1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



63 



hatched out, 1 observed immense numbers of the '* smut 

 bug" {as I shall herenfier call them) almost literally covering 

 tht- floor ;ind timber of the barn where my wheat was housed. 

 There must have been millions of them. No doubt they had 

 been lir( tl in the smut ears carried in with, the wheat, 

 \V ithin llnee or four weeks they all disappeared. TJiose 

 whi<'h I saw in the fields were extremely shy, and upon the 

 sMghicsl touch of the ear fell to the ground, where they laid 

 I'Crfertiy still and inanimiiie, Jeigiiijis, as it would seem, to 

 Le o'tad. Being so small, and in color approaching to liiat 

 of llie soil, (a gravelly clay,) it was very dilHcult to lind 

 them. ;\ Iter remaining quiet, however, for a few uiinulc.';, 

 tliey ran up the stem of the smut wheat and resumed their 

 feeding on tlie smut. l"hey were quite active in miming ; 

 hut \\hcthcr Ihcy ever did. or could _/?</, or not, 1 could not 

 ascertain. Their habits appear to be similar to those of the 

 pen bug ; r:nd on a close examination, I have found several 

 smut heads, in which all the grains had evidently been per- 

 forated near the lower part in the same manner that jiea 

 pods jire found to have been perforated by the pea Itugs. 

 'I'he punctures were so minute as to be scarcely perccpliltle 

 to the naked eye ; but J do not doubt that with a good glass 

 all the tmut grains would have been found to have been 

 perforated in the some manner. 



Upon much reflection 1 have come to the conclusion, that 

 smut wheat is tlie natural food of the bugs I have described. 

 There may be, and very probably are, other vegetable 

 snlisiances upon which tiiey sometimes subsist when their 

 natural aliment is not to be obtained. But as conjectures 

 without facts upon which to found them are oftentimes 

 worse thiin useless. 1 shall refrain from suggesting any at 

 present, although (if convenient) I may hazard some in a 

 future number. 



'J'hat the smut is not produced by a disease iu the plant, is, 

 I think, conclusively proved by the facts I have stated. But 

 if additiouai proofs were wanting, I have them, sufficiently 

 strong as I should imagine to convince the most sceptical, in 

 sonie-circunistances winch took place on my farm during 

 tlic past }car. I had, the previous year, taken much pains 

 to procure seed wheat, to sow in one of my fields, which 

 was perfectly free from smut. The land had been in clover 

 about three years. It was plowed three times, and was in 

 excellent order. The wheat was sown in good season, and 

 in the liili looked very well. It continued to grow iinely 

 until it cared out, when I discovered it to be more smutty 

 than any other which I had on my farm, although there were 

 two lields which had borne a smutty crop the previous year, 

 that had been again sown. 1 was at a loss liow to account 

 fur this, until 1 recollected that the clean iield which I had 

 sown v\ilh clean wheat, had been well manured a few weeks 

 before the wheat was sown. The manure was taken from 

 the barn yord where all the straw and chaff of the smutty 

 crop of the previous year liad been thrown when it was 

 threshed out. The smut grains of the former crop were 

 undoubtedly carried into the field with the manure. In 

 these smut grains, I presume, the maggots of the smut bug 

 existed in great numbers, and thence cfime the ijisects, which 

 smutted the wheat to so great a degree as to amount, prob- 

 ably, loone-tenthpartof the whole crop in the field J. H. H. 

 (To be continued,) 



SALT AS A MANtTBE. 



Messrs. Eoitors : — In my Farmer for January I find 

 that our Irienil Park has given his experience in the 

 nppliration of salt as a manure. I confess I can not 

 see any substantial proof of its efficacy as a manure, 

 from his e.xperiments. His first is on a seven acre 

 lot which Iiad had no manure for four years, and then 

 only a small quantity. Now, mark — 



At the commencement of his experiment he puts 

 on a small quantity of manure. In September, 1847, 

 he plowed it up ; in May, 1848, he plowed it again 

 and sott'oJ on it seven barrels of salt ; about two 

 weeks after he dragged it both v\'ays, and in the fore 

 part of July plowed it again and kept the drag at 

 work ; about the middle of August plowed it the 

 fourth and last time, and on the first and second of 

 September sowed it with wheat at the rate of two 

 bushels per acre. Now then, from friend Park's 

 care in fitting his land and putting in his seed, I 



think he could reasonably expect forty bushels per 

 acre in a good year without an ounce of salt being 

 put on his land. I believe his county is as good for 

 w heat as Ontario ; and I have seen in the town of 

 East Bloomfield, Ontario county, thirty acres of com- 

 mon land, which had been cropped with wheat every 

 other year for some tiiue — not a particle of manure — 

 plowed in May or fore part of June, cultivated in 

 July, and again just before sowing, which was about 

 the first of September. The next spring, or fore 

 part of summer, it was injured by the worm to such 

 a degree that the proprietor told me he would bo 

 willing to take thirty bushels for the whole crop ; but 

 afterwards it began to recruit. On harvesting and 

 threshing, it averaged him thirty bushels jx^r acre, 

 thus showing to my mind that friend Park might 

 possibly have had just as good a crop without the salt. 



In his second experiment the evidence is more 

 conclusive, but not indisputable to my mind ; for his 

 success might have arisen from other cau.-es : First, 

 had it been a very dry season, the swampy acre might 

 have been sufficiently moist to keep the wheat grow- 

 ing, wliile the fallow would have been too dry ; or, 

 second, it might arise from the swamp muck not 

 being sufficiently decomposed or mixed to promote a 

 healthy growth before. 



Now, in all probability friend Park has other 

 evidence in his mind which satisfies him of its utility. 

 Will he not give us a little more light on this subject ? 



To convince myself, I have a small piece of land 

 which I shall try with salt next spring. Vours, fcc, 

 C. B. Jewbli-. — Groton, A". Y., Jan'y, 1850. 



CONTEKEENT PLAN FOR A FARM-HOUSE. 



A, Parlor, 18 by 18. B, Sitting Room, 18 by 16. C, Kitch- 

 en, 14 by 18. D, Bed Room, 14 by 10. E, Children's 

 Bed Room, or Library, 13 by 10. F, Wash House, 13 by 

 18. G, Wood House, 18 by 18. H, Hall, 10 ai. P, 

 Piazza. 



Messrs. Edptobs : — I enclose a plan of mine for a 

 farm-house, which you are at liberty to make use of. 

 It may not bo new to you, but I do not recollect seeinw 

 anything exactly like it, nor have I seen any that suits 

 my notion of a farm-house as well. I have not made 

 any plan of the outside nor any estimate of the 

 expense, as these would vary according to the loca- 

 tion and means of the builder. The main building is 

 28 by 34 in the clear, and the wing, without the 

 wood-house, 18 by 25. There is no room in t'ne house 

 but v^hat may be entered without going through 

 another, and but one room from which a pcr-son can 

 not look out on the highway. The second story can 

 be reached privately from the kitchen. The servaiits 

 rooms are convenient to the kitchen, and that for t^e 

 males can be entered from the wood-house. There 

 is a stairway under the kitchen stairs, leading fco the 

 cellar, and an outside entrance can he had where it is 

 desired, for the entrance of barrels or roots. The 

 sketch is merely made from the eye in somewhat of 

 a hurry, but will serve to give you an idea of what [ 

 mean. J. O. Schultz. — Sloatsbitrg, JV. Y. 



