1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



407 



como up and the same again after hoeing. The 

 land will thus receive a permanent benefit. The 

 soil, if sandy and loose, will better retain after 

 applications from the barn-yard, and will pro- 

 duce wheat, corn, oats, or any crop suited to the 

 climate. 



I have four plantations of cranberries, put out 

 this season, on four varieties of soils and one new 

 variety of fruit. The results T design to commu- 

 nicate to the public through your valuable Neiv 

 England Farmer. AVm. Noble. 



Pittsfield, July 24, 1854. 



WHEN SHOULD CROPS BE GATHERED. 



Some science and some pvactical hints, which every farmer 

 should understand and practice upon. 



The prevailing opinion is, that grass, and es- 

 pecialy grain oi >ps, should not be cut till ripe ; 

 or whatever may be the opinion, such is the gen- 

 ei*al practice. This is an error, and one of no lit- 

 tle consequence ; and we offer some considerations, 

 which, if understood, Avill, we trust, set this mat- 

 ter in a clear light. Let us first look at one or 

 two lessons plainly told us by chemistry. 



Wood, starch, sugar and gum are almost exact- 

 ly alike in their composition. The same elements 

 that put together in one form produce sugar, if 

 arranged ditferently would make wood, and if ar- 

 aranged in still other methods, they would pro 

 duce starch or gum. To illustrate ; suppose four 

 men should each have 100,000 l)ricks, 20,000 feet 

 of lumber, including beams, boards, shingles, &c., 

 three hundred pounds of nails, and 100 lbs. of un- 

 mixed paints of two or three different colors 

 Now suppose these four men, having precisely 

 the same amount of the different materials or ele- 

 ments, '^■et about putting up four structures, each 

 having a different object in view. One might con- 

 sti'uct an elegant cottage dwelling, the second a 

 church, tlie third a barn and the fourth a prison ; 

 and by mixing and applying the paints differently, 

 each of these structures would differ from the 

 other so much in form and color, that one might 

 be supposed to be built of stone, another of brick 

 a third of iron, and a fourth of wood, and they 

 would be as unlike in form, color, and outward 

 appearance, as starch, gum, sugar and wood. 

 Either of thef5e buildings might be taken down, 

 and l)v simply rc-ar ranging the materials, be 

 changed to t!ie form, shape, and color of one of 

 the other buildings, and l)c made like it in every 

 particular. Just so can a pound of wood be 

 changed to a pound of sugar. We have often 

 taken a board weighing a pound, and by a chemical 

 process rearranged the elements, and change the 

 same board to a pound of sugar. Just so a pound 

 of starch, gum, or sugar, can be changed to a 

 pound of wood. By artificial means this change 

 is somewhat expensive, but in the natural labora- 

 tory of the cells and tubes of a plant, it is daily 

 going on upon a large scale, although the elements 

 are in themselves so small, that the change is not 

 perceptible to the human vision. 



We are not statins; theories but absolute facts. 



The starch and gum is not so readily perceived by 

 the taste, though they are easily shown to be pres- 

 ent. Now as the grain and stalks ripfen a large 

 portion of starch, gum and sugar is changed into 

 woody fibres. If the natural growth of the plant 

 be arrested by cutting it, this change is stopped, 

 and it dries up, w'ith the starch, gum and sugar, 

 and there is comparatively little hard woody mat- 

 ter. 



But we all know that the three substances first 

 named are digestible, nourishing articles of food, 

 while the fourth — woody fibres — is comparatively 

 indigestible, and on this account little nourish- 

 ing. Here, then, is a plain reason why all such 

 grasses and grains, as are designed for food for 

 animals, should be gathered before they are ful- 

 ly ripe, that is, while they contain a large amount 

 of digestible matter. Wfieat, for example, if 

 cut eight or ten days before fully ripe, contains a 

 large propotion of starch, with a thin skin, and 

 will yield a large amount of flour ; but when it is 

 fully ripe it is covered with a thick, hard, woody 

 skin, or bran, which has been formed out of a 

 part of its starch, and it will then yield a much 

 smaller proportion of flour. The same may be 

 said of its sugar and gum. This reasoning ap- 

 plies equally to other grains as well as to straw, 

 corn-stocks, grasses, &c. 



Those portions of the grain which are to be used 

 solely for reproducing the plant — and this is the 

 natural design of all seeds — 7na]/ be left to ripen 

 naturally. The woody coating is designed as a 

 protecting covering. 



Having thus endeavored to state very briefly 

 some of the reasons for cutting grain early — and 

 it must bo interesting to every one to understand 

 these reasons — we will close this article with two 

 or three rules which are not only sustained liy the- 

 ory but have been fully proved by careful prac- 

 tice aud experiment. 



1st. All grasses should be cut as soon as pos- 

 sible after flowering. Much more than is gamed 

 in weight after this is lost by the conversion 

 of the nourishing substance into hard, woody 

 matter. 



2d. Corn, wheat, and all other grains designed 

 for food, should be gathered eight or twelve days 

 before fully ripe. A simple method of determin- 

 ing this, is to try the kernels with the thumb nail. 

 Let the gathering commence immediately after 

 tiie "milk" begins to hai-den, but wdiile the ker- 

 nel still yields to a gentle pressure of the nail. 



An acre of wheat, that, if cut when fully ripe, 

 would yield 800 H^s. of fine flour, will, if cut ten 

 days ca'rlier, yield from 850 to 1000 lbs. of flour 

 of a better quality, Avhile the straw will be uiuch 

 more valuable for feeding. 



An acre of grass, which, when cut full} ripe, 

 would yield lOUO lbs. nourishing digestible ma- 

 terials, and 2000 ll.is. of woody matter, will, if 

 cut 12 days earlier, yield from 1500 to 1800 lbs. 

 of nourishing matter, and only 1200 to 1500 lbs. 

 of woody materials. — American Agriculturist. 



Plants Poisoned. — Dr. Salisbury, of All)any, 

 N. Y., recently communicated to the American 



While a stock of grain is unripe it contains but 



little woody fibre, and its pores or cells arc filled 



with sugar, starch and gum. The presence ofj Scientific Association some expernncnts on plants, 



sugar is readily perceived by the sweet taste of i which illustrate tiie analogy existing between 



soft kernels of corn and other grains, and it is animal and vegetable physiology. Dr. ^. ex 



also found abundantly in the sap of stalks. I tracted the poison of a dead rattlesnake, a smal 



