162 



RaisiniT JVheat. 



Vol. IX. 



Ilai&iitg Wheat, 



We make the following extracts from a Report of 

 the Committee on Agriculture, made last spring to the 

 New York Legislature. It is found in the Transac- 

 tions of the N.y. State Agricultural Socrety.— Ed. 



SupposK a farmer now cultivates six acres 

 of land in whent, to harvest 100 bushels, how 

 is he to maiiag-e so as to grow 133 bushels at 

 the same expense ] If "he can raise 33^ 

 bushels per acre on four acres, that will give 

 him the amount desired and save the whole 

 cost of cultivating two acres of land. This 

 saving may be set down at $8 per acre, 

 which will give .*B16 surplus to be expended 

 m purchasing the raw material to produce 

 the extra 66 bushels of wheat on the four 

 acres to be cultivated by a new process. As 

 about 94 per cent of ripe wheat plants con- 

 sist of carbon and water, charcoal must be 

 an important element in fertilizing the soil. 

 Of the other 6 per cent about olie-half is 

 nitrogen, and the other moiety is made up of 

 silica, potasli, soda, magnesia, alumina, phos- 

 phorus, sulphur, chlorine, and a trace of iron. 

 Let the wheat grower take 100 bushels of 

 charcoal, grind it fine in a bark mill or pul- 

 verise It well with flails on a threshing floor, 

 and add thereto five bushels of ground pTas- 

 ter. This would not cost in most farming 

 districts in this State over $7, and if the 

 coal and gypsum be placed in a vat or laro-e 

 tub and saturated with the urine of cattfe, 

 or partly moistened with the liquid excre- 

 tions of the human species, and have five 

 bushels of leached ashes mixed with the 

 mass, It will contain all the elements of 133 

 bushels of good wheat. In case tJie urine 

 cannot be had, the addition of four bushels 

 ot salt will give all the soda and chlorine 

 that are needed, while the ashes will furnish 

 all the potash, silica and magnesia required, 

 I he plaster will yield the sulphur and lime 

 and a bushel of bone dust will give the phos- 

 phorus. A little copperas will supply the 

 necessary iron, and the charcoal will not 

 only yield carbon, but it will also absorb am- 

 monia, always found in rain water when it 

 comes from the clouds. 



All these constituents of wheat can be 

 best applied to the soil before sowing the 

 seed, but a top dressing of a compoimd of 

 coal, plaster, ashes and salt, moistened with 

 vv'hafever urme can be collected, may be ap- 

 plied to winter or spring wheat in April or 

 May, with signal benefit to the crop. Deep 

 ploughing and thorough draining are impor- 

 tant aids in wheat culture, for reasons whicli 

 your committee will not stop to explain 



The liberal use of freshlv burned lime is 

 very ben'-ficial by the v.'ay of correcting any 

 acidity of soil; and also by absorbing carbo-l 



nic acid from the air, to be given up to the 

 roots of plants, and thereby promote their 

 growth. A pint of human urine contains 

 animonia enough to supply a bushel of wheat 

 with all the nitrogen it needs. And it is 

 worthy of remark, that wheat well supplied 

 with nitrogen in ammonia, will contain from 

 ten to twenty per cent more gluten than it 

 would if it lacked that element, while the 

 wheat that abounds in gluten will make from 

 seven to fifteen per cent more good bread 

 than the same quantity of flour composed 

 almost entirely ot starch. 



In Flanders farmers pay forty shillings, or 

 nearly ten dollars a year for the urine of a 

 single cow for that length of time, to be 

 used in the culture of wheat and other crops. 

 Common sense would seem to teach every 

 agriculturalist that he should restore to his 

 fields every particle of the liquid and solid 

 excretions of all animals that feed upon his 

 crops. 



Sagacity of the Cat. — Passing by the 

 back window of a neighbour's house a short 

 time since, I saw a favourite Tom-cat seated 

 on a table near the window, beside a narrow 

 necked cream jug containing milk; no per- 

 son was in the kitchen. He was smelling 

 the milk, and endeavouring to reach it with 

 his tongue, but could not; at last he inserted 

 one of his fore-paws, and withdrew it, the 

 fur saturated with milk; after he had licked 

 It clean, he dipped again, and kept repeating 

 the process as long as I remained observing 

 him, which I did for several minutes, and 

 then left him to his employment, for I 

 thought his ingenuity well deserved his re- 

 ward. — The Zcolosrist. 



H. Colman in comparing the business of 

 the farmer with that of others, says: "I am 

 anxious to assist the dignity of" a pursuit 

 which I regard among the most honourable, 

 as it IS among the most innocent and useful 

 in life ; and I would, if possible, soften its 

 aspect and multiply its attractions to a large 

 class of persons who have been accustomed 

 to look upon it with indifierencc or disdain, 

 but who would be sure to find in it, if ar- 

 dently and intelligently pursued, health for 

 the body, and peace and satisfaction— nay 

 more, the strongest and most delightful inte- 

 rest for the mind." 



To Wash Woollen Goods. — All descrip- 

 tions of woollen goods should be washed in 

 very hot water with soap, and, as soon as the 

 article is cleansed, immerse it in cold water, 

 let it then be wrung and hung up to dry. 

 They will then not shrink. 



