850 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



WHEAT RUST AND THE WEATHER. 



Mr. Bateham : I notice much said in the Culti- 

 vator in regard to failure of the wheat crop by rust, 

 &c., and many inquiries respecting; varieties of wheat 

 that arc supposed to escape the malady. Now, it is 

 a question, whether any variety of wheat will be 

 found to escape the rust, or the effects of extreme 

 heat, if either of these evils occur at the time the 

 grain is in a green and milky state. If the grain or 

 berry is so far advanced as to be in a stiff doughy 

 state before the rust or extreme heat occurs, the 

 crop will be but little injured ; but if sown late, or 

 from any cause the crop is backward, or if the rust 

 or heat occur early in the season, so as to find the 

 grain in the milky state, the result must be, shrivelled 

 wheat. 



I would advise farmers who have a good variety 

 of wheat, that they have tested and found adapted 

 to their lands, to stick to that variety, notwithstand- 

 ing an occasional failure. Sow early, rather than 

 late — manure, lime, and clover your land, and rest it 

 occasionally with grass and summer fallow, and your 

 wheat will seldom be injured with rust. But no 

 precaution of the farmer can jjrotect his wheat crop 

 from the injurious effects of extreme hot weather, 

 when it occurs for three or more days in succession, 

 just as the grain is forming and in a milky state. I 

 remember that in 1828 we had four days of extreme 

 hot weather, the 2.5th, 26th, 27th, and 28th of June ; 

 so hot that it killed the wheat stalks just below the 

 head, before the grain was out of the milk, thereby 

 stopping the flow of the sap, which was needed to fill 

 out the grain ; and a vast amount of shrivelled wheat 

 was the consequence throughout the country. No 

 rust was found on the wheat that season ; the 

 weather was too dry and hot to produce rust. I was 

 engaged in milling business that season, and pur- 

 chased a large amount of wheat weighing from fifty- 

 six to sixty pounds to the bushel. The lightest in 

 weight offered me weighed only forty-six pounds ; 

 and light as it was, the farmers used it for seed, and it 

 produced a good crop the following season. 



The heaviest and best wheat I saw that season 

 weighed sixty- three pounds to the bushel; and on 

 inquiring of the grower, ho informed me, that owing 

 to wet weather in the fall, he was prevented from 

 sowing until January, and his crop was so backward 

 as not to be fully headed out when that extreme hot 

 weather occurred in June. 



The wheat crop suffered great injurj^ in this (Jef- 

 ferson) county the past season ; first by the severe 

 winter, next by extreme heat in June, and lastly by 

 the rust. 



llcspectfuUy vours, &c., 



ROBERT SHERRARD. 



Sugar Hill Farm, near Steubenville, O., 1849. 

 — Ohio Cultivator. 



Remarks by Editor N. E. Farmer. — There is 

 a great difference in wheat as it regards rust, some 

 kinds being har^y and less susceptible to rust than 

 others ; and there is a great advantage in selecting 

 hardy kinds ; but even these will occasionally be 

 liable to rust. When soil, manure, and the weather 

 all combine to produce rust, the most hardy varieties 

 are susceptible of injury. High manuring, especially 

 of animal manure not well decomposed, has a ten- 

 dency to produce rust. Some lands abound in un- 

 decomposed vegetable matter, which maj' undergo 

 fermentation as the berry is filling, and promote rust. 

 But this is seldom the case in this section. On the 

 rich prairies, and fertile bottoms of the west, it is 

 moro common. 



OPEN KNEE-JOINT OF A HORSE 



SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH COLLODIOX. 



I send you a case of open knee-joint treated suc- 

 cessfully by the application of collodion. If you 

 think it worthy of insertion in your valuable period- 

 ical, it is entirely at your disposal. 



The wound in the above case was in itself of a 

 very formidable character. The opening into the 

 joint was between the two rows of carpal bones, and 

 the injury done to the capsular ligament was exten- 

 sive. And, Avhat added more than any thing to the 

 severity of the case, was the treatment the horse ex- 

 perienced immediately after the accident. The per- 

 son who drove him at the time of the accident, not 

 understanding the nature of the injury, sent him 

 home, a distance of thirty miles, over uneven and 

 stony ground. He was two days on the road. When 

 he arrived at home, it was lamentable to behold the 

 poor animal. From the synovial membrane being so 

 long exposed, great inflammation had taken place in 

 the joint, and the symptomatic fever depeudeut on 

 this also was very alarming. However, the horse 

 being a great favorite, my father was determined to 

 give him a chance. Accordingly, he was put in 

 slings, and the usual treatment employed, such as is 

 generally thought adapted to those cases, but with- 

 out any good effect. At length, I being a student 

 in the medical profession, and knowing the adhesive 

 properties of collodion, from having seen it applied 

 upon the human body, the idea struck me, that it 

 might prove of service in this case, in shielding the 

 wound from the air, and preventing the discharge of 

 synovia. 



Accordingly, I advised my father to let me try 

 it. We began by applying it several times in the 

 course of the day for two days, at the end of which 

 we had the great satisfaction of seeing the discharge 

 of the synovial fluid completely arrested. The ex- 

 ternal wound was then treated in the usual manner ; 

 and at this time the cicatrix left is not larger than a 

 shilling; and, what is more satisfactory, there is not 

 any anchylosis of the joint. He has beeii blistered 

 over the knee, and is at present in a small field, and 

 is fast regaining his former strength. — Journal of 

 Veterinary Science. 



WEEVIL IN GRAIN. 



Tlie weevil is frequently very destructive to wheat 

 in the granary. The following remedy, which we 

 copy from the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, is 

 very simple, of easy application, free from any injury 

 to the grain, and we have no doubt that it is effectual, 

 as salt is very destructive to insects. The term wee- 

 vil is often, but improperly, applied to the little insect 

 that destroj's wheat in the field, by eating the berry 

 in its tender state, which should be called the grain 



" Seeing an article in last week's ' Newspaper,' over 

 the signature of W. C. S., Lancaster, Pa., on the 

 destruction of the weevil, where he says they are 

 so destroying the wheat there, as scarcely to leave a 

 soimd sheaf in the barns, and wishes to know how 

 to destroy them, I will give him my experience on 

 the subject. I have had them thousands strong in 

 the barn for several years past, but have not had my 

 wheat injured by them for two years, and have nearly 

 got rid of them, and think I might have been en- 

 tirely so, if I had not been anxious to prove the 

 experiment. Last harvest, one year, on putting my 

 wheat into the barn, I thought it a little damp, and 

 concluded to salt it — a thing I had never done before, 

 but thought it could not hurt it. I did so with all 



