1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



403 



a tenacious, stiff, soil, not too rich, only in good 

 heart, — suppl3nng to the ground those articles 

 which make the constituents of the plant, and if 

 fall sowing, on a northern declivity, early in Sep- 

 tember ; and we cannot Ixit think the product 

 will be materially increased. 



As to seed, the Siberian wheat is much ap- 

 proved in some of the wheat farms in Iowa. Oth- 

 ers use what they call the Ohio white, a bald 

 wheat with white husk. In other parts, the va- 

 riety known as Club wheat, having the kernel set 

 horizontally on short ears, is preferred, for the 

 reason that it is there considered not liable to the 

 rust, which has greatly shortened the crops of 

 other varieties. The Winter Blue Stem is also 

 raised with success, even on quite light lands, in- 

 clining to sand. 



Mr. Colman names several varieties raised in 

 England, and their product in certain fields, as 

 follows : — 



Essex Brown, rate 40 bushels 6i lbs. per bushel. 



Surry White, rate 3G bushels 64 " " 



Brown, (called clover,) rate 40 bushels... 6-3i " " 



Snow drop, White, r:ite 39 bushels 63 " " 



Burwell Brown, rate 4d bushels 63 " " 



Whittington White, rate 38 bushels 62 " " 



W. Miles, Esq., raised 48 bus., 42 bus., 2 

 pecks, 47 bus., 35 bus., 3 pecks, and 49 bu. 



P. Pusey, 371, 45^, 47^ bushels. Samples of the 

 whole field. W. L. Kidd, M. D., of Armagh, 

 Ireland, obtained at the rate of 50 bus. of G2 lbs. 

 per acre, and there were larger crops in his 

 neighborhood. The wheat was red wheat. Qual- 

 ity such as to command the highest price. The 

 soil was a stiff clay recumbent on limestone. 



Mr. Colman mentions other products in other 

 counties coming up to these rates. In Glouces- 

 tershire, the product on several acres was from 46 

 to 49 bus. weight from 59 to 62^ lbs. In Worces- 

 tershire, in a field of 130 acres, the crop was 

 nearly 47 bushels per acre. 



In the Western States much of the wheat is 

 under 60 lbs. It is considered the best weight at 

 60 lbs., and few crops go above that. We think 

 no wheat has ever been grown in this country at 

 04 lbs. 



The white wheats yield the gi-eatest propor- 

 tion of flour, the flint wheats the greatest pro- 

 portion of gluten, which is the most nutritious 

 part of wheat. The white is preferred for mak- 

 ing the superfine flour and white extra-fine bread, 

 though the bread is less nutritious than that con- 

 taining more gluten. The southern wheat gener- 

 ally contains the most gluten, though the propor- 

 tion of this element is much afi'ected by the kind 

 of fertilizers used. No crude animal manure 

 should be applied directly to the wheat, but to 

 the previous crop. " If the land is mellow, the 

 wheat should be rolled. 



1^ The swamps of Provincetown are about to 

 turned to good account as cranberry beds. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE. 



BY G. U. DADD, M. D., VETERINARY SURGEON. 



Messrs. Editors : — I notice in a recent num- 

 ber of your journal some very sensible remarks on 

 "A Horse's Foot," in which the writer has intro- 

 duced sufficient evidence — the result of his own 

 experience — to prove the injurious effects result- 

 ing from allowing horses to stand on soft beds, 

 impregnated with ammonia, &c. ; and real glad 

 am I to know that there is a disposition on the 

 part of horse-owners to expose and coiTCCt, evils 

 of this description. It is my firm belief — based 

 on a knowledge of the physiology of the foot, — 

 that soft bedding, containing the usual amount of 

 filth, is in many ca.ses the exciting causo, not on- 

 ly of tenderness and contraction, ])at from whence 

 arises many muscular affections. I rejoice to find 

 horse-owners exercising their reason in this de- 

 partment of stable management, because it is one 

 step in the right direction, and will put a stop to 

 those glaring absurdities which are constantly 

 practised, just because they have the sanction of 

 antiquity ; or because neighbor so-and-so, recom- 

 mends them. Reason teaches, tli^^t the health of 

 the whole animal fabric is best promoted by clean- 

 liness and ventilation (by which a pure atmosphere 

 is insured,) and by food suitable in quantity and 

 quality to the special wants of the animal. — 

 Hence, what reason teaches, man should practice. 



It is unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that a 

 horse can be benefited by standing on a soft bed, 

 composed in part of the defiling excrements of his 

 jown body, which are constantly decomposing and 

 forming gaseous vapors unfit for respiration. If 

 dirt and filth are innoxious, in what does the val- 

 ue of our sanitory regulations consist? Why 

 do our city authorities spend so much money to 

 purify the pestiferous cesspool and sewer, and to 

 rid our streets of accumulating rubbish and filth ? 

 Let our citizens wallow knee deep in muck and 

 revel shoulder deep in an atmosphere saturated 

 with ammoniacal and carbonic acid gases — 'as 

 some horses are compelled to — and death would run 

 riot ; our city would be converted into an im- 

 mense charnel-house ; a fit receptacle for a race 

 of beings that would not adopt the means which 

 reason and experience suggest for averting the ca- 

 lamity. 



Horses that have no better care than that al- 

 luded to, are in close proximity with disease; 

 that they are often found dead in tlieir stalls from 

 the effects of carbonized blood, I can testify, and 

 many more would die, only, they are permitted 

 to t;ike a little of the breath of life, during the 

 day ; wliieli, to some extent dilutes the poisonous 

 gases with which their system has l)cen saturated 

 during the night, and thus, their life, — which 

 under the best circumstances is a weary toil, is 

 prolonged. 



Without attempting to prove the general effects 

 of impure air, and filth on tlie system of a horse 

 located in a stall from one to two and a half feet 

 deep (as your correspondent has it) of soft bed- 

 ding ; let us consider, in a brief manner, the lo- 

 cal phenomena. Your readers are all aware that 

 the combined action of heat and moisture tends 

 to relax — enervates the tissues of the body,, and 

 if carried beyond a certain pointy ends in decom- 

 position. 



