VOL. XIII. NO. 38. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



299 



iiiiloss orii^ ui- the other of tliese crops is acconipa- 

 iiii'd witli a hiMvy cont of mamirp, or both of 

 them with a liirhtt-r coat. It oiiuiit to be au iiiva- 

 riablt! rule witli every farmer, Hot to permit two 

 very exluuistiiig crops to follow each other in iiii- 

 iiiediate succession, iiiiless the exhaustion of food 

 required to hriir;,' them to maturity, shall be ain])ly 

 repaired by the ap])lieation of enricliing substan- 

 ces. Corn and wheat are both great exhausters. 

 If one of tliem immediately follows the other, the 

 land will he impoverished, unless prevented by a 

 liberal sujiply of inaiiure. And the supply ought 

 to exceed the demand required by them. In 

 every rotation of crops, the land shoidd be left in 

 a higher and more improved state of cultivation, 

 so that every succession of the course shall pre- 

 sent more abundant h.irvests. It is not enough 

 that the land holds its own, that the farmer keeps 

 it in as good condition as formerly, or that he se- 

 cures as good crops as in times past. His land 

 sliould advance in fertility, and his crops should 

 be more abundant. He should get more corn, 

 more wheat, more hay, and his land should be 

 brought into a condition to remain longer in grass 

 before it is necessary to put in the plough. 



A great proportion of the wheat raised in this 

 Ticinity, is sown after corn. The lateness of the 

 season in which the corn comes to maturity, fre- 

 quently cojnpcls us to sow our wheat at an unsea- 

 sonable time — so late in the autumn, that it scarce- 

 ly has time to vegetate before the setting in of 

 winter. Wheat thus sown is more liable 

 to he winter killed, and is more exposed to blast. 

 In the suntnier of 1833, I mentioned this ob- 

 stacle to our success in the culture of wheat to 

 Judge Buel. He recomjnended to my trial, a spe- 

 cies of corn which he had planted for several 

 ^ears, which he said was about a fortnight earlier 

 than the kinds most commonly used, and which 

 /he thought was equally ))roduetive and valuable. 

 Accordingly I procured my seed corn of him last 

 sprinir, and the result has been perfectly satisfacto- 

 ry. I never had better corn, nor a more abund- 

 ant crop from the like quantity of land, and 

 that without any unusual preparation of the 

 soil. With this- species of corn, even in our 

 most unfavorable seasons, the wheat may be sown 

 in September, and in ordinary seasons by the 

 middle of the month. This opinion is formed 

 upon only a single trial, confirmed by the recom- 

 mendation of one of the most observing and dis- 

 tinguished agricultin-ists of the day. Further 

 experience may induce a change of opinion. But 

 at present, I consider it a great acquisition, as I 

 have frequently sustained a great diminution of 

 my wheat crop, from the impracticability of gath- 

 ering my Corn till some time in October. Its 

 earlv maturity brings with it the important advan- 

 tage of being seldom exposed to injury, by au- 

 tumnal frost. 



The observations which I have submitted to 

 your consideration have chiefly been confined to 

 one part of the process in the culture of wheat, 

 the preparation of the soil. They have ne- 

 cessarily been brief, and have embraced but a 

 small part of the topics connected with this pre- 

 paratory process. But they have already con- 

 sumed as much of your time, as can, consistently 

 with the other business of this busy day, be al- 

 lotted to hiiu who has addressed you. It is a 

 subject of great practical importance, and it gives 

 me pleasure to be able to inform you that we may 

 soon expect a publication from a gentleman with- 



in the limits of our association, m all respects 

 qualified for the task, from which we shall be able 

 to derive information and instruction, in regard to 

 the culture of wheat calculated to advance the 

 .-Agricultural prosperity of this ])art of our Com- 

 monwealth. 



TUE MEASUREMENT OF HaY IN THE StaCK, 



— For the purpose of ascertaining its weight, is 

 made by multiplying the length, breadth and 

 height into each other ; and if it has been allow- 

 ed to settle in the stack during the winter, ten 

 soli<l yards of meadow hay, in good condition, 

 will generally weigh about one ton. The num- 

 ber of yards depending, however, jiartly upon the 

 old or young state in which the grass was cut be- 

 fore it was made into hay, and partly upon the 

 dry or moist condition in which it was stacked, 

 as well as upon the length of time which it has 

 lain — all these circumstances should be minutely 

 examined ; for if it is in a very large stack of 

 more than a year old, nine, and in some cases 

 eight yards will make a ton ; clover, lying some- 

 what lighter in the stack, will generally take elev- 

 en or twelve yards to make a ton ; and sometimes, 

 when it has been stacked very dry, thirteen may 

 be required ; but the average of the last year's 

 clover may be assumed at twelve yards. 



The mode of cilcidation is as follows : — Sup- 

 posing the stack to be ten yards long at the bot- 

 tom, and eleven at the eaves ; four and a half wide 

 at the bottom, and five and a half at the eaves : 

 and presuming it to be four yards in height to the 

 eaves, and to rise three yards to the point of the 

 roof: in order to find the contents, the dimensions 

 are summed up thus — 

 Medium length lOj yards 



Do. breadth X 5 



52i 



Do. height X 5 including one-third of 



the rise of the roof. 



10) 262j=26j tons, or 29 1-6 

 loads. 



If the stack swells out considerably towards the 

 eaves, the height, if taken against the sides, will 

 appear to be greater than it is in reality ; it shoidd 

 therefore be measured by a pole set up perpendic- 

 ularly to the eaves. When it is required to mea- 

 sin-e an irregularly formed stack, the contents may 

 be found by giving and taking proportionate 

 quantities of the separate parts, or by measuring 

 or computing it in different divisions. If round, 

 a more complex calculation is necessary, and can 

 hardly be ascertained with accuracy without hav- 

 ing recourse to geometry. Mr Bayldon, however, 

 mentions a simple method, which consists in 

 measuring the circumference at the bottom, and 

 at regular distances up to the eaves, which nmst 

 be added together, and divided by their joint num- 

 ber for a mean circumference ; the square of 

 which must then be multiplied by the decimal 

 07958, and this product by the height up to tlie 

 eaves, aiul one-third of the rise of the roof, add- 

 ed together, and this divided by 27 (the calcula- 

 tion being made in feet) will give the product in 

 decimal yards. — Ohio Fanner. 



Col. John Gilmore, who received the premium 

 on Bees from the Kennebec Agricultural Society 

 last fall, thinks that much is lost by not keeping 

 the bees at work. When, after the swarming 



season is over, bees hang out on the hive, it is Ih-- 

 cause they have not work enough. The hiva 

 ought to l)e so constructed tiiat more rooiu can bf; 

 given them in such cases. — J^t. Chron. 



Maple Sugar. — The recent warm wealhrr 

 has .'Started the sap, and our farmers until withirt 

 a day or two, were "sugaring off" in every di- 

 i-ectiou. A piece of Maple Loaf Sugar was 

 brought us the other day, which was made and 

 refined in this town. We shewed it to a num- 

 ber of dealers in the article, who valued it at 

 tw-elve cents per pound. The uurefined article 

 sells for seven or eight. Might not the process 

 be made profitable on a large scale? — GncnJiM 

 Mercury, •24l!i ult. 



A correspondent of the London .Medical (ia- 

 zette, has discovered that soda is a remedy for the 

 tooth ache. He says the most pleasant and agree 

 able soda will either immediately or in a very 

 few minutes cause the entire cessation of pain, 

 by filling the decayed tooth carefully with the 

 powdered carbonate, so that it may descend to the 

 nerve, which its solution in the saliva will soon 

 allow it to do. 



American Silver. — Tea sets, spoons, forks, 

 vegetable and game dishes, and many other arti- 

 cles of domestic use, usually made id' real silver, 

 are now manufactured in New York of what is 

 called American silver, in contradistinction to 

 German silver. The alloy consists essentially of 

 copper, zinc, and nickel, to the latter of which it 

 owes its color, hardness, and some other essen- 

 tial properties. Manufactures of this kind can of 

 course be afforded much cheaper than those of 

 genuine silver. Pedlars who among other no- 

 tion.? vend " genuine silver spoons," to our coun- 

 try matrons, will S])eculate on these to good ad- 

 vantage. The Professor of Chemisti-y at West 

 Point, states that vessels made of this composi- 

 tion, may be used in cookery without injui-y. — 

 Greeiifidd Gazette. 



A writer in the Rochester, N. Y. Democrat says 

 that a Convent for JVuns is about to be established 

 in that city. He says there are 5000 Catholics in 

 Rochester. 



It is estimated that about two millions and a 

 half of lead was manufactured at the upper Mis- 

 sissippi lead mines during the last quarter of the 

 year 1834, being about double the quantity manu- 

 factured in the corresponding quarter of the pre- 

 ceding year. — Galena newspaper. 



Heavy Steer. — A Steer 30 months old, was 

 killed in Deerfield, last week, which, after being 

 dressed and hanging up over night, weighed 891 

 pounds. It belonged to Mr Ephraim Williams of 

 that place. A number of fine cattle we under- 

 stand, preparing for the market, are now to be 

 found in Deerfield : one pair was weighed lately, 

 coming but little short of 5000 lbs. — Greenfield 

 Gaz. 



Cure for Burns and Chilblains. — A. Brun- 

 son, of Meadville, Pa. says from 15 years, experi- 

 ence, he finds that an Indian meal poultice, coT- 

 ered over with young hyson tea, softened with 

 hot water, and laid over burns and frozen flesh, as 

 hot as it can be borne, will relieve the pain in five 

 minutes ; that if blisters have not arisen before, 

 they will not after it is put on, and that one poul- 

 tice is generally suflicient to effect a cure. 



