Vol 1.— No. 36. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



2s;{ 



its remaining enveloped in the moist pulp of 

 the fruit, so long after maturity, causes it to 

 vegetate. 



From the Northampton Courier. 

 CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 

 Mr. Atwill. — With the improvements 

 which are going forward in various branches 

 of industry, it is desirable that those in agii- 

 culture may bear a part. To obtain the full 

 benefit of these, the result of practical expe- 

 ence is necessary ; and with this New Eng- 

 land may stand preeminent in successful 

 cultivation of her soil. It is too often the 

 case with our agricultural experiments that 

 if the first does not succeed to our wishes; 

 the object is abandoned, when it might easi- 

 ly be attained by a little variation in the pro- 

 cess. 



The cultivation of Wheat has in a great 

 measure been given up by the farmers in this 

 vicinity, and our necessary supplies brought 

 to us from the far distant south and west at 

 no small expense. Could our farmers be 

 made to believe it practicable to raise our 

 own supplies of Wheat, many would try the 

 experiment; could they be made to believe it 

 could be raised at a profit, all would desire 

 to engage in the cultivation. From well at- 

 tested experiments 1 am satisfied that a lit- 

 tle care in relation to the seed and a little 

 more care in the preparation of the soil is all 

 that is required to a successful result in this 

 crop, and that from almost any of the lands 

 in Old Hampshire County. The nhite flint 

 Wheat is better suited to our soil than any 

 other. For several years I have cultivated 

 this grain and have been uniformly success- 

 ful in the crop. Much has been said of the 

 flint Wheat in our agricultural journals. I 

 am inclined to believe it is the same known 

 in Virginia by the name of the Lawler 

 Wheat ; it took this name from the gentle- 

 man who introduced it there, from Pennsyl- 

 vania, where it was known by the name of 

 Jones white Wheat ; I am aware that some 

 have supposed that a distinct kind of 

 wheat from the flint Wheat so well known 

 and so much approved in the western coun- 

 ties of N. Y. ; attempts, have been made to 

 show a difference, but I have seen no evi- 

 dence which satisfies me that any substantial 

 difference exists between them; some of the 

 evidence that they are the same arises from 

 these facts; both are natives of Spain, 

 brought to the United States about the same 

 time fas early as 1814,) and first cultivated 

 in New Jersey ; both resist the Hessian fly 

 and the variations of the season alike, are 

 similar in their appearance, both in the seed 

 nnd in the field. Be- this as it may, whether 

 they are the same or different grains, the 

 flint wheat which I have cultivated possesses 

 the excellence of resisting the insect so of- 

 ten fatal to the Wheat crop ; it is not so lia- 

 ble to winter killing, better suited to our sea- 

 sons, less liable to gather rust or shrink, than 

 any other wheat within my knowledge, and 

 the quantity of flour is full equal and quality 

 superior to other wheat. Many things have 

 been published of this grain which the prac- 

 tical farmer may not find to be correct. It 

 has been said it did not require so strong a 

 soil as other wheat, that less seed was requir- 

 ed — that it spread on the ground much more 

 than other Wheat, and takes a greater 

 growth; these qualities I have not discover 

 ed. It has been said that the stalk is solid 

 and that has been given as a reason for its 

 jesisttng the insect; but the stalk is not sol 



id ; a solid Wheat stalk I apprehend, would 

 be an anomaly in this part of the country; 

 but that there is more substance and less 

 cavity in the stalk than in other wheat 

 is true, and that it is altogether more sure 

 in its rewards to the cultivator than any oth- 

 er wheat, I am fully satisfied. My practice 

 s to soak the seed twenty-four hours, in 

 strong brine (before sowing) and roll it in 

 lime; when this mode has been adopted in 

 preparing the seed, I have never found a 

 head of smut among my Wheat. 



The benefit in the use of lime on Wheat 

 as a remedy against smut has been fully 

 shown by numerous experiments which have 

 uniformly proved effectual, the result of 

 which is before the public; the mere state- 

 ment of a single one, will show what they are; 

 this is taken from ' Young's Annals ;' it 

 has been copied into other publications; 

 several distinct and equal portions of very 

 smutty Wheat were sown; the first with no 

 application to it produced 377 smutty ears, 

 the second washed in pure water produced 

 325 smutty ears, the third washed in lime wa- 

 ter produced 43 smutty ears, the fourth steepid 

 in lime water 4 hours produ ed 12 smutty 

 ears, the fifth soaked in lime water 12 hours'' 

 produced 6 smuty ears, and the sixth soaked', 

 in lime water 21 hours had no smut among 

 it ; see New England Farmer for August 23, 

 1823, and Sept. G, 1823. and for August 18, 

 1826, and from memoirs of the N. York| 

 Board of Agriculture, all proving the samej 

 effect from the use of lime. — The applica- 

 tion of ley from wood ashes, and a wash of 

 arsenic and salt mixture, has a similar effect 

 upon smut as the use of lime. 



It has been fully proved that this disease 

 in Wheat arises from microscopic grains of 

 black dust which germinate and reproduce 

 themselves; by the application of lime, as 

 the salt mixture the germinating piinciple 

 is destroyed. Lime is also useful in supply- 

 ing a deficiency in our soils for Wheat cul- 

 ture ; the soils of New England, generally, 

 says Judge Buel, ' are primitive in their for- 

 mation, and do not contain all the elements 

 of this valuable grain, and that this defect 

 must be remedied by the application of some- 

 thing containing these elements.' Great 

 difference of opinion exists as to the quanti- 

 ty which shouid be applied, and no doubt, 

 different soils require different quantities ; a 

 very little is useful ; with less than a bushel 

 of lime to the acre, including the prepara- 

 tion of the seed, I have this year raised a 

 good crop, twenty bttshelsto the acre ormore, 

 judging of what remains in the sheaf by what 

 has been thresh'ed, of excellent Wheat on 

 old plain land, light loam soil, with no par- 

 ticular preparation except the small one of 

 lime and preparation of the seed, as above 

 stated ; this crop succeeded to a crop of corn 

 and potatoes, the latter of which I find the 

 best preparative for wheat, which also sue 

 ceeds well after a clover crop; the soil should 

 be fine, well pulverized, and sufficiently fertile 

 at least to produce fifty bushels of corn to 

 the acre. The flint Wheat should be sown 

 as early as the 20th of September, though I 

 have known the crop to succeed when sown 

 as late as the 10th October. Should this 

 Wheat prove a safe crop against the insect, 

 and against injury by the severity and chan- 

 ges of our climate, it will be a most valuable 

 accession to the crops of New England Far- 

 mers ; an experiment with it, is well worthy 

 their attention. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Bdchtrtown, August 4, 1831. 



From the American Farmer. 

 Extracts from a letter from Commodore David 

 Porter, U. S. Consul General, to the Barba- 

 ry states, to Joan S. Skinner, Esq. dated, 



Mahon,Junei, 1831.- 



I now send you some seeds of a nut- 

 bearing pine tree. W e have nothing of 

 the kind in the United States. It is a beau- 

 tiful and useful tree, and furnishes a luxu- 

 ry for the table. I shall have a parcel of 

 the apples put up, and deliver them to Capt. 

 Stevens, of the Ontario, who will he home 

 in about a month after this reaches you. 

 You can cultivate the trees as you would 

 cultivate corn, only a litth further apart. 

 There are some beautiful groves of them 

 near Algeziras, opposite Gibraltar, as well 

 as in Italy. You may eat the nut raw or 

 slightly roasted, and you will find it a real 

 delicacy. The slight turpentine taste it has 

 is a refinement on luxury. I hope they 

 may arrive safely. If Mrs. S. wants pret- 

 ty ornaments for the tester of her bed, or 

 her window curtains, and for various other 

 purposes, she has only to send the pine ap- 

 ples to the gilder, and he will return them 

 more beautifully perfect than if they had 

 been made by the hands of the best carver. 



I shall try and send a verry simple mode 

 of cultivating the silk worm* and preparing 

 the silk worm, adapted in the most simple 

 form to the use of families. I shall get it 

 from a poor, plain Mahonese woman, who 

 for her amusement, raises the worm, sepa- 

 rates the silk from the cocon, spins and 

 manufactures and sells it. She showed 

 me several pounds of excellent sewing silk 

 of the remains of what she had last year. 1 

 shall send you a sample. You will be sur- 

 prised at the simplicity of all the means of 

 obtaining silk, and of the little trouble at- 

 tending it. 



This is written in haste, as the vessel 

 sails immediately, (this afternoon;) but to- 

 morrow if I can possibly spare time, and 1 

 will give my attention to the subject and be 

 more particular. The cultivation of silk 

 is not as troublesome as the cultivation of 

 flax, and infinitely more certain and profit- 

 able. The simple mode which I hope to 

 be able to describe, will I expect induce 

 our good house-wives to give some atten- 

 tion to the subject, and by a gradual intro- 

 duction of its culture among us, save in the 

 end, millions of money, which finds its way 

 to this side of the Atlantic. For silk is an 

 indispensible article, and is one of the first 

 necessity ; as much so as tea and sugar. 

 No man or woman can put on coat, shawl, 

 hat, glove, or dress himself, or herself any 

 way without it. Excuse haste-more anon. 



Yours truly, David Porter. 



J. S. Skinner, Esq. 



Effcel of long Jlbstinence on Cattle. — A 

 cow which had been missed by her owner, 

 in Boston, twenty-five days was found in a 

 barn not in use, in that neighbourhood. 

 She had nothing to eat in all that time, and 

 was reduced to a skeleton. — It is stated 

 that when she strayed, she was supposed 

 to weigh over 9001bs. and when recovered 

 that site weighed only between 2 and 300. 



