AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PlIBLlSHt;!) nv JOSEPH HRi'XK & CO NO 5" \'ni!Tii ma itu-r-p w imtp-t' /. ... _ 



i>v..v-iv ix, v,u., i^u. o. AUK 111 MARKET blUEET, (Aoricultcral WARKHoasE.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VO*,. XV. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 21, 1836. 



NO. 11. 



^^smjs^sws.^wm^a.Sa 



BRIEF HINTS FOR AUTTJMV WORK. 



Select seed wheat from that which grew in 

 the most productive parts of the fiehl — endeavor 



to obtain the largest seed, and sow none other 



this, if practised in yearly succession, will greatly 

 improve the variety. 



Sow none but clean seed — for farmers may 

 as well raise wheat as to raise weeds. 



Chess may be separated from sfed wheat by a 



good finning mill. It may also by using brine 



if the brine is too strong, so that good plump 

 wheat will not cink in it, dilute it with water 

 until it will ; and the chess and light i'Tiperfect 

 grains will float, a id may be skimmed off. Then 

 empty the wheat into a basket set on a tub or 

 barrel, and the brine will inn through into it for 

 further use. Both these methods of cleansing 

 wheat may be combined to advantage. 



Picking the largest beads by hand is a slow 

 but very thorough way, and more particularly 

 beneficial where croj)s are sown exjjrcssly for 

 seed. 



Smut in wheat crops is peipetuated by the 

 dust of the snmt adherin:,' to thi; si>cd. It may 

 be prevented by sleeping the seeil twenty-four 

 hours in ley, or a mixture of fresli lime and water 

 made of half a pound of the former to one gallon 

 cf the latter. This is cerlain prevention. Care 

 should be taken that seed is not rendered foul by 

 putting it in smutty bags, or those where smutty 

 wheat has been kept. 



The quantity of wheat sown to the acre should 

 be from five pecks to two bushels, varying with 

 the tijne of sowing, and with the size of the 

 grains of seed. Early sown wheat should be in 

 less quantity than late: and wb at with small 

 grains should be in less quantity than larije be- 

 cause there are more of them to a bushel. " 



Furrow drains shoidd be cut by passing the 

 plough three or four times through Ihe same fur- 

 row, and they sbou'd be made through all low 

 parts of the field. They should be well cleared 

 of loose earth by means of a shovel or hoe, so as 

 to admit the surface water in wet seasons to pass 

 freely off. 



Corn, should always be cut up, that is, cut off 

 near the surface of the ground, and not topped, or 

 cut off above the ears. The former is more ex- 

 peditious', it saves twice as mmb fodiler, and is 

 attended with a l)Rtter crop of corn, as it is al- 

 ways diminished considerably by topping. This 

 has been proved by repeated experiments, where 

 the crop was measured. 



Seed corn should be always selected in autuitm 

 — take such for this purpose as have the greatest 

 number of ears to the stalk. 



Hogs to be fattened may be turned into ajiple 

 orchards to pick up fal.iiig apples. They will 

 fatten on ihem as well as on coru if they have a 

 plenty of them. 



Grain fed to hogs should always if possible, be 

 first ground to meal. 



Considerable advantage is derived from feeding 

 cooked fooil, (steamed or boiled) to hogs, an<l it 

 should always be practised when the number is 

 sufficient to warrant the erection of proper appa- 

 ratus for it. 



Cooked food for fattening cattle is of little ad- 

 vantage, and not worth the trouble. 



Advantage is generally derived from using mixed 

 food for dumestic animals. 



Straw may always be of great use to the far- 

 mer in many way.s, and is well worth |)re.serving. 

 The following method of securing it is given by 

 a correspondent of the Genesee Farmer in a far- 

 mer volume: "Previous to thrashing, I go to a 

 hay stack and twist a quantity of bands from six 

 to ten feet long, which are placed at the barndoor, 

 and when the straw is rakid to the doors two men 

 take a band and stretch it over the bundle of 

 straw, then run each a hand uiiuer it, and turn it 

 over endwise, when one of iliem fastens the band, 

 and the other prepares another band. In that 

 manner two men will bind as fast as the swiftest 

 machine can thrash, and the straw is stacked as 

 securely as wheat, and in a fourib of the time re- 

 quired when not bound." U'heu wanted it may 

 be afterwards removed with fa> less labor than 

 when stacked without binding. 



Strawbkrries may be transplanted with ad- 

 vantage, in tlie early part of autumn. 



Froit 'J'rkes may be rcmo\ed and transplant- 

 ed after the first of October. Most farmers who 

 transplant fruit trees, suffer a great loss by not 

 doing the work well. 1 he principal care needed 

 is, first, to dig the lules large, say six feet across, 

 and fifteen or eighteen inches deep ; secondly, to 

 preserve carefully, the roots as entire and unin- 

 jured as possible, and not to suffer them to become 

 dry out of the ground ; and thirdly, to fill the 

 bole with finely pulverised, rich earth, (not ma- 

 nure) shaking it in small quantities, and pack- 

 ing it closc'ly but gouty about the roots, so us to 

 leave them in their natuial position in the soil. — 

 'I he whole expense of this would not be more 

 than half the (irice of the tree, and in five years 

 It would he three times the size which it would 

 be if transplanted by the common way of digging 

 small boles and doing the work hastily and im- 

 lierfectly — Gen. Farmer. 



CtTTINO UP CORN BY THE ROOTS. 



Br J. s. p. 



There has been much said this season about 

 the corn crop, and it must be confessed that, ow- 

 ing to Ihe coldness of the season, the corn harvest 

 piomisrs iittle to glad the heart of the husband- 

 man. Much complaint has been heard in relation 

 to the seed not germinating, and many impute it 

 to the practice of cutting up corn by the roots; 

 but this 1 know to be a mistake, having followed 

 that practice for the last 18 years, yet never failed 

 of having good seed in consequence of it. 



It is true, that if corn is cut up and crowded 

 into large bunches or stacks when damp, its ger- 

 minating powers will be destroyed by the heat 

 generated thereby, but if put up in small sracks, 

 free from water, and well secured, the corn when 

 husked, will be found of the first quality. If 

 corn thus saved is to be removed to the barn for 

 husking, care should be taken not to crowd too 

 tTiiich together, as it will heat in three or four 

 days sufficiently to make it sprout, thus spoiling it 

 for seed, as well as rendering it less valuable for 

 dom»stic purposes. When corn thus cut up is 

 husked in the field, the best ears should be select- 

 ed for seed, being careful to leave sufficient husks 

 on them for braiding them into bunches, to be 

 hung up in a dry and secure place till needed for 

 use. 



Of the various modes of harvesting corn, I 

 consider that of Cutting it up by the roots as the 

 preferable one, and especially if nipped by a pre- 

 mature frost, since more sound corn will thereby 

 be produced, while the stalks, if well cured, will 

 make most excellent fodder, which of itself is 

 sufficient to pay for cutting and harves.ing the 

 corn. I have known many farmers, after their 

 stalks had been cured, husk their corn in the field, 

 and through carelessness suffer the fodder to re- 

 main in the field exposed to autumnal rams till 

 sjoi'ed. This to say the least of it, is a neeedless 

 waste, and an evidence of a slovenly farmer. 

 Sheffield, Aug. 13, 1836. 



J^Tote by J. S. P. — I once had a field of corn 

 struck by a severe frost in the latter end of Au- 

 gust, the corn then being completely filled, though 

 the glazing process had but partially commenced 

 round the root of the ears. We supposed the 

 crop .spoiled, but at the suggestion of a friend, took 

 scythes ju.st at the opening of day, and before the 

 sun had risen sufficiently high to dispel the frost 

 most of the corn was prostrate. The consequence 

 was, that the warmth exhaling from the earth dis 

 pclled the frost, and no apjicarance of it was per- 

 cepiih'e after the sun had exerted its influence on 

 the stalks as they lay prostrate. In the afternoon 

 the coru was gathend into small stacks, secured 

 and left to ripen. When the period for husking 

 arrived, my corn came forth bright and sound, su- 

 perior ill fact to any I had before raised Gen. 



Parmer. 



Cold Weather and Mulberries Fears 



have by some been entertained, that the frostd 

 which occurred the last week would be injurious 

 to Ihe mulberry. But in this case as in others, 

 where injury is apprehended, we have reason for 

 thankfulness, that we have been visited by slight 

 frosts, which, although destructive to some vege- 

 tables, have greatly benefitted Ihe Cbine.se Mul- 

 berry, by checking its too rapid growth, — in con- 

 sequence of which, Wb may hope for a better 

 ripening of the wood, and preparing the tree and 

 its branches for better and more perfect cuttings. 

 — Silk Cabinet. 



