170 



GENESEE FARMER. 



July. 



Gleanings from our Foreign Exchanges. 



bed to lie on ; there never will be a great pro- 

 duce unless the lan'd is firm. Do not bruise the 

 Sulphate of Lime.— Mr. Majendie submitted I P'^"^ "^ f^'^^'y weather, nor eat off later than 

 to the inspection of the Council a sample of sul- ' P^'^^'^^'T- ^ had lately the pleasure of going 

 phate of lime— a substance which in its native ! '^^^'^ ^^- Woodward's farm at Cumberton ; 

 mineral and impure state is well known to farm- \^,^ }^ ^ ^^^^^ seeder, and I hold him to be in- 

 ers under the name of gypsum or plaster of' ^^^'^^^' ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^'^ agriculturist. His crop of 

 Paris, but which as an artificial and pure com- h^'^^^^ '^^^ y^^'' "^^^ '^^^ acres, a great portion of 

 pound of sulphuric acid and lime is known to ^' averaged over 60 bushels; one field of 14 

 chemists as sulphate of lime. He stated that his ^<^''^^' pl^inted with 3 bushels, produced 68 bush- 

 sample of sulphate of lime was obtained as a'^'^' ^^' ^^^^ ^o*""' ^"'^ "^^''^ than three tons 

 refuse by the tallow chandlers in their process °^ •^^'"^''^ to the acre. Lord Talbot, I am told, 



of making the "composition" candles, and was 

 to be purchased at a cheap rate. Its peculiarity 

 consisted in the minute state of division to which 

 its particles were reduced by that chemical pro- 

 cess, a condition which it was conceived would 

 greatly accelerate its action when applied 



who paid Mr. Woodward a visit shortly before 

 harvest, and has discernment in these matters, 

 said, on viewing his field, (the first he came to on 

 the farm,) he had never seen a " crop of wheat" 

 before. The land was in high condition, and 

 had moreover 2 cwt. of Peruvian guano to the 



dressing lor the clover crop. Professor Way i ^^^^] before drilling, on bean stubble 



The thi 



had made for Mr. Majendie" an analysis of tlii's 

 substance, and found it to be composed as follows : 



Sulphate of lime, 



Free sulphuric acid, 



Accidental water. 



Combined water, and a little fatty matter, 



66.40 

 3.18 

 17.01 



12.86 



99.45 



Mr. Majendie at a future meeting would re- 

 port the price at which it could be obtained as 

 an article of cotnmerce. Professor Way, who 

 was present, explained that the tallow-chandlers, 

 to obtain from candles the stearine, of which 

 their composition candles is made, boiled the 

 tallow along with quick lime, for the purpose of 

 effecting that separation ; and that the quick 

 lime w^s afterwards precipitated by means of 

 sulphuric acid, and formed the sulphate of lime 

 in a highly comminuted state, of which a speci- 

 men was then submitted to the Council by Mr. 

 Majendie. He regarded this sulphate of lime 

 as bearing the same relation to the common gyp- 

 sum as the super-phosphate bore to the common 

 phosphate. 



Thick and Thin Seeding. — I have tried 

 both thick and thin wheat sowing, and have ar- 

 rived at the conclusion that the higher the con- 

 dition of the land the more seed should be sown, 

 and the thicker the crop it is capable of bringing 

 to perfection — as a stout horse in good condition 

 will bear a load that it is useless to attempt to 

 move with a weak animal. Early sown wheat 

 no doubt stools much, but there are many disad- 

 vantages in early seeding. I plant 9 pecks to 

 the acre, and commence in November. My 

 yield of last harvest will average as nearly as I 

 can tell, 48 bushels per acre, (41 acres,) ; but 

 mine is not strong wheat land. To insure large 

 produce, the land being in high condition, much 

 depends on a proper selection of seed. I grow 

 Red Cluster; it has a short stout straw, stands 

 up well in a heavy crop, and is not inclined to 

 mildew. This is important to be remembered 

 -wheat likes a hard mattress and not a feather 



seeding theory has arisen and been put down, in 

 past years, time after time ; it may be adapted 

 to land not capable of bearing a crop. 



Draining. — Mr. Fisher Hobbs thought the 

 Council would be glad to know that among the 

 practical good results of the Newcastle Meeting 

 of the Society, one had occuned from a casual 

 circumstance which had furnished the farmers of 

 that neighborhood with a tangible and striking 

 proof the advantages of draining, a fact which 

 had been communicated to him by Mr. Ramsay, 

 a member of the Society, who had felt a deep 

 interest in the progress and success of that 

 Country Meeting. By the requirements of the 

 Society, it was necessary that the site of the 

 show-yard on the Town Moor at Newcastle, 

 should be drained sufficiently to prevent any in- 

 convenience for the purposes of the exhibition, 

 should the weather at the time of holding the 

 meeting have proved unfavorable, and much 

 rain have fallen. Such was the repugnance of 

 the freemen at the breaking of the ground for 

 this purpose, and the violation of their common 

 rights in the supposed lasting injury that was in 

 that manner about to be inflicted on their prop- 

 erty, that it was only after the most obstinate 

 struggle, and the united remonstrances of the 

 authorities of the town, that such operation was 

 allowed at length to be effected, agreeably with 

 the regulations of the Society. The time had 

 passed by, and the struggle was almost forgotten; 

 but the area of the common so drained (although 

 not perhaps in the most complete manner, ac- 

 cording to the experience gained at the present 

 day) had remained a lasting instance of the 

 striking effects produced by that drainage. The 

 Steward of the Herbage Committee, as well as 

 many of the freemen had now signified to Mr. 

 Ramsay their entire conviction of the beneficial 

 effects of draining, in consequence of the de- 

 cided superiority of the grass on the drained 

 portion over that on the remaining undrained 

 portion of the Town-moor. Mr. Hobbs further 



