THE GENESEE FAKMER. 



86T 



barn-grass is of a yellowish-green color. The vari- 

 ety Mr. Davis describes as " having a long, tiat, 

 branching head," I suspect Major Dickinson had 

 never seen, when he "pronounced Hungarian grass 

 the millet and barn-yard grass of forty and seventy- 

 five years ago." This open-panicled variety much 

 resembles tlie head of broom corn. Up to the time 

 of its heading out, it so closely resembles tickle- 

 top, grass, that they can scarcely be discriminated. 

 Eitlier variety, under favorable conditions, will 

 yield large crops of forage. Ot their quality, as 

 ■cattle fodder, I have not yet had experience suffi- 

 ■cient to justify me in expressing an opinion. Mr. 

 Davis says: " We get but one stem and one head 

 from each millet seed ; while from the Hungarian 

 grass we get from one to ten." I have just 

 counted the heads produced from a single seed 

 of the purple-topped Hungarian grass, and find 

 there are sixteen heads. The open-topped also 

 branches, and produces a large number of heads 

 from a single seed. Whether the yellow millet 

 produces more than one head to each seed, I am 

 unable to say ; for it is some ten years since I 

 raised it. C. L. Flint, in his valuable work on 

 Grasses, gives a i^late, drawn from the purple- 

 topped variety, as the Hungarian grass. So also 

 ■does Mr. Klippakt, in his Report of Ag. Ohio, 

 1857. Will Mr. Davis tell us if the open-panicled 

 variety is what he considers the true Hungarian 

 grass ? 



" Painting Houses.'''' — Rural Register^ Baltimore, 

 says : " A white house with green blinds offends 

 the very first principles of good taste." li so, the 

 people in tliis region have a very vitiated taste in 

 these matters. But has one man a better right to 

 say what is in good taste, than another in this 

 matter of the color of a house ? 



Tlie first article in the November number on the 

 *' Wlieat Plant,'''' followed by a review of Mr. 

 Klippaet's, book on the Wheat Plant. As I have 

 not yet seen the work, it becomes me not to ex- 

 press any opinion upon its merits, pro or con. 



" Boys, Study Ag. Chemistry.'''' — Yes, boys, be 

 sure to study that branch of the science, if by so 

 doing you have to neglect some other of the usual 

 branches of instruction. 



" Cutting Ray for StocTc.'''' — Farmers difter wide- 

 ly in their views and practices in this matter. 

 Much can be said upon both sides of the question ; 

 but havn't room here to discuss the matter. 



The Editorial on geese and their management, in 

 connection with the life-like engravings of the sev- 

 eral varieties, is a valuable paper for those who 

 wish to breed the difterent kinds of water-fowls. 



" Molding Machi7ies.''^ — It seems Mr. Bundy re- 

 tires from the discussion on "Patent Right Ma- 

 chinery." He has been engaged in this "pen and 

 ink" discussion about two years. But I am quite 

 unable to decide who comes off second best in the 

 controversy. Presume Mr. B. will occasionally 

 favor the readers of the Genesee Farmer with his 

 views upon other subjects connected with the great 

 interests of agriculture. 



" BucMhorn Hedge.'''' — ^' Enquirer" should sort 

 his pknt'j, set the largest in the poorest portion of 

 the soil. After they are set out. cut them within 

 four or six inches of the ground. Cut back again 

 once or twice a year, so as to get a thick bottom to 

 Start with. Save some of the sets in a nursery, to 



fill up vacancies, if any should occur — though if 

 they are carefully transplanted, there will scarcely 

 one in a hundred fail. I once set out a liedge of 

 buckthorn, two-year-old plants, of over thirty rod? 

 in length, and did not lose a single plant. The 

 ground on each side the hedge shoidd be kept free 

 of weeds, grass, &c. This can be dune by cultiva- 

 tion, or by mulching with straw, refuse hay, or 

 similar materials. But mind, don't be in too great 

 a hurry to get a high fence ; if you are, it will be 

 too open at the bottom. The form of the hedge 

 should be like the roof of a house. The buck thorn, 

 when properly cultivated and trimmed, makes a 

 close, beautiful hedge, and is not subject to any 

 disease, nor the depredations of insects, nor liable to 

 winter kill. i- b. 



Warner, N. ZT., November, 1859. 



WHEEL vs. SWING-PLOWS. 



The writer of the article "Agriculture," in the 

 last edition of the Encyclopedia Brittannica, consid- 

 ers wheel-plows much superior to swing-plows. 

 He says : 



"Ever since the introduction of Small's im- 

 proved swing-plow, the universal belief in Scotland, 

 and to a considerable extent in England, has been, 

 that this is the best form of the imiilement. Wheel- 

 plows have accordingly been spoken of by Scottish 

 agriculturists in the most depreciatory terms, and 

 yet it turns out that this has been nothing better 

 than an unfounded prejudice. For when subjected 

 to careful comparative trial, as has been frequently 

 done of late, the balance of excellence is undoubt- 

 edly in favor of the ])low Avith wheels. Its advan- 

 tages are, that it is easier of draught — that the quality 

 of its work is better and greatly more uniform than 

 can be produced by a swing-plow — that in land 

 rendered hard by drought, or other causes, it will 

 enter and turn over even furrows when its rival 

 either can not work at all, or at best with great 

 irregularity and severe exertion to the plowman. 

 This last quality has indeed been urged as an objec- 

 tion to wheel-plows, as their tendency is to produce 

 a class of inferior workmen. Those who know the 

 difiiculty of getting a field plowed uniformly, and 

 especially of getting the depth of furrow specified 

 by the master adhered to over a field, and by all 

 the plowmen, can best appreciate the value of an 

 implement, that when once properly adjusted, will 

 cut every farrow of an equal width and breadth, 

 and lay them all over at exactly the same angle. 

 In every other art the effects of improved machin- 

 ery is to supersede manual dexterity; and it does 

 seem absurd to count that an objection in agricul- 

 ture which is an advantage in everything else. 

 There is more force in the objection that wheel- 

 plows are inferior to swing ones in plowing cloddy 

 ground, or in crossing steep ridges. This objection 

 vanishes when it is known that in the most im- 

 proved wheel-plows, the wheels can be laid aside 

 at pleasure, and that they can then be used in all 

 respects as swing-plows." 



Lime as Manuee. — A correspondent at Pughtown, 

 Chester Co., Pa., writes that be finds lime the cheap 

 est manure he can purchase. He pays ten cents a 

 bushel for it, and draws it thirteen miles. 



