184a 



■GENESEE FARMER. 



43 



planted it over, that they would not trouble It. — 

 Accordingly I did so, on a part, and made a com- 

 position of all three of the above named articles, 

 and put a little into the hills of the rest; but all 

 to no purpose, they destroyed as bad as before. 



The most effectual means I have found, from 

 my own experience, and the experience of oth- 

 'Crs, is to plov/ as late in the fall as possible, and 

 •then sow to buck-wheat two seasons in succession, 

 which will almost entirely destroy them. But 

 when a farm is nearly covered with them — as I 

 do not consider a buck-wheat crop, when raised 

 to any extent, very profitable — my practice has 

 been to plov/ late in the fall, as above ; and then 

 summer-fallow thoroughly the ensuing season, 

 not allowing even a weed or spear of grass to 

 grow; which is literally termed plowing, or, 

 starving them out. It Vv'ould not, it is true, eradi- 

 cate them so effectually as by sowing buck-wheat, 

 as recommended above ; yet I have found it 

 more pofitable, from the fact that starving them 

 out, by thorough tillage, would destroy so many 

 of them, that the v/heat crop would suffer but 

 little from v/hat was left — and by not seeding 

 down to clover or grass, but croping alternately, 

 by plowing and fallowing as above described, 1 

 would so far succeed in getting clear of them, 

 that I would not suffer loss to any great extent. 



But if the land be seeded to clover or grass, 

 and lav over^ as it should, in order to keep up 

 the land, so that the soil remains in good heart, 

 they will soon become as great a pest as ever. 

 Even when fallowed the ensuing season by plow- 

 ing in June, or as late as possible, in order to get 

 ,as much benefit from the clover as possible, in 

 point of feed for stock, and a good coat to turn 

 under — which, by the way, I am much in favor 

 of, others to the contrary notwithstanding — 1 

 have found them so bad on my best wheat-land, 

 after a hw years, as almost entirely to destroy 

 the wheat crop. 



I have spun this communication much beyond 

 what 1 at first intended, but if you should deem 

 it worthy of an insertion in the Farmer, it is at 

 your disposal. W. H. H. 



Wheatland^ N. F., Bee, 1847. 



Quantity of Seed to an Acre — Experiment. 



Messrs. Editors : — At the winter meeting 

 •of the Yates County Agricultural Society, the 

 following account of an experiment tried by me 

 was read, for which the Society gave a premium, 

 and voted unanimously to have it published in 

 the Genesee Farmer : 



On the 23d of September, 1846, I sowed four 

 <liagraras with wheat in a summer fallow that 

 had been plowed five times during the summer. 

 The ground was prepared in the following man- 

 ner : — After the soil had been finely pulverized 

 with a hoe and rake, I then accurately measured 

 <off four diagrams, each two feet square, leaving 



a small space between each of about six inches. 

 The squares were then numbered and subdi- 

 vided as follows: No. 1, in squares \h inches 

 each way ; No. 2 in squares of 3 inches ; No. 



3 in those of 4 inches, and No. 4 in squares of 



4 4-5 inches, including the outside lines of each 

 large square. I then, with the thumb and finger, 

 carefully planted one kernel of wheat in the 

 corner of each small square. 



Now for the yield. On the 19th of July last, 

 I carefully gathered the 4 parcels, keeping each 

 by itself; shelled each by hand, and counted the 

 grains of each diagram separately — the results 

 of which are given in the following table. On 

 the ITth of August I took said wheat and had 

 4 ounces carefully weighed by sealed scales, and 

 by counting all the grains weighed, I found there 

 were 780 grains in one ounce, from which 1 have 

 made an estimate of the difterent yield, and also 

 tits rate of the different amounts o^ seed per 

 acre — for' whi-ch see the table. 



It may be proper to add that the soil was a 

 clayey loam, which had never been manured, and 

 had been kept for pasture during the preceding 

 six years. Should the ground be well prepared 

 and sowed with a drill, it is probable from the 

 foregoing experiments that the yield would be 

 greater than if sown broadcast. 



Adam Clark. 



Milo, Yates Co., N. Y., Jan., 1846. 



Qualifications for Matrimony. — The cler- 

 gy of Iceland have the authority conferred by law, 

 to refuse to marry a woman unless she can read 

 and write. The power is given upon the sound 

 principle, that a woman must first be qualified to 

 instruct her offspring before she be permitted to 

 marry. This principle, says an exchange paper, 

 fully and universally acted on, would advance 

 the world more rapidly in its career of improve- 

 ment than any other cause within the range of 

 possibility. Were all women instructed and 

 educated according to their capabilities, there 

 would be an extent and degree of domestic edu- 

 cation that would influence more favorably the 

 character of a people, than the best organized 

 school systems. The latter indeed cannot have 

 their full effect without the former. What is 

 effected partially by law in a primitive commu- 

 nity like Iceland, can be effected much more 

 largely in communities more cultivated and arti- 

 ficial by moral influence and public opinion. 



