1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



215 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FIELD SEEDS. 

 Mr. Brovtn : — I venture to send you a few 

 thoughts on the subject of field seeds. And as the 

 time approaches when farmers have occasion to 

 use them, I trust that these thoughts, if deemed 

 worthy of a place on your pages at all, will not 

 be accounted unseasonable. 



Magy formers are awaking to the importance of 

 seeking the best kinds of stock, and the best qual- 

 ity of field seeds. But I do not recollect to have 

 seen a caution offered on your pages, with suffi- 

 cient explicitness, against allowing foul seeds of 

 any sort to be mingled with the seed we use. 



No man needs to be informed that soil pre-oc- 

 cupied with weeds, cannot very largely yield useful 

 produce. Every intelligent farmerknows, though 

 too many are very remiss in improving their 

 knowledge, that if ho would secure a good yield 

 of either grass or grain, the strength of the soil 

 must be reserved for it. 



The former who sows foul seed in his fields 

 commits an error which in the end must cost hin^ 

 dear. He may use an indifferent bull or horse, or 

 buck, and suffer only temporary injury, because 

 he can rid himself of his worthless stock, and thus 

 end his loss. Not so when he sows foul seed 

 His loss but begins with his error. He introduces 

 an enemy into his enclosures, to which he must 

 either surrender at discretion, or maintain at end- 

 less labor and expense, a warfare always exhaust- 

 ing and commonly futile, because not wao-ed 

 with sufficient energy and thoroughness. He en- 

 tails, too upon posterity, a curse of inestimable 

 magnitude. 



Do not dealers in agricultural seeds often con- 

 tribute to the evil in question; sometimes inad- 

 vertently, but as often, perhaps, for the sake of 

 the profit they secure ? Of the occurrence of the 

 toliowing fact I am assured. 



Some two years since, a gentleman of this com- 

 munity wishing to obtain some "imported spring 

 wheat, a,nd some spring rye, wrote to a friend 

 m your city to ascertain whether he could pro- 

 cure It for him perfectly clear. The friend re- 

 phed that he had the assurance of a dealer whom 

 he had consulted, that he would furnish both the 

 kinds of seed sought, in the condition specified. 

 A tew bushels were accordingly ordered, and with 

 the bill transmitted, there was a printed assur- 

 ance that the house dealt in no seeds but those of 

 the best quality and in perfect condition. Great 

 was the purchaser's surprise, therefore, when on 

 opening the casks, his attention was attracted not 

 by the beauty of the grain, but by the variety of 

 toul matter it contained. Happily for him his 

 neighbors had engaged most of the wheat before 

 Its arrival, so that he had but a single bushel re- 

 ?^^'°i".g- This he attempted to clean with screens, 

 but f:„ ed because a part of the foul seed was 

 fnrfl-i''° !^® .S^^^^- H^ ^^s compelled, there- 

 S ff f **" (^'^S° *^^ ^-^^i^g «f tlie seed, or 

 Knd Jl '7 that which would be ruinous to his 



hand. The latter course he adopted, looking over 

 a spoonful at a time, and it is^ hardly credible 

 though strictly true, that besides a libeml sprink- 

 hng of rye and barley, he found no less than four- 

 teen different kinds of foul seed, amounting in the 

 Whole to about three quarts. This, too, was im- 



ported Toul seed, as though our formers have not 

 already indigenous weeds enough to contend with. 



The case of the rye was not much better. It 

 could not be cleaned by screening, and it was not 

 worth picking over. So the purchaser carried it 

 to the mill and had it ground for his swine. To 

 a word of remonstrance sent by the purchaser to 

 the dealer, the latter replied that he sold "as 

 clean seed as others sold, of the same importa- 

 tion." To the rye he made no allusion. 

 _ Now, Mr. Editor, I hold that important as the 

 introduction of certain grains may be to our coun- 

 try, their usefulness can never equal the mischief 

 done by the simultaneous introduction of a dozen 

 kinds of foul seed, to become, by unavoidable dis- 

 semination, a pest through the land. Who will 

 pretend to estimate the mischief of a single im- 

 portation of grain in the condition of thai above 

 specified? Who can tell the amount of the evil 1 

 Would not any quantity of seed, in such condil 

 tion, be a dear gift to the country, since some of 

 It wuuld of course be sowed by careless formers 

 and since the spread of noxious weeds when once 

 rooted, though it may be gradual, is inevitable. 



A word of exhortation, and I have done. If we 

 would raise good crops, let us seek seed of the 

 best quahty. If we would have clean fields let 

 us use only clean seed. If we would enjoy 'the 

 pleasures as well as the profits of farming, let us 

 labor to keep our farms in good condition, while 

 we labor with equal diligence to keep a "conscience 

 void of offence toward God, and toward man." 



L. Matthews. 

 Cornwall, Vt., March 20, 1853. 



^ Remarks.— We improve the earliest moment to 

 give place to these timely and valuable suggestions. 

 Endless troubles, labors and losses, grow out of 

 the practice of sowing mixed seeds. It is hoped 

 these hints will lead to a careful examination of 

 seeds before they are committed to the soil, as 

 well as a stricter regard to their purity by those 

 who import and sell them. 



ADDRESS BY WM. S. KING, ESQ. 



We have read with interest, the Address by Mr. 

 King, editor of the Journal of Agriculture, before 

 the New Hampshire Agricultural Society, at Mer- 

 edith Bridge, on the 7th October last, at its third 

 annual exhibition. We give below an extract, 

 all we have room for at present. The address is 

 written with spirit, and exposes the inconsistencies 

 of those who mock at "book farming," or in oth- 

 er words, intelligent labor. 



It was our fortune to have there, (at the World's 

 Fair) among others, one man, who deserves hon- 

 orable mention at this farmer's festival, — the com- 

 missioner from the State of New York, B. P. John- 

 son ; then, as now, Secretary of the New York 

 State Agricultural Society. For many dreary 

 weeks, he stood almost alone ; sad and desolate, 

 amid the neglected contributions of his country. 

 Who chanced to visit us, came to sneer. "These 

 Yankee plows," said an unusually unprejudiced 

 visitor, one day, "may do well enough among 

 the rocks and stumps of America ; but they are 

 not comparable, for general work, to our English 



