1850. 



Tliti GENESEE FARMER. 



THE WEED. 



Messrs. Editors : — In the April number of the 

 Farmer, p. 86, is an article on "A troublesome 

 Weed." As I have had some dealings with it, I can 

 say it is rightly named ; and that many, if not all 

 my neighbors, are dreaming that they are secure ; 

 but they must soon learn that the enemy has been at 

 work while they slept. 



In 1847, my father bought Seneca clover seed of 

 Mr. Sawver, Rochester. It was bought for the 

 large kind, but proved to be the small; and still 

 worse, in the summer of 1848 we were surprized to 

 find any quantity of rank May-weed scattered over 

 the lot, containing seuentcen acres. Being ignorant 

 of the nature of the pest, and an avowed enemy to 

 U'hds, we commenced a war of extermination, by 

 pulling them up, (there was no trouble in finding 

 them, being in full bloom,) but neglected to carry 

 thorn oft" the field. After mowing, the field was 

 plowed and wheat sown. Early last spring they 

 appeared in full vigor. No pains were spared to 

 destroy all that could be found through the season, 

 though parts of the field were literally covered. I 

 had hopes of seeing them no more, as I had spent 

 over thirty days of faithful labor with them ; but this 

 spring they hnve re-appeared in full uniform, and a 

 hardier set of plants I never saw. I think tliey 

 belong to the order Pyrelhrum, inodorum — scentless 

 May-weed, feverfew. I know of no way of extermi- 

 nating them but by summer cropping and weeding, 

 though this is slow and expensive. I have saved a 

 few of the seeds of last summer's crop, which I will 

 leave at your office, for inspection, should any one 

 wish to see them there before knowing what they 

 are by experience. Yours, Stc., Chas. McVean. — 

 Wheatland, Jipril, 1850. 



'■SMUT BtTGS." 



Our correspondents have spoken pretty freely of the 

 theory advanced by J. H. H., and we regret the 

 necessity which requires us to notice and dissent 

 from the views of our esteemed correspondent, in 

 reference to the common malady called "smut" in 

 wheat being caused by an insect. We concede that 

 all his statements of what he has seen are true. It 

 is only against the inferences drawn from well known 

 facts, that we speak or write. We have seen the 

 weevil which he alleges causes seeds of wheat to 

 blight and become "smut," both in its larva and per- 

 fect state. That its young can feed and wax fat on 

 the sporules of the uiedo seg;etvvi and those of the 

 ■uredo fetida, are facts which we have had occasion 

 to study, and which were first pointed out to us by 

 Gen. Harmon, who took the same view of this mat- 

 ter that our friend J. H. H. does. 



The instances are^umerous where insects produce 

 remarkable changes in the growth and appearance 

 of plants: but "smut" is so well known to be a 

 parasitic fungus, which will grow as well without a 

 "bug" as peas and wheat, that it is as philosophical 

 to say that a skipper in a cheese made the cheese, as 

 to say the egg or maggot of a weevil or "beetle" 

 produces the food on which it subsists. Man feeds 

 on mushrooms, and many insects devour parasitic 

 plants, without being suspected of producing them. 

 By planting seeds of wheat covered with the sporules 

 or germs of smut, the next crop of wheat will be 

 similarly affected, whether it be attacked by flies, or 

 v.cevils, or not. No wheat should be sown without 



washing it thoroughly in strong brine, and then dry- 

 ing it in caustic lime. And it may be possible to 

 kill the larva; of the pea bug, and not destroy the 

 germinating power of the seed. We wish that some 

 reader who has peas with insects in them, would try 

 his skill in killing the animal and not the vegetable, 

 and report to the Farmer the result. 



We have copied into the Agricultural Report for 

 the Patent Office, from the last Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England, received in March, 

 an admirable lecture on the "Parasitic Fungi of the 

 British Farm," with numerous illustrations. We 

 shall be careful to send a copy of this to our friends J. 

 H. H. and Gen. Harmon. Recent improvements in 

 microscopes have literally thrown much new light on 

 both vegetable and animal organisms too small to be 

 studied with success by old instruments. A single 

 smut ball, which is smaller than a perfect wheat 

 kernel, contains some four millions of sporules, each 

 one of which will doubtless grow and produce other 

 millions, under favorable circumstances. 



— }i 



THE OOW FOTJHD. 



Messrs. Editors : — In the Farmer for March, I saw 

 an article respecting the famous milch cow of Mr. 

 John Joh>son, giving forty-five quarts per day, 

 which turned out te be about twenty-four, according 

 to Mr. Wright, who went and saw the famous ten 

 quart pail ; and he now offers to give $600 for any 

 cow that will give forty quarts per day. Now, 

 Messrs. Editors, please inform Mr. Wrioht that I 

 want his money. I have a cow that will fill any two 

 ten quart pails that he can find in Seneca, or any 

 other county, at one milking, when she is milked 

 regular : and no gammon or fish story about it. If 

 he doubts it, he will please travel a little further 

 southeast in this same Seneca county, "in the leafy 

 month of June," 1850, and see with his own eyes a 

 cow eight or nine years old, of good size, with the 

 largest, finest, and squarest udder he ever saw in all 

 his travels, "east and west." She has just dropped 

 a calf. She gave .twelve quarts this morning ; calf 

 three days old running with her. 



Now, Messrs. Rlitors, without any puffing, this 

 cow stands on her own merits ; and I should like i.'' 

 have your practical Mr. Wright come and see her 

 for himself. I weighed one mess of her milk, not 

 the largest, which iveighed 32^ pounds. Wm. H. 

 Smith.— CoDeri, Sen. Co., A*. Y., March 18, 1850. 



Wronb application of Makure. — Eds. Genesee 

 Farmer: — Many valuable essays have been pub- 

 lished, relative to the best mode of apjdying manures ; 

 yet, instances are numerous where farmers and others, 

 instead of placing them in a situation to bo received 

 by living vegetables, apply them in abundance to sea- 

 soned timber, and to their own organs of respiration. 

 For instance : they pile heaps six feet high against 

 their barns, perhaps under their stable windows ; and 

 the right proportion of moisture being present, when 

 the weather becomes sufficiently warm, a decomposi- 

 tion takes place, and two-thirds of all that is valuable 

 escapes in gas, to poison themselves and neighbors, 

 and annoy all who may pass to the leeward of the 

 pile. A few moments labor in turning over the stack, 

 would prevent this active fermentation, save their 

 buildings, retain their manure, and preserve the health 

 of their own and their neighbors' families. M. 

 Hutchinson. — King's Ferry, JV. Y,, 1850. 



