No. 6. 



Skinnej^'s Address. 



173 



son, and has been sown extensively the last 

 five years, and now is the favourite variety 

 with many. The two years that I have 

 tried it, it has not equalled the improved 

 flint. On clay soils, or where wheat is late 

 in ripening, it may be valuable, as it is sup- 

 posed to ripen earlier than otlier varieties, 



With me, v^'lien sown on the same soils, 

 and at tlie same time with my flint, it has 

 not ripened any sooner. 



This is a white-cliaft' bearded wheat, heads 

 short and heavy, — it is called club wheat in 

 some sections — and well filled, v.ith a short 

 white round berry, weighing from 60 to 65 

 to the bushel. The berry being short, packs 

 close in the half bushel, yields flour of good 

 quality, but will not come up to the improved 

 flint. Bran is thicker and more brittle, and 

 will not admit of being ground as close; if 

 it is, the flour is more specky, exhibiting 

 small particles of bran. If it is not cut be- 

 fore fully ripe, there is a loss in harvesting, 

 for it shells very easily. Every touch of the 

 long stiff beard shells it out. It stools or 

 tillers out but little, requiring from one and 

 a half to two bushels of seed per acre. The 

 straw is stiff", and seldom lodges. On river 

 flats and rich soils, when the common va- 

 rieties would lodge, this will not get down. 

 Insects affect it more readily than they do 

 some other varieties. The heaviest yield of 

 wheat that I have heard of this year, was 

 from this kind. It is somewhat liable to 

 smut, owing to its usually being cut green ; 

 this straw being thick, it matures more after 

 it is cut than most kinds. 



Indiana Wlieat. — This variety was intro- 

 duced from the State that bears its name. 

 White chaff", bald; berry, white and large; 

 bran thin ; the berry not as flinty as the 

 white flint, having more of the appearance 

 of the improved flint; some of the best 

 quality weighing sixty-four to the bushel, 

 producing flour of superior quality and" quan- 

 tity; straw is larger and longer than the 

 white flmt ; ripens about three days sooner, 

 shells easy, so that there is considerable 

 loss if it remains in the field till fully ripe. 

 It is well adapted to strong soils. On the 

 firm of .T. Cook, of Byron, it has averaged 

 thirty bushels per acre for ten years; but 

 with me it has not proved as well as the 

 flint. Its early ripening makes it valuable 

 on late soils. This grain the insects have 

 attacked more than the flint, and it is more 

 liable to be winter-killed. 



Velvet Beard or Crate W/iraf. — This is 

 an English variety, and was introduced into 

 Western New York about sixteen years 

 since. This is a reddish chaff", bearded, with 

 a large red berry. The straw is large and 



long. Heads long and well filled ; long 

 and very stiffs beards, producing well on 

 strong soils. It requires to be sown one 

 and a half bushels to the acre, as it does 

 not spread as well as some other kinds. It 

 is sown mostly on the strong soils of the 

 Genesee flats ; being very hardy, and stravir 

 stiff", it is not subject to be tiirown out by 

 the frosts of spring. With its stiff" straw, 

 it seldom gets down. The berry heavy, 

 weighing from sixty to sixty-four to the 

 bushel. It is fifteen per cent, inferior to 

 the white wheat, in the quantity and quality 

 of its flour. Flour made from this wheat ia 

 of a j'^ellowish cast. It will admit of being 

 sown the last of August, being seldom in- 

 jured by the insects or strong soils. 



(To bo continued.) 



Extracts from J. S. Skinner's Address, 



Delivered before the Agricultural Society 

 of New Castle Co., Del., at the Annual 

 meeting, held in Wilmington, September 

 nth, 1844. See last No. p. 149. 



I SHOULD not fulfil my duty were I not 

 here to relate something of what I observed 

 last week in old Massachusetts, where, short 

 as my sojourn was, to meet my engagement 

 here, so much occurred to fill me with ad- 

 miration and personal gratitude. Not from 

 any view to invidious comparison, but to 

 stimulate you to inquiry and reflection, note 

 was made of the progress of a single town 

 whose situation is analogous in some strik- 

 ing respects to Wilmington, especially in 

 local advantages, in vast water power, and 

 in vicinity to a large city of enormous 

 wealth like Boston, whose capitalists, with 

 an enterprise and sagacity all their own, 

 leave no resource neglected that art and 

 opulence can make available. I was in that 

 venerable State when Lowell was little more 

 rlian afiirm. The oldest of their manufac- 

 tories v.-as chartered in 1822, and on the 1st 

 of January last, there had been consumed 

 within the past year, of cotton, 22,880,000 

 pounds. The monthly wages distributed in 

 cash, were $150,000; one establishment 

 alone, the Middlesex mills, manufactures 

 the fleeces of 1200 sheep daily; and through 

 the year, American wool of the finest quality, 

 of the value of ^500,000. The same estab- 

 lishment consumes annually 15,000 gallons 

 of American lard oil, besides 7000 gallons 

 of sperm oil brought by American vessels — 

 four millions of teazles of American growth 

 — eight hundred tons of Pennsylvania coal, 

 besides otiier articles of American produc- 

 tion, and of the value of more than half a 

 million — giving steady employment to 850 



