THE GENESEE FARMER. 



241 



Changing Seed. — A writer in the ITew England 

 Farmer says his potato crop has increased from 

 fifty to one hundred per cent., by procuring seed 

 potatoes which grew on an entirely different soil, 

 fifteen or twenty miles apart from his. This plan 

 of changing seed every year is a good one, either 

 for potatoes or any other seed, such as grain and 

 garden seeds ; and even if the change is made only 

 between cultivators in the same vicinity, it is stUl 

 beneficial. 



Floweeixg of Potatoes. — Mr. Makbt, of Eng- 

 land, in his prize essay on the cultivation of early 

 potatoes, says that a flower to an early potato is 

 considered as a sign of deterioration — the first 

 symptoms of growing out — it being considered that 

 the plant should be thrown into perfecting the 

 tuber and not the seed. He would therefore erad- 

 icate the flowers as soon as they appear, and save 

 tubers for seed from such plants as have shown no 

 indication of flowering. Experiments prove that 

 potato plants showing a tendency to flower, perfect 

 their tubers less early than those which do not 

 show that tendency. 



High Prizes for Stock and Grain. — In the 

 Valley Farmer is a list of the prizes to be given 

 at the Fair to be lield at St. Louis, Mo., from Sep- 

 tember 26th to October 1st, Among the prizes 

 are: $1,000 for the best thorough-bred bull of any 

 kind; $1,000 for the best roadster stallion in har- 

 ness; $1,000 for the best thorough-bred stallion; 

 $300 for the best steam plow; and four prizes of 

 $125 each, and two of $100 each, for the largest 

 and best crop of Wheat of named varieties. 



Dog Trats. — The Southern Planter says: "Make 

 a pen of fence rails round a sheep that has been 

 killed by dogs, beginning with four, so as to have it 

 squai'e, and as you build it, draw in each rail as 

 you would the sticks of a partridge trap, until your 

 pen is of sufiicient height — say five feet. In this 

 way a pen may be constructed that will permit a 

 dog to enter at the top, but out of which he will 

 find it difficult to escape, should he have the agility 

 of an antelope. Leave the dead sheep, or a por- 

 tion of it, in the trap, removing all others from the 

 field, and you will be pretty sure to catch the ma- 

 rauder the next night or the night after." 



"Wheat Gambling. — The MilwauJcee Sentinel 

 says that some idea may be formed of the extent 

 to which gambling in wheat is carried on, when it 

 is known that for some weeks past the reported 

 sales of wheat have ranged from 40,000 to 80,000 

 buehels per day, while the actual receipts seldom 

 exceed 15,000 busliels. Some ef the largest opera- 

 tors never in reality own a bushel of wheat. 



Bees in Oalifoenia. — The California Farmer 

 says there is something peculiarly strange in the 

 habits of the honey bee in California. After a 

 hive has sent out one, two, or three swarms, the 

 bees of the first swarm send out other swarms 

 again ; thus giving, in a single season, grand- 

 swarms. One party who commenced the present 

 year (1859) with seventeen swarms, has now sev- 

 enty-eight. Another, who commenced with twen- 

 ty-one, now has one hundred and seventeen. — 

 These facts are worthy of note by naturalists. 



Japan Wheat. — The Rural Fegister^ a new and 

 valuable agricultural journal, recently started at 

 Baltimore, gives an account of this wheat. The 

 seed was obtained from the Patent OflBce, and sown 

 in Baltimore county, Md., on the 16th of Septem- 

 ber last. Many of the roots had fifty heads spring- 

 ing from them, each containing about sixty grains. 

 It headed out on the 30th of April, and was cut 

 on the 21st of June, though it was fit to cut a 

 week earlier. Some of it was sown on the 21,«t 

 of March, in order to attest its adaptation for 

 spring sowing, and was in bloom on the 27th of 

 June. 



Hill Wheat. — In the Germantown Telegraph is 

 an account of a seed wheat recently raised in Hun- 

 termaa-k. Pa., called hill wheat. It was grown and 

 cultivated in hills like corn, and required only 3 

 to 5 lbs. of seed to plant an acre. It is not yet 

 ripe, so the yield per acre is not given. It is 

 claimed for it, that by this system of culture^ 

 wheat will come to be accounted as a cleaning 

 crop. This wheat is said not to be liable to injury 

 from rust, smut, worms, or lodging after heavy 

 rains ; the heads are large, and the grain more per- 

 fect, than in any other kind. 



Guano Islands. — The Pacific Commercial Ad- 

 vertiser (Honolulu) of May 12, 1859, which has 

 just come to hand, remarks on an article that ap- 

 peared in the N'ew York Tribune last March, on 

 the subject of the Guano Islands in the Pacific: 

 " Arthur's, Favorite, and Farmers' islands do not 

 exist. Walker's, Sarah Ann, Samarang, and Da- 

 vid's islands are of doubtful existence, although 

 laid down upon the charts. Flint's, Olai'ence, 

 Duke of York, Rierson's, and Humphrey's islands, 

 are all inhabited, and possession of them can not 

 very well be taken by foreigners. Sydney island is 

 covered with trees. Christmas and Caroline islands 

 are partly covered with cocoa nuts, and are known 

 not to possess guano. There may be guano on 

 many of the other islands claimed, but the best 

 deposits will probably be found to exist on small 

 rocky islands, as yet perhaps undiscovered." 



