238 



THE GENESEE FARilER. 



sonri, last year sent John Johnston, of Geneva, 

 N. Y., some of this wheat, Mr. J. states, in the 

 Country Gentleman, that it came into ear a week 

 earlier than the Mediterranean, but ripened about 

 the same time. He had 32 acres of Mediterranean 

 cut on the 12th of July. He has seldom known 

 wheat to rii)en so slowly as this year — more like it 

 does in Great Britain. "When it came into ear he 

 expected harvest ten days earlier. 



The attention of farmers is now fully aroused to 

 tlic importance of getting early varieties of wheat, 

 and many will undoubtedly send soutli for seed. 

 It is important that they should get the best and 

 earliest kinds grown in the south. Feank G. Euf- 

 FiN, Esq., of Richmond, Va., has kindly undertaken 

 to send us a description of some of the best varie- 

 ties grown in tliat section, but we fear it will be 

 too late for insertion in this number. We hope to 

 give the article, with engravings of the varieties, 

 next month. 



PASTURING HOESES. 



SMUT-PICKLING SEED WHEAT. 



Smut in wheat is caused by a parasitic fungus, 

 which breaks out on the ear and decomposes the 

 starch and gluten of the grain, and fills it with 

 a fa'tid black powder. Smut is usually caused by 

 sowing seed to which, though invisible, the spores 

 of the fungus are attached, and the remedy for the 

 evil consists in destroying these spores before sow- 

 ing the seed wheat. Moistening the grain with cham- 

 ber lye and then drying it with quick lime, is per- 

 haps the oldest and !;iost popular English remedy. 

 Salt and water instead of lye is also used, drying 

 the wheat with lime as in the former case. But 

 the best remedy yet discovered is to wash the seed 

 wheat with a solution of blue vitriol {suljihate of 

 copper). For each bushel of seed, dissolve about 

 three ounces of blue vitriol in one quart of hot 

 water. Let it cool before using. Spread tlie wheat 

 out on a floor, about six inches thick, and sprinkle 

 the solution equally over it, and then mix thor- 

 oughly with shovels until the wheat has acquired a 

 uniform degree of dampness. It will be ready for 

 sowing in two or three honrs, but it is better to 

 perform the operation a day or two before sowing. 

 When treated in this way, lime should not be use'l, 

 as it decomposes the vitriol and dues harm rather 

 than good. 



AuTUTiiN-PLANTBD Onions. — Ouions for seed 

 should be planted in October; and, like their more 

 brilliant, but lo^S3 perfumed, friends of the tulip and 

 hyacinth connections, tliey will thoroughly root 

 themselves during the autumn and mild winter 

 weatlier, and be ready for early work tlie moment 

 the frost rises from the ground. — Zf. W. Beecher. 



Few of the writers who have discoursed upon 

 the management of horses, have said anything 

 about the summer grazing of these animals. Nor, 

 in fact, is it a subject upon which much of import- 

 ance can be said. Yet there are some points 

 connected with it, well worthy of consjideration, 

 YoTJATT says : " The spring grass is the best physic 

 that can be given to a horse. To a degree which 

 no artificial aperient or diuretic can reach, it carries 

 off every humor that may be lurking about the 

 animal. It fines down the roundness of the legs, 

 and, except there is some bony enlargement, re- 

 stores them to their original form and strength. 

 There is nothing so refreshing to their feet as the 

 damp coolness of the grass into which they arc 

 turned, and nothing is so calculated to remove 

 every enlargement or sprain, as the gentle exercise 

 which the animal voluntarily takes while his legs 

 are exposed to the cooling process of evaporation 

 that is taking place from the herbage on which he 

 treads. The experience of ages has shown that it 

 is superior to all the embrocations and bandages 

 of the most skilful veterinarians. It is the reno- 

 vating process of nature where the art of man 

 tails." 



From this, it will be seen that the benefits to be 

 derived from pasturing horses are considerable. 



A recent writer in the '■'■Marh Lane Exjjress'''' 

 says: "The condition in which working horses arc 

 usually kept the latter part of wmter, is perhaps 

 no bad preparation for summer grazing. It is, 

 however, desirable that the little remaining flesh- 

 these animals carry should be still further reduced, 

 so that the change of flesh they obtain may be, a*; 

 far as possible, a renewal, and with it a renovation, 

 of the vital power or constitution of the horse." 



It is a matter of some importance what kind of 

 grass horses are graze,d upon. Many graziers think 

 it undesirable to turn horses into clover when it is 

 rank, and near or in blossom, believing it renders 

 them liable to lay on flesh too fast, and become " pot- 

 bellied," as it is called ; and that if they are driven 

 or ridden during the day, it makes thera perspire 

 heavily, and more apt to become broken winded, 

 or roarers. White clover, particularly, is not good 

 for grazing horses upon. It has a tendency to 

 cause the excessive salivation commonly known as 

 "slobbering," which weakens the animal, and 

 brings him down in condition, even though he 

 should be unemployed. This is most particularly 

 the case in the latter part of the summer and au- 

 tumn, when the white clover is putting out ita 

 second blossoms ; young red clover is also liable t« 



