246 



THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



NOTES FROM CANADA. 



The Weather and the Crops. — The summer, 

 so far, has been unusually cool and pleasaut. I 

 have not yet found it necessary to discard the suit 

 I wore every day during the past winter in Eoch- 

 ester. Midsummer day was qnite damp and chilly. 

 Northerly winds have prevailed to a greater extent 

 than usual at this time. No more rain has fallen 

 than was just needed, and much of it was accom- 

 panied by electrical discharges in the atmosphere. 

 The crops, wherever I have seen them, promise an 

 unprecedented good yield. The midge has appeared 

 in some localities and caused much damage, but 

 not over any great extent of country, and unless it 

 has been at work very unobservedly, has done little 

 damage generally. The winter wheat may be said 

 to be beyond danger; many fields I saw yesterday 

 being nearly ripe. Spring crops are in a very for- 

 ward state. ■ Hay cutting is now going forward, and 

 the grass is very heavy. Clover was much killed 

 last winter and is thin on the ground. At present 

 the weather is rather showery and uncertain, and 

 much hay is yet out. 



Indian Corn has been more extensively planted 

 than usual and promises well. Fruit of all kinds 

 abundant. Many who have cut down their peach 

 trees in despair of ever finding them productive 

 again, are now regretting their hastiness, as many 

 of those left are heavily loaded with fruit. 



Eoot crops have been largely planted, and if they 

 turn out only ordinarily good, I do not see where 

 the- stock is to come from to consume them. 



Canada Thistles. It is a noticeable fact, that 

 with the introduction and progress of railways, this 

 pest has become more numerous and troubles(uiie 

 than ever before known. Wherever the subsoil is 

 exposed to the air in making railway cuttings and 

 embankments, the Canada thistle is almost sure to 

 spring up spontaneously, and occupy the ground for 

 some years until the natural grass becomes thick 

 and strong enough to drive it out. As a conse- 

 quence, it soon spreads over the adjoining fields. 

 Along some portions of the line of the Grand Trunk 

 Eailway of Canada, it may be seen growing like a 

 forest, so close up to the rails as to impede the view 

 from the car windows. The only reliable way of 

 keeping it in check, is to cut il close to the ground 

 every two or three weeks during the first year of 

 its existence; this prevents its blossoming and 

 spreading at the roots, and if persevered in will 

 usually eradicate it the first season. The law autho- 

 izes the pathmasters to destroy all weeds and 

 noxious plants along highways, and this ought also 

 to be done on railways at the expense of the com- 

 pany; but, unfortunately, it is not |)ut in lyrce, and 

 thus a great evil is tolerated till it will become too 

 late to remedy it. 



Winter Barley. This crop is now being success- 

 fully grown in Canada. I saw a field of it near 

 Hamilton harvested and shocked on the 7th July, 

 A farmer, who has grown it both here and in 

 England, thinks it more certain and profitable than 

 spring barley. His plan is to plow a clean wheat 

 stubble, rather shallow, immediately after harvest; 

 harrow it, and let it remain till the weeds in the 

 soil have grown up; then manure it heavily, spread 

 the manure and plow it in about six or seven inches 

 deep during the middle of September, ridging it up 



into lands twelve to eighteen feet wide, and sow and 

 harrow in the seed during the first week of October, 

 not earlier; 2^ bushels of seed per acre is snflident. 

 He thinks when put in in this way, it is 1«3S liable to 

 suffer from winter-kill than full wheat, and it can 

 be harvested early enough the next season to put 

 in a crop of late turnijis on the stubble, thus obtain- 

 ing three crops in two years. 



Winter Wheat. It is now generally conceded 

 that the wheat most liable to winter- kill is that 

 which has been lightly covered in. Where a grain 

 drill is used, the wheat can resist tii^e effects of frost 

 during open winters, and is rarely killed out except 

 where the soil is badly drained, or retains moisture 

 on the surface. 



A farmer near Dundas has been experimenting 

 on wheat for twenty years in the following manner: 

 He prepares the laud as usual up to the time of 

 applying the maniu'e; the manure is spread on the 

 surface early in September, the wheat sown on the 

 manure immediately and both harrowed. This 

 done, he plows under the wheat and manure togeth- 

 er and leaves the land rough without harrowing. 

 He says the wheat so put in has invariably yielded 

 one tiiird more crop than that he puts In, in the 

 ordinary manner the same year, and that although 

 it takes a longer time to make its appearance, it is 

 never winter-killed, nor is it later in ripening. He 

 says the practice of plowing in wheat is very 

 general in that part of England from whence he 

 came. 



How TO Foretell the Sex of the Young of 

 Neat Cattle. An old farmer and noted breeder 

 of stock, gives it as the result of the observation of 

 his lifetime, that a cow put to the bull soon after 

 she is milked, will almost invariably produce a male 

 calf, but if she is not milked lor twenty four hours 

 previously, she will, in nine cases out of ten, pro- 

 duce a female calf. If this rule should prove good, 

 it may be uselul. This is an old idea, but we 

 believe there is no truth in it. [Eds. 



Covering Turnips in Winter. Place them in 

 long piles on the surtace, and instead of covering 

 with straw use green piiie boughs put on pretty 

 thickly butt ends up. They will keep out the rain 

 and frost, need but little earth over them, and not 

 decay, nor impart a musty taste to the turnips. 



JJamilton, C. W., July 12, 1860. J. MACKELGAN, Jr. 



Grinding Corn too Fine. — I notice in the April 

 number of the Oenesee Farmer an article on bread- 

 stuffs, from J. T. Brondgeest. Now, I think he 

 can not understand the subject, or I do not. He 

 seems to carry the idea that ichite corn ground fine, 

 is equal to wheat flour. Any man of science 

 knows that there is more grain ground too much 

 than too little, and corn in particular. It spoils 

 the sweet corn flavor to be ground too much ; and 

 by grinding fine it does not make wheaten flour. — 

 L. W., Ellery, K Y. 



^»-* ^ 



Big Calves. — A correspondent of the Ohio Cul- 

 tivator stated that he had a calf which weighed, 

 when one year old, 800 lbs. Another correspond- 

 ent, in reply, says he has a calf whicli weighed 168 

 lbs. when three weeks and three days old ; and be 

 has a neighbor who has a calf which weighed, when 

 nine months and twenty days old, SOi lbs. 



