V ol. 1 — No. SI. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



245 



from it, or from suffering it to remain too long up- 

 on the ground, when the least dampness will not 

 only discolor the whole, but will blight at least a 

 part of it. The latter is a very common way in 

 which barley receives injury ; and it does seem 

 truly a pity, that when the bountiful hand of 

 Providence has spread over our fields a luxurious 

 abundance, we should suffer that bounty to be 

 tost. Now the great secret of harvesting this crop 

 properly, is to cut it, not when too green, but be- 

 fore it is fully ripe, and your barley will come 

 out a bright yellow color when it is thrashed. It 

 should be well dried before it goes into the barn, 

 else the fermentation will be so great in the mow 

 as to injure the life of the grain. If there be any 

 patches in your field which are lodged, the grain 

 which comes from them will do well for your pigs ; 

 but as you hope to obtain the first price in mar- 

 ket, do not mix it with your standing barley ; cut 

 and keep it separately. There is no doubt that 

 barley allowed to stand in the field until it gets 

 fully ripe (if it can be harvested,) without receiv- 

 ing any dampnes, malts more freely than when 

 cut earlier ; but in our climate, this is extremely 

 difficult, and if it does get wet the damage is so 

 fatal that as a general rule, it is best to harvest it 

 before it be fully ripe, when a little wet weather 

 will not effect it, and the only precaution necessa- 

 ry to be taken, is to have it perfectly dried before 

 it goes into the barn. " WAYNE." 



FOR THE UENESEE FARMER. 



For a particular purpose, soon after the young 

 grapes were set, I loosened some of my vines from 

 (he trellis, and let parts of them lie on the ground, 

 so that many of the bunches had the soil dashed 

 over them in heavy rains. Not one of these 

 bunches, has any appearance of mildew, while on 

 Ihe same vines at the height of one foot or more, 

 many are damaged by that blight. Several kinds 

 of grapes are included in these remarks, such as 

 .the Sweetwater, Miller's Burgundy, Black Or- 

 -ans, Red Color, &c. 



I state the fact for the purpose of calling the at- 

 tention of horticulturists to the subject, before 

 the season for extending such observations shall 

 be past. I have not much to say in regard to 

 the cause. There are some bunches near the 

 ground so protected by the leaves as to have been 

 scarcely soiled at any time, and yet are free from 

 mildew ; and so are some higher on the vines. It 

 may be therefore difficult to come to any positive 

 Conclusion, although the first idea that presents 

 is, that our calcareous loam is destructive to the 

 mildew when it comes in contact. We may next 

 inquire whether grapes that lie on the ground, are 

 free from mildew in other soils ? and wheth- 

 er the same result may be expected in other sea- 

 sons? D. T. 



The Small Pox " outgeneraled." — Dr. 

 Fansher has published a method of hasten- 

 ing the constitutional operation of the kine- 

 pox, by means of which persons, after full 

 mx days exposure to the small-pox, may be 

 rescued from the -courge of that dreadful 

 disease. His method of practice is, to make 

 several " broad punctures on the body and 

 shoulders, charging them many times over 

 in succession" with the vaccine matter. — 

 The method seems to be strongly recom 

 mended by some of the first physicians in 

 "he (Jountry. — West. Rec. 



From the Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 

 SELECTED BV D. T. 



" Many of the better sorts of English apples 

 were probably at first introduced into this 

 country [Eng.] from the continent. The grea- 

 ter part of our names of apples are French, 

 either pure or corrupted. Those varieties 

 which had been celebrated abroad were 

 spread through the kingdom by their culti- 

 vation in the gardens of the religious houses, 



and many of these fine old sorts still exist 



Thus the Nonpareil according to the oldHer- 

 balists, was brought from France by a Jesu- 

 it in the time of Queen Mary, and first plant- 

 ed in the gardens of Oxfordshire." 



"It has been asserted that many of the 

 fine old varieties of the apple, are now going 

 into decay. This may be owing partly to 

 their being more generally cultivated, and 

 consequently grown in a great variety of 

 soils and situations, some of which would 

 suit them and others not ; and that this is the 

 case may be inferred from the fact, that in 

 some places these sorts are to be found healthy 

 enough." 



"The Barberry — grew formerly wild in 

 great quantities in the hedge rows of Eng- 

 land, but has been universally banished, 

 from a general belief that its presence is in- 

 jurious to the growth of corn. Duhamel, 

 Broussonet, and other scientific writers, treat 

 this belief as a vulgar prejudice." 



"In the south of Europe, the Gooseberry 

 is small, tasteless, and neglected ; and though 

 it grows to a large size in the warmer parts 

 of England, its flavor there is very inferior to 

 that which it has in Scotland. Even in that 

 country, the flavor seems to increase ivith the 

 cold ; for if there be warmth enough for 

 bringing gooseberries to maturity and ripen- 

 ing them, the farther north they are grown 

 the better. The market gardens about Ed- 

 inburgh pay much attention to the culture 

 and kinds of their gooseberries; but they are 

 never equal in flavor to those which are 

 grown at Dundee, Aberdeen or Inverness. 



"In England, the Lancashire gooseber- 

 ries are the finest in appearance. They are 

 very large ; but their flavor is far inferior to 

 that of the Scotch. Perhaps the inferiority 

 of theEnglish berriesmay be in great [some] 

 part owing to the large sorts that ate culti- 

 vated, — the finest even in Scotland, being 

 those that are of a middle size." 



" The cultivation of gooseberries 



forms a pleasing occupation amongst the 

 manufacturers of that part of the kingdom ; 

 and the custom has doubtless a tendency to im- 

 prove both the health and the morals of the peo- 

 ple. Any pursuit which makes men acquain- 

 ted with the peculiarities of vegetable econ- 

 omy, in however small a degree, has a ben- 

 eficial elfect upon the heart and undestan- 

 ding ; and it is certainly better for weavers 

 and nailers to vie with each other in rais- 

 ing the largest gooseberries, than in those 

 games of chance or cruel sports, to which 

 the few leisure hours of the working classes j 

 are too often devoted. The one is a ration- 1 

 al and innocent emulation ; the other a de- 

 grading excitement or a brutal indulgence. 

 The names of the Lancashire gooseberries 1 

 are indicative of their humble origin, — "Jol- 1 

 ly Miner," "Jolly Painter," "Lancashire 

 lad," "Pastime," "Top Sawyer," Sic, mayj 

 appear odd to a foreigner; but they are 

 characteristic of the manners of the country I 

 in which they are produced." 



FLAX AND HEMP. 



(Continued from page 239.) 



The following observations respecting the man- 

 agement of flax in the Netherlands, by Mr. Bes 

 nard, may be considered as detailing the best me- 

 thod known at present, and is equally as well cal 

 culated for the United States as Europe. Altho 

 this part of the report is not in order, as made by 

 Mr. Besnard, yet as it contains the plain direc- 

 tions for the management of flax, we have select- 

 ed it as the first article for publication, in order 

 that it may be in season to direct the farmers in the 

 management of their present crops. We shall 

 make such further extracts from the above report 

 as we think will be interesting to our readers. 

 Observations on the treatment of flax in th 

 Netherlands. 



Soil. — The soil preferred by the Cultiva- 

 tors of Flax in the Netherlands, is a loamy 

 clay, or what they term (fat land) free from 

 weeds, and capable of giving wheat, which 

 is in almost every case the previous crop ; 

 except when land after producing Madder 

 is to be had, which is esteemed the best of 

 all; but the cultivation of that plant, being 

 rather limited, it is rarely to be met in quan- 

 tity, compared with wheat-stubble ; it is, 

 however a general practice in that Country, 

 never to sow flax but in rich, good ground. 



Preparation of the soil. — The mode usual- 

 ly followed in the Netherlands of preparing 

 ground for fl ax, if from wheat-stubble, (the 

 general previous crop) is, after reaping, to 

 have it immediately lightly ploughed, and left 

 to lie in fallow until the ensuing spring, 

 when it is again lightly ploughed, prepara- 

 tively to the sowing of the seed; but if grown 

 after a madder crop, the custom is to give 

 a light ploughing in spring, a little before 

 sowing. 



Sowing. — With respect to the seed sown in 

 Holland and Zealand, it is invariably either 

 Riga, or home-saved, none other being used ; 

 the latter is sown for two, sometimes three 

 seasons in succession, never longer, and, at 

 the end of that time, Riga seed is again sown; 

 but some of the rich and judicious flax Bo- 

 ers, every year, sow a small parcel of Riga 

 seed, so as to keep up a constant succession 

 of fresh. When selecting seed for sowing, 

 either of Riga or home-saved, the most scruy 

 pulous attention is paid to procure it of the 

 best and cleanest kind. As to the quantity 

 sown in any given portion of ground, much 

 depends on the quality of the soil, and the 

 age of the seed, which experience alone can 

 determine ; but as well as I could collect in- 

 formation from the Boers on this subject, 

 comparing their measurement with the Eng- 

 lish and Irish acre, the quantity sown bears 

 a due proportion to that of Riga seed usu- 

 ally sown in England and Ireland.* The 

 time of sowing is generally between the end 

 of March and middle of April. 



Pulling. — In the Netherlands, and France, 

 flax is always allowed to arrive at maturity, 

 and is never pulled, particularly in Holland 

 and Zealand, until the seed is perfectly for- 

 med, and the capsule brown and hard, so 

 as to be easily disengaged from the stalk; 

 when in that state it is pulled, and at oncf 

 made into small sheaves, which are placed 

 in stooks of eight to the stock ; the root ends 

 on the ground, projecting, and the heads 

 meeting at the top in such a manner as to 

 present the entire of them to the influence ol 

 the air ; in this way it remains eight, ten. 



In America, about from five to six pecks per acre is 

 found to be the most favorable quantity 



