DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE IND ALL ITS VARIOUS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Honor waits, o'er all the earth, The art that calls her harvests forth. — Bryant. 



VOL. I. 



SATURDAY, MARCPI 31, 1849. 



NO. 8, 



S. W. COLE, EmxoR. 



QTJINCY HALL, BOSTON. 



J. NOURSE, Proprietou. 



PREPARATION OF SEED WHEAT. 



By sifting, with suitable sieves, the large plump 

 berries may be separated from the small and shriv- 

 elled, which will make a great improvement. Then 

 wash thoroughly in water, stirring violently, and 

 skim off all floating substances. Violent washing 

 will rub off the seeds of fungus which might cause 

 smut or other diseases, and destroys the eggs of 

 insects ; and by skimming, the light seeds and other 

 refuse substances may be excluded. 



Various steeps are used as a further prevention of 

 smut, &c., for which we have recommended violent 

 washing. The following is cheap, convenient, safe, 

 and probably as effectual as any ; and it has the im- 

 portant advantage of floating oats, and grains of 

 comparative lightness, that sink in pure water. 



Make a solution of salt, as strong as it can be 

 made, which is probably about one quart of salt to 

 two gallons of water. In this steep the wheat, and 

 remove worthless matters that rise ; also the grains 

 of wheat of comparative lightness. It is best to 

 soak the wheat twelve or twenty-four hours ; but 

 when thus prepared, if the weather is favorable, it 

 will keep in good condition for several days or weeks, 

 if the brine is strong, as it will not vegetate in it. 



We have kept wheat a week or two in this way ; 

 and a farmer informed us that he had prepared his 

 wheat in brine, when his interval, where he in- 

 tended to sow, was overflowed, and he kept it in the 

 brine three weeks, and, as it was late, he then spread 

 and dried it, and sowed it the next spring with 

 success. 



After soaking wheat in brine, drain off the brine, 

 which is a good manure, and add sufficient slaked 

 lime to make it dry enough to saw. Sow soon after 

 the lime is added. If any accident or storm prevents 

 sowing soon, return the grain to the brine, as the 

 best preservative. 



GLASS MiLK-PANS. 



Any person who is acquainted with the nature of 

 glass, and the peculiar qualities of milk and cream, 

 must be confident that it is a superior article for 



milk-pans. All other substances are liable to objec- 

 tions. Wood absorbs milk, and the oily matter in the 

 cream, and soon becomes foul. Tin, zinc, iron, and 

 other mineral substances are corroded by milk, by 

 which the milk is injured, or poisoned, and the vessel 

 gradually destroyed. Brown earthen ware was 

 formerly much used for millc. This is glazed with 

 lead, which is consumed by the acid in milk, render- 

 ing the milk unwholesome. 



Glass is a pure substance, and may be easily kept 

 in a clean condition ; and it is not corroded by the 

 milk. Is is impenetrable by any substance in milk 

 or cream, and requires far less attention to keep it 

 in a pure state than those substances that are liable 

 to corrosion, or to imbibe substances that they con- 

 tain. For several years glass milk-pans have been 

 used in England, and they are preferred, to all others, 

 notwithstanding almost every other available ma- 

 terial had been used. 



A specimen of this valuable ware has been left at 

 our office for inspection. The price is seventy-five 

 cents single, eight dollars per dozen. Although this 

 may seem rather a high price in the beginning, yet 

 it is low, as the pans are thick and stout, and, with 

 careful usage, will last for ages ; and they require 

 less labor to keep them in good condition. 



COAL ASHES. 



In answer to the inquiry whether the crude parts 

 or cinders of coal ashes are of any value on any part 

 of the farm, we reply, that what the inquirer calls 

 cinders, as we suppose, is generally called cUnkej's, 

 and is produced by a powerful heat, that melts the 

 coal, which, on cooling, becomes nearly as hard as 

 melted bricks in a brickkiln. This substance would 

 not, probably, decompose for ages, and will answer 

 no useful purpose as maniire. It may be used on 

 the farm for the same purposes as small stones, in 

 filling up low places, and as a layer over the cover- 

 ing of ditches, for the water to ooze through, and 

 retain the soil. 



In using the fine ashes of hard coal for manure, 

 we consider the clinkas a disadvantage, where a fine 



