fe=t;?- 



186 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Aug. 



I 



out of a common seed shuttle." The period—" in the eve- 

 nin"." The effect — " in- the morning each throw mny be 

 distmguished by the quantity of slime and number of dead 

 sUigs Tying on the ground. In some fields it has certainly 

 been the means of prevetiting the destruction of the whole 

 crnp." In Oxfordshire again, " six bushels of salt per acre 

 were applied by hand, in April, to a field of oats attacked by 

 the slugs and worms, on the farm of Mr. John Slatter, of 

 Draycote, near Oxford. The crop was completely saved by 

 this application, altbough an adjoining field, not salted, was 

 completely destroyed by this sort of vermin." It is uscer- 

 t.-iined that the salt readily penetrates sufficiently into the 

 poll to destroy many of llie insects in their cells. "Com- 

 mon salt," Professor Way observed some time since, " may 

 be advantageously employed as a manure directly to the 

 snil or it may be mixed with the dung heap. In the latter 

 application of it, it must be borne in mind that, in lar^e 

 quantities, it is capable o'f suspending fermentation alto»etn- 

 cr. so that if the farmer wants his dung to heat well, he 

 must be careful in the use of salt , but. in small cpianlity, 

 dining the ferninntation, or in full supply to the manure a 

 short time before its application to the land, salt is likely to 

 be of great service. Not only does it render the nmmoniacal 

 compounds leas volatile, but it is capable of destroying the 

 germs of both vcgctal)le and animal life, for there is little 

 doubt that we too often introduce into the soil, with the 

 manure, tlie weeds wliich choke and the insects which 

 devour our crops. Salt will prevent all seeds from germi- 

 nating when they are sufficiently saturated with a solution 

 of it. No fear, liowever, need be critertaineil of its effect 

 when the manure has been properly mixed with the soil ; it 

 la then too diluted to interfere with the germination of the 

 turnep seed." 



I am satisfied of the benefit of salt, and strongly 

 recommend it to destroy in.sects ; and I also believe in 

 its fertilizing qualities. On fallow it should he used. 

 I intend to try a single acre with tliree barrels. If I 

 am spared, I intend, in a future number, to orive some 

 farther views on the efficacy of salt. The busy sea- 

 son coming on, at present forbids it. John Park. — 

 Gates, 1th mo., 1 850. 



Having observed in the Rochester American, last 

 year, a statement, by John Park of Gates, of the 

 favorable result of using salt on his land for wheat, 

 and being favorably impressed by the beautiful bright- 

 ness of the straw as well as the plumpness of the 

 grain raised by him, I was imluced to apply salt to a 

 part of a field, on which I intended to sow wheat. 

 The result is, you can discern to a shade where it 

 was applied, by the superior brightness of the strav\-, 

 as well as the larger sized heads, over the part of the 

 field not salted. J. CHAPfEi.L. — jVew York Milh, 

 Rochester, July 18, 1850. 



S. W.'S NOTES FOR THE MONTH, 



i'Ai.NKs Htdro-Electuic LiciHT. — Throw a pail of 

 water on the glowing coals discharged from a cupola 

 furnace, and a dull green ikme will flash up from 

 the decom])Osed water. 1 trust Pai.nk can do no 

 more than this towards illuminating the world with 

 the elements of water alone. Prom his own tardy 

 admission, it now appears that his bright light was 

 only made by the aid of carbonaceous matter in the 

 form a{ spirits of turpentine. All those who believe 

 in God's provident wisdom, may now return to, if 

 they have been jostled from, their faith, and bclicye 

 that he has not placed so much carbonaceous matter 

 in this world of ours, to remain unused, — fossil coal 

 is still to be made a necessary article of fuel — the 

 great cetaceous leviathan is still to give employment 

 to our whaling fleets — the southron is to c(uitinuo 

 to convert his long leaved pine into spirits of turpen- 

 tine — and the maker of alcohol may yet ab.straet 

 from beverage, for the benefit of flame and Doctor 



Townsend's Sarsaparilla, as much com whiskey as 

 he pleases. • 



The Weather and the Crops. — Never, perhaps, 

 in our rural annals, did vegetation ever progress 

 faster than it has in Seneca county, since the 3d of 

 June last. It would seem that heat and moisture 

 has done the utmost to produce the greatest vegeta- 

 ble growth in a given time. It is now the 16th of 

 July. A heavy crop of clover has already been se- 

 cured. Our farmers are now cutting wheat ; and all 

 agree that this cereal will be an average crop in spite 

 of the \\'orm ; Mediteranean wlieat has invariably 

 escaped the insect, and much of the early sowed bald, 

 on warm and well tilled land, has got ahead of the 

 fiy, although much wheat in low places has beeu in- 

 jured by it, and in some cases entirely de.^troyed. 

 Indian corn, tliat great, unfailing indigene of our 

 country, was hardly out of the ground on the 3d of 

 June ; now it is forming its green ears, in the full 

 promise of early, luxuriant maturity. 



Tile and Pipe Under-draining. — The advantage 

 of under-draining, in enabling the wheat plant to out- 

 strip its enemie.s, was never more apparent than it is 

 this season ; as every crop about to be taken from 

 well drained fields, will sufTer little diminution from 

 either winter-killing or the C. tritici; while the weak 

 rooted plants of wet places, give a stinted yield that 

 will hardly remunerate the farmer for the seed and 

 culture. B. F. VVhartenbt makes, at Waterloo, 

 about 40,000,000 tile and pipes monthly, with the 

 machine imported by President Delafield. For 

 the benefit of distant farmers, I will here say, that 

 machines from the same pattern, with improvements, 

 are about to be made here at Purdik's foundry. 



The great increase of our Agricultural Ex- 

 ports. — The export of our cotton has about doubled 

 in the la.st eight years. In 1842 the total export of 

 Indian corn from the United States to Great Britain, 

 amounted only to l'J3,665 bushels ; whereas, our ex- 

 port of the same article last year, to that kingdom 

 alone, amounted to above twelve millions of busliels. 

 Our export of provisions, including ham,=, lard, cheese, 

 butter, fee., has increased in a much greater ratio. 

 In 1842 our export of hams to England was only 

 160,274 lbs.; in 1849 the export of that article to 

 Great Britain alone, was rising of fifty-three millions 

 of pounds. British agriculture has been so long 

 pampered and enervated by corn laws and protective 

 duties, that the present competition from without 

 cau.-ies loud complaint from both landlord and tenant. 

 John Bull can beat Brother Jonathan at grumbling. 

 Jonathan, instead of employing his time entirely in 

 such an expedient fur his bad luck, goes to work 

 manfully with renewed energy, employs labor-saving 

 tools and machinery, instead of supernumerary hands, 

 sells off u part of his stud, and reduces his farm ex- 

 penses. But John does nothing like this ; lie looks 

 to a new ministry, and with it a return of that bounty 

 on his products, or rather a tax on his neighbors, 

 which he considers as his indefeasible right. 



How TO CURE SICK Peach Trees. — Dig away the 

 soil from the tree, remove all excresences, dead bark, 

 Jic, near the root, and destroy the worms ; then fill 

 the trench around the tree with water well saturated 

 w ith hen dung or other nitrogenous manure : the 

 liquid should be as warm as the atmosphere. T\V() 

 or three applicjitions of this kind in a week, will 

 bring a healthy appearance to the foliage, almost 

 immediately. fVaterloe, A*. 1'., July, 1850. 



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