No. 1. 



National Institution for the promotion of Science. 



33 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Bucks County Wheat. 



Friend Pedder, — In a recent trip to the 

 county of Bucks, the land of my nativity, I 

 was highly gratified with the profusion of 

 vegetation which covered the earth. 



The wheat, that important crop to our 

 country, however, was nearly gathered ; and 

 it was no uncommon thing to hear of a 

 farmer having raised from five to twelve 

 hundred dozens of wheat this season, and 

 the Mediterranean being now generally 

 sown, it was principally housed in good 

 order. I saw but one field where the cra- 

 dlers were at work, (July 21st,) and that 

 upon an unbearded wheat, which was so 

 rusted, that it was only worth cutting for 

 the straw. The character of the Mediter- 

 ranean is now fully established, as it is sown 

 with as much confidence of reaping a fine 

 crop, as oats or Indian corn, and indeed 

 more so, perhaps, than any other crop. For, 

 after minute inquiry, I could find no man 

 who had ever seen it injured by the fly, and 

 very rarely, and under the most unfavour- 

 able circumstances, as bad preparation and 

 late sowing, by the rust. And finer bread I 

 never saw than was made from this flour. 

 And although the red chaff bearded, which 

 for a long time has been the favourite in 

 Bucks, did very well this year, yet W. S., 

 one of the most prudent and thriving farm- 

 ers in that section of the country, told me 

 that after trying five different varieties with- 

 in a few years, he now sows none but the 

 Mediterranean ; observing, " If I had given 

 thirty dollars a bushel for my seed when it 

 was first brought into the neighbourhood, I 

 should have been the gainer." But he sows 

 as early in September as circumstances will 

 permit — and in consequence of the grain 

 being large, he sows from one and a half to 

 two bushels to the acre. 



But the security from the rust and fly are 

 not its only advantages to the farmer, for it 

 may be sown on land so thin, that he would 

 never think of risking any other kind of 

 wheat upon it, and yet bring a good crop — 

 and I know from experience, that thirty 

 bushels to the acre can be raised after 

 taking off a crop of potatoes, and without 

 any additional manure — even when sown so 

 late as the 11th of October, so that the rye 

 crop will be almost superseded by it. But 

 upon their rotation of cropping and some 

 other matters, I may make a few remarks 

 in your next number. M. B. S. 



August 2nd, 1842. 



Bitter pills may have blessed effects. 



National Institution for the promotion 

 of Science. 



A move has just been made in relation to 

 this great enterprise, which appears likely 

 to secure all its various and admirable ob- 

 jects; and that presently and effectually. 



An informal meeting took place on friday 

 evening, the 10th of June; the Hon. Joel R. 

 Poinsett, president of the Institution, was 

 there ; and, besides the Secretaries of State 

 and of the Navy, the Hon. John Quincy 

 Adams, the Hon. Messrs. Preston and Walk- 

 er, of the Senate, the Hon. Messrs. Tilling- 

 hast and Ingersoll, and other members of the • 

 House, a select assemblage appeared, of gen- 

 tlemen eminent in divers departments of 

 science, literature, and the arts. 



Mr. Preston informed Mr. President Poin- 

 sett, that a bill would be presented to the 

 Senate, advising an appropriation of twenty 

 thousand dollars, for arranging and preserv- 

 ing the objects collected by the Exploring 

 Squadron. He stated that Mr. Adams had 

 prepared a report in relation to the disposi- 

 tion of the Smithsonian bequest, and said it 

 would gratify him if that gentleman should 

 think proper to communicate his views to 

 the meeting. 



Mr. Adams stated, that he had recom- 

 mended the investment of the interest for 

 ten years, four of which had already expired, 

 to form a fund for the establishment of an 

 observatory, with salaried officers, and the 

 publication of a nautical almanac; upon 

 both of which, the name of Smithson was 

 to be forever stamped, that his memory 

 might be inseparably associated with his 

 munificence. 



A conversation was now started upon a 

 question, as to whether the object expressed 

 by Mr. Smithson in his will, " the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men," 

 would be covered by confining his bequest 

 to any particular branch of knowledge ; and 

 especially to that branch whereby he him- 

 self appears to have been much less attract- 

 ed than by several others. Mr. Adams an- 

 swered, that the observatory being once 

 founded, leaving the principal of the be- 

 quest untouched, he could see no objection 

 to the appropriation of the interest which 

 would afterwards accrue, to such other ob- 

 jects as were now suggested ; but he consi- 

 dered it due to Mr. Smithson, that his mo- 

 ney, devoted in the way it has been, should 

 perpetuate his name. 



Mr. Tillinghast thought it seemed to have 

 been Mr. Smithson's ambition to interweave 

 his name with that of our country, and con- 

 sequently he conceived that the appellation 

 of the American National Smithsonian In- 



