the pear tree, Scohjtus Pijri, ;md gives a par 

 ticular description of it, with a plate. It is one 

 tenth of an inch long, and one twenty-fifth of 

 an inch in diameter. It deposits its eggs be- 

 tween the bud and stem before the month of 

 August is passed. After the egg is hatched the 

 grub eats its way through the cup into the har- 

 dest part of the wood, and passes through its 

 chrysalis state before the next summer. Pro- 

 fessor P. says the mischievous effects of this mi- 

 nute insect are observed in June and July; and 

 that the dead part of the branches should be 

 cut olT and burnt without delay, as the insects 

 have not then left them. We are informed 

 that the limbs of some quince trees have per- 

 ished, apparently from the same cause. 



FRAGRANCE OF FLOWERS. 

 " It has been stated that the fragrance of 

 flowers depends u|)on the volatile oils they con- 

 tain ; and these oils, by their constant evapor- 

 ation, surround the flower with a kind of odor- 

 ous atmosphere; which, at the same time that 

 it entices larger insects, may probably preserve 

 the [larts of fructification from the ravage of the 

 smaller ones. Volatile oils, or odorous sub- 

 stances, seem particularly destructive to these 

 minute insects and animalcules which feed on 

 the substance of vegetables ; thousands of aph- 

 iiles may be usually seen in the stalk and leaves 

 of the rose ; but none of them are ever observ- 

 ed on the flower. Camphor is used to preserve 

 the collections of naturalists. The woods that 

 contain aromatic oils are remarked for their in- 

 destructibility ; aud for their exemption from 

 the attack of aisects ; this is particularly the 

 case with the cedar, rose-wood aud cypress. 

 The gates of Constantinople, which were madr 

 of this last wood, stood entire from the time of 

 Coustantine, their founder, to that of Pope Eu- 

 gene IV. a period of 1100 years." daw. 



" The flour of hard wheat is genoraly supe- 

 rior -to that made from soft ; and there is uo 



difference in the process of making them into 

 bread; but the fiour from hard wheat will im- 

 bibe and retain more water in making into 

 bread ; and will consequently produce more 

 weight of bread: it is the practice here, anc 

 which, 1 am persuaded, it would be advisabk 

 to adopt, to make bread with flour of hard anc 

 soft wheat, which, by being mixed, will mak« 

 the bread much better." daw. 



From the New York Statesman. 

 The following extract of a letter is from a Tcrj 

 respectable gentleman residing near Trenton 

 and if you think it merits a place in your pa^ 

 per, you are at liberty to publish it. 

 " For some years past. Col. Clark, of Pbilai 

 delphia, has been engaged in preparing a boa 

 and ajiparatus, and making experiments to ef 

 feet a navigation against the rapids in the Dela 

 ware, opposite to this place, as a cheap sub 

 stitute lor locks and canals, and contrary to tin 

 prevailing opinion of our citizens, he has final 

 ly succeeded. I had the curiosity yesterday U 

 visit the vicinity of his operations with a vicv 

 to witness the passage of a Durham boat on hi 

 plan against the current, and on expressing ; 

 wish, although an entire stranger to Mr. Ciark 

 he politely took me on board, and I had the sal 

 ist'action of passing the rapids by means of hi 

 novel, ingenious, and yet simple contrivance 

 and al«o of seeing a river boat containing con 

 jsiderable freight towed up hy it with great ap 

 parent ease. The power I have no doubt wa 

 fullv competent to have taken up 10 or 15 ton 

 additional. If such however was not the case 

 the principles on which the apparatus are con 

 structed and applied, admit of increasing tbi 

 power to any required extent. 



The machinery consists of a pair of wate 

 wheels supported by a shaft placed across thi 

 boat : there is also another short shaft ; the; 

 are both furnished with a drum, over which ; 

 rope is passed by several convolutions and fas 

 tened by one end to an anchor at the head o 

 the ra|)ids, while the other is secured to a buo; 

 drag at their foot, and is kept constantly on i 

 strain by the action of the current. The wate: 

 wheels are turned by the running water, am 

 when the apparatus is placed in geer, the ropi 

 winds on the drums in the ascending direction 

 and oft' in the other, and occasions the boat t( 

 a-!cend at the rate of three miles per hour 

 The plan is exceeding simple, and no doubt i 

 will be adopted on all our large rivers, anc 

 prove a great public benefit. 



The channel of the Delaware at this place i( 

 very crooked, shallow and rocky ; it howevei 

 admits of a suitable improvement for this kind 

 of navigation at a comparatively small expense, 

 and the same may be said of all the rapids oo 

 this river for n considerable distance up. It 

 should be recollected that three boatmen are 

 necessary to take an empty boat up the Dela- 

 ware, and for them it often proves a dillicult 

 undertaking: — when freisfht is taken up, addi- 

 tional hands arc employed ; but so little accouni 

 is made of this mode of transportation, oiving 

 to the attendant difficulties, risk, and expense, 

 that most of the supplies for the upper coun- 

 try are conveyed over land, either from yout 

 city or Philadelphia. Coal is taken down in 

 boats which do not return, and which occasions 

 a very great expeuse, 



