^m 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Fkb. 



Top Dressiiig Wheat 



h- seems not very well settled, in how great a 

 "l^agree mineral manures are beneficial as a top 

 'fe-^ing for wheat. The only ones within the 

 farmers reach, being cheap and native materials, 

 «iPe Ldme, Plaster, Salt and Ashes, In Lime 

 I have very little faith, used in any \vay in west- 

 •sfa New York, or the western States, except in 

 ^2^ unctous clays as an ameliator and loosener ; 

 as yet our soils generally possess a redundancy 

 ■for all the purposes of the production of grain. 

 If we need any thing it is potash to form the 

 siiicates necessary to make a strong and vigor- 

 ■^sw straw, which with a proper quantity of de- 

 pmposed vegetable matter {humus,) deep plow- 

 iiig and thorough pulverization, and perfect 

 draining — which, by-the-bye, is of primary and 

 mtai importance — we probably possess the best 

 ■md most certain wheat region in the world, ex- 

 'cept perhaps England, where from the security 

 it has against freezing out and the long period 

 'the season allows for stooling out and setting, 

 thsy produce greater crops per acre than we can; 

 !wt their harvests are so late and precarious, that 

 if we took half their pains in preparing for a 

 'Crop, our chances are decidedly preferable. 



In all primitive regions lime is of the greatest 

 importance. Granite and the felspar rocks pro- 

 duce the potash in abundance, which accounts 

 why in the eastern States they get straw without 

 the berry. I have no doubt but that with from 

 'S^ to 100 bushels of lime per acre and a proper 

 <|uantity of vegetable matter, that wheat can be 

 yet raised in any proper location in any of the 

 New England States. 



Plaster. — It is still a mooted point with many 

 'rf our best wheat growers, whether g^ypsum is a 

 'iirect benefit to the wheat plant : they all use it, 

 but principally to force the growth of clover, 

 "wliich experience proves to be the most natural 

 and legitimate manure for wheat. Those who 

 arecommend its use for the benefit of the wheat 

 plant say it should be plowed or dragged in at 

 ^te sowing. 



Salt.— There is a good deal said about this ar- 

 ticle, without any well grounded experiments 

 amd results, and if of any lasting benefit, the 

 rationale of its operations are not well under- 

 stood. It is so readily soluble that any moderate 

 rain carries it off in a moment, bej'ond the reach 

 of the roots of the plants. It is a compound, be- 

 ing the muriate of soda, or speaking more niod- 

 ernly, the chlorate of sodium, and its acid clings 

 with such tenacity to its base, that it is with the 

 litmost difHculty that they can be parted; a red 

 Keat does not divorce the parties. Whether the 

 vegetable econon)y possesses agencies or affini- 

 ties to decompose this salt is not known. 



Ashes. — This article probably contains more 

 fjf the requirements of a top dressing mineral 

 •aianure, than any of the foregoing ; but princi- 



pally the potash, the necessary solvent to form 

 the silicates, and is not near as soluble as ealt, — 

 Its effete residum possesses absorbing powers for 

 the base of ammonia from the atmosphere — and 

 experience proves its value on all crops and all 

 soils. I consider it superior to plaster, bushel 

 for bushel; the market price for ashes is only 6d, 

 while we pay 12^ cents per bushel for plaster 

 and tote it many miles. There is no family but 

 what can make a waggon load or two if they 

 would save them. Ashes are the secret of the 

 productiveness of the Prairie soils of the west, 

 which possess a fertility that we know nothing 

 about in this country, producing wheat 10 yeans 

 in succession, and then too much straw for the 

 berry. The annual burning of the surface for 

 unknown periods, clothed with a heavy and lux- 

 urious growth of vegetation, upon a calcareo- 

 argillaceous soil, (lime and clay,) has created a 

 soil of soluble silicates, carbon, (charcoal) phos- 

 phate of iron of wonderful productiveness. 



I intend this spring, and I propose that so many 

 others as may read this article, that shall think 

 the "play worth the candles," shall try the fol- 

 lowing experiment : 



In the month of May, at the first period of 

 any drouth, when one would say, a little rain 

 would do good ; to select four pieces of land in 

 a wheat field, under the same circumstances as 

 to soil and other contingencies, say on a little 

 height, sloping down to low land, and sow upon 

 each separately, a good heavy dose of lime and 

 plaster and a less portion of salt and ashes ; ly- 

 ing side by side, if there was any difference, it 

 could be readily seen, and if there was none pal- 

 pable to sight and observation, why let it slide, 

 the experiment is tried, and my speculations 

 blown to the never mind. Yours, 



Stone Point, Jan., 1847. B. Maww. 



Presenlng Haras. 



Mr. Editor : — In the last number of your 

 valuable paper I observe an article on preserring 

 hams, the writer of which calls for a better mode, 

 if others should have one. I think I have a bet- 

 ter way, which I have practised a number of 

 years with good success. The recipe is as follows: 



Take tvvo quarts of salt, four ounces of salt 

 petre pulverized ; mix them together. Lay your 

 hams on a bench or table ; wet them by dipping 

 your hand in water and rubbing them all over ; 

 then rub on your preparation with the hand, and 

 make all stick to them that is possible. Lay 

 them away on a bench or table, and in about a 

 week or ten days go througli with the same pix)- 

 cess again. Then lay them away on your bencli, 

 and in four weeks they will be ready to smoke — 

 or they will keep much longer with perfect safe- 

 ty if you are not readv to smoke them so soon, 



A. W. TURP^R. 



Ontario, N. Y., Jan., 1847. 



