90 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



SEPT. 88. 18J0. 



aiiiiiial or vegetiililo siil)staiices that are soft, and 

 thus destroy? tlii'ir iVniiciitative properties. Such 

 compounds, however, exposed to the eontiniied 

 action oflhe air, ahers in course of time, tlie lime 

 becomes earhonate, the animal or vegctahle mat- 

 ter decompose by degrees, and furnish new pro- 

 ducts as vegetable nourishment. lu this view, 

 lime presents two great advantages for the mitri- 

 tion of plants ; tlie first, that of disposing of cer- 

 tain insoluble bodies to form soluble compounds, 

 the second, that of prolonging the action and nu- 

 tritive qualities of substances, beyond the term 

 which they would retain them if they were not 

 made to enter into combination with lime. 1 bus 

 the imtritive qualities of blood, as it exists in the 

 compound of lime and blood, known as sugar ba- 

 kers' scum, is moderated, prolonged, and given 

 out by degrees: blood alone applied directly to 

 the roots of plants will destroy them, with few or 

 no exceptions. 



Lime promotes fermentntion. — In those cases in 

 ■which fermentation is uselul to produce nutriment 

 from vegetable sidistances, lime is always effica- 

 cious. Some moist tanner's spent hark was mix- 

 ed with one-fifth of its weight of quick-lime, and 

 suffered to remain together in a close vessel for 

 three months : the lime had been colored, and 

 was effervescent ; when water was poured upon 

 the mixture, it gained a tint of fawn color and by 

 evaporation furnishe<l a fawn colored powder, 

 which must have consisted of lime united to veg- 

 etable matter, for it burnt when strongly heated, 

 and left a residum of mild lime. 



Esteemed Fkiend — If the following metliod 

 of destroying the worms which infest p<:ach trees 

 is worthy of insertion in the "Farmer," it is at thy 

 service. The experiment would probably succeed 

 wherever it is tried. 



In a recent conversation with an individual con- 

 cerning fruit trees, he remarked that he had seen 

 in the State of Pennsylvania, peach trees of such 

 uncommon size, that he was induced to ask the 

 owner what njeans he resorted to in raising them. 

 After some hesitation, he informed him, that from 

 the second year of the growth of the trees, he 

 sought for traces of the gum, which is a sure indi- 

 cation of the worm beneath. He removed this so 

 as to expose the aperture into the body of the 

 tree, and then filled it with quick lime. This was 

 repeated every month, the roots being carefully 

 examined as well as the body. He also stated to 

 my informant, that it would be impossible in ma- 

 ny cases to find the worms on account of theirdi- 

 niinutive size, they lieing so small at first as tp be 

 visible only with a powerful microscope. 



The greater number of his peach trees were 

 from ten to twelve years old, and seemingly as 

 vigorous as any he had ever seen, with a large 

 crop of fruit bending their branches to the 

 ground. 



A peach tree it in said bears only three years, 

 and is about that period in coming to maturity; 

 whereas by the above jilan, it wiU continue to 

 produce fruit for a much longer period. Tlie high 

 prices paid for peaches in our large cities, ouglit 

 to induce farmers to give a little consideration to 

 the best methods of preserving their trees. 



J. C. 



Burlington, Sept. 1st, 1836. 



We are much obliged to friend J. C. for his 

 coramunicatiou. We can testify the truth of his 



remarks from our own experience. We have 

 seen a jnacb tree, that was considered to be past 

 hel[), restored to fine condition by similar treat- 

 ment. 



Any due can satis'y his curiosity by inspecting 

 a poor looking peach orchard. — A. I'. Far. 



CHIKKSF. MANUPATURERS. 



The superior industry of the Chinese people, 

 as compared with other Asiatic nations, is proved 

 by their extensive exportation of manufactured ar- 

 ticles. Besides the most important articles of tea 

 and silk, the following may be added, — alum, 

 white-lead, red-leail, brass-leaf, tutenague or zinc, 

 false-pearls, glass-beads, paper, paper hangings, 

 toys, table an<l floor mats, and china-ware, with 

 the precious metals. Alum is preiared in the 

 distant province of Kiang-see, which supplies, we 

 believe, the whole East with this mineral. — In 

 British bottoms alone there were exported, in 

 1831, above a million and a half of lbs. ; but it is 

 probable the junks carry away to the various set- 

 tlements connected with the empire a larger quan- 

 tity. 'J'utenague or zinc, obtained from the m nes 

 of Yun-nan, used to be largely exported, until Ger- 

 man spelter, a less pure but much cheaper article, 

 was introduced about the year 1822, and has near- 

 ly superseded it. — The paper of China, supposed 

 to be manufactured from bamboo-cane, is brittle, 

 from the too copious use of alum, and is greatly 

 iiiferior to the European fabric ; but being much 

 cheaper than this last, it is used even in our Indian 

 settlements for all ordinary purposes. The Chi- 

 nese porcelain, which was so largely exported be- 

 fore the western nations borrowed thi; art, is still 

 an important article of commerce. It furnishes, 

 indeed, all the inhabitants of the Eastern Islands, 

 from Sumatra to the Phillippines, and the tribes 

 from the western border of China to the eastern 

 frontier of the Burman county, with the principal 

 portion of their culinary vessels ; even the Per- 

 sians and Arabians make use of it, receiving their 

 supplies by Bombay. The quantity annually bought 

 by the British does not exceed in value eight or 

 nine thousand pounds; hut the Americans pur- 

 chase to a much larger amount. It may be men- 

 tioned, that the total value of manufactured arti- 

 cles exported by the English and Americans in 

 1834, excluding from this computation raw silk, 

 refined sugar, and silver bullion, exceeded two 

 millions of Spanish dollars. — Edinburgh Cabinet 

 Library, Historical and Descriptive Account of 

 China, Vol. 3. 



(From the Genesee Farmer.) 

 RAISING AND FLOURING WHEAT. 



Mr Holmes: — 1 find your correspondents are 

 reviewing the wheat raising topic, and I am pleas- 

 ed to find them awake to the sid)ject. . 



I should he glad if I could make any observa- 

 tions which would be beneficial to the public as 

 it respects the culture of this grain, possibly I can. 

 In regard to grinding or flouring I have no doubt 

 my remarks, though perhaps not new to all, will 

 be useful to every one, who will adopt the prac- 

 tice which I shall recommend. First as to the 

 raising. In regard to clover or sward land for a 

 crop, I find that it ought to have some manure 

 turned in as well as a small top dressing to ensure 

 a good crop, such as ashes or plaster. The slow 

 growth of wheat on such land owing to the grad- 

 ual rotting of the sod, prevents much danger from 

 blight or blast. The same may be said of the 



crop after peas. Pasture land will produce an 

 excellent crop, if turned over with a top dressing 

 of ashes, say five or six bushels to the acre, even 

 if no manure is turned in, a-^d perhaps may be 

 the most sure method of raising wheat in this part 

 of the country. I find by my own experience, 

 strengthened by the observations of Dr. Bates[ 

 that on all sandy soils with gravel as a subsoil, or 

 clay if it is five deep; steeped or leached ashes 

 and clay as a m nure, will ensure the crop of 

 wheat. 



Second, as to the flouring or grinding of wheat. 

 When we have raised the wheat, we ought to be 

 able to make the best of tie article it is callable of, 

 and I hope your readers will pardon me iff relate 

 a few facts and give some reascns why this busi- 

 ness should be better attended to, if we wish to 

 compete with other wheat growing countries. It 

 seems to he necessary to keep the mill-stones apart 

 by the hardest corn, in order to get either fine 

 flour or the greatest quantity. I once carried to 

 the mill in Winthrop, one and a half bushels, and 

 paid the miller, Mr Stanley, for grinding it, instead 

 of giving him the toll as usual. 



After the wheat had passed through the cleans- 

 er, I scattered in three quarts of corn as evenly as 

 could, and weighed the flour it made. It was 

 allowed by all to be finer and lighter than that 

 made from the same wheat without tlie corn. 



It yielded 40 1-3 lbs., to the bushel. Four 



bushels would have made 196 lbs. of flour and a 

 fraction over, which would of course make a frac- 

 tion over a barrel. 



Mr Sanborn of Wales stood by. He had brouo-ht 

 some very good wheat to mill, ami he put in two 

 quarts of corn to the bushel which he raised year 

 before last. He afterwards told me that he ibtain- 

 ed 54 lbs. to the bushel. 



Try it brother Farmers, and my word for it, 

 you will never grind, or rather Jlat out wheat, as 

 you have done, and give the residue to the hogs, 

 calling it wheat bran, when there is at least ten 

 pounds of flour in it, I am told that at the South, 

 it is always done, and may we not expect that one 

 fourth at least of corn is put in,- and then is really 

 better than when none at all is put in, 



I had in my bushel and a half, nine pounds and 

 three fourths of coarse or second sort, so that in 

 fact I had more than fifty pounds of eatable flour. 

 My wheat was very dry, if it had for a short time 

 been jilaced over some steam, so as to moisten it 

 a little, the hull would have been less cut by 

 the mill, and the flour would have been better. 



This I am told is sometimes practised at some 

 flour mills. Will any farmer longer neglect to 

 raise wheat and grind it in the best manner, and 

 pay away all his money for flour and be in con- 

 sequence as poor as a church mouse,' Or will 

 you take care of yourselves? It remains with 

 you to say. Without economy no one can expect 

 to have much, but with it, and a little industry, 

 everything. 



If you neglect to raise your bread, or if you do 

 raise a little, and give one fifth to the hogs" under 

 the name of wheat bran, at the same time extol 

 Southern flour and prefer it to your own, merely 

 because it is ground better and finer, you must 

 expect yourselves and the State to lag behind the 

 others in wealth and improvements. Our mills 

 I believe are good, and I have ever found the 

 millers accommodating. Look to yourselves 

 brother Farmers. 



Elijah Wood. 



