^ Oo. xvn N(». ir. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



133 



For the New England Fanner. 

 ON WHEAT. 



JVorfolk, a., Oct. 15, 1838. 



Messrs J. Breck & Co. — 



Sirs, — In your New England Farmer of 10th 

 inst. T have read a communication signed " J. B." 

 giving a glowing description of the farm of Mr B. 

 V. French, of Braintree. My object in this notice 

 of it, is on account of that portion of it relating to 

 his ill success in his wheat crop, (which would 

 rather lead the public to believe oitr soil or climate 

 was not congenial to its culture,) you state that he 

 gave a liberal supply of lime and other manure, 

 and that having given a liberal allowance of 22 lbs. 

 clover seed per acre on the same land, he had a great 

 crop of that grass. Now my good sir, is not this 

 very thing telling us the cause of loss of his wheat 

 crop ? It must have been literally smothered, 

 there being no possible chance for air to pass 

 through ; it must of course become blighted. And 

 from your statement also of the land being made 

 ven/ rich, the wheat would be inclined to produce 

 much straw in proportion to the head or grain. 



I know many of our best farmers disapprove of 

 sowing much clover seed on rich lands, as the soil 

 hereabouts is inclined to that grass — and indeed 

 I have in my mind one highly qualified by practical 

 as well as book knowledge who only recommends 

 two or three pounds of clover seed per acre, with 

 other seeds ; my own rule has been eight pounds 

 with half a bushel of timothy or herds grass seed. 



It is well known to those who read English pub- 

 lications, that their course is to sow wheat alone, 

 and in very many instances by drill, having the 

 rows S to 6 inches apart, so as to give a free circu- 

 lation of air through it while growing, to prevent 

 its rust or blighting. 



As I am a strong advocate for giving wheat a 

 fair trial in our State, I wish all the light possible 

 on its culture, may be elicited, and hope to see 

 many statements in print of its successful cultivation 

 — and also where and how it has failed — fully be- 

 lieving tliat a liberal use of lime is very necessary. 

 Yours, &c. P. 



Remarks. — If the failure of Mr French's wheat 

 crop had been a solitary case, it might, perhaps, 

 have been attributed to the clover; but it was not 

 so ; his neighbors generally, had the same ill suc- 

 cess. We know of one gentleman in another town 

 about five miles from Boston, who tried eight or 

 ten diflerent experiments in his wheat field of four 

 or five acres. Part was sowed without grass seed, 

 and some with, and different sections of the field 

 were dressed with different sorts of compost and 

 manure. The Siberian, Italian and Eastern spring 

 wheat were all tried — but in every experiment 

 there was a failure nearly or quite as bad as Mr 

 French's. Of the different varieties of wheat sow- 

 ed, the Eastern was decidedly the best. But to 

 return to French's field ; he has informed us since, 

 that a small pait only of his field was manured, 

 at the time of sowing ; the other part was in excel- 

 lent order, having been well manured the year pre- 

 vious, and that he could not perceive any difference 

 between the two different sections; — the ground 

 was well limed. At the time the wheat blasted the 

 clover had not made much progress, and we can 

 hardly believe that it was the cause of the bliglit. 

 We have made considerable enquiry respecting the 

 wheat crop, and we are sorry to state that we have 



not yet heard of a good crop near Boston, although 

 the accounts from the interior are nuich more flat- 

 tering ; and we have seen within twenty or thirty 

 miles, fields that were good. We have do doubt, 

 but what wheat can be profitably cultivated through- 

 out our State generally, and shall be glad to be 

 acquainted, through tlie Farmer, of any facts which 

 may have a tendency to throw light upon the sub- 

 ject of the prevention of blight, which has the 

 present year disappointed the hopes of many. 



Eight pounds of clover and one half bushel of 

 herds grass we should suppose about equal to 22 

 lbs. of clover seed alone. J. B. 



correspondents on your side of the water, have 

 made the same trial, and I wait with much anxiety 

 to learn, through the medium of your paper, the 

 results in your climate. Yours, &c. 



E. BROWN. 

 Halifax, JV. Scotia, Utk Oct. 1838. 



(For the New England Farmer.) 



POTATO BLOSSOMS. 



Mr Breck, — I am aware you are acquainted 

 that the potato is the most productive and useful 

 vegetable in Nova Scotia ; — the climate and soil 

 of this province being extremely favorable to its 

 cultivation, much more so than our sister provinces 

 of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. 



On the receipt of your valuable paper of 25th 

 July last, containing an article on "Potato Blos- 

 soms," I was induced to try the experiment, wheth- 

 er plucking off the flower before any balls were 

 formed, would increase, or diminish its productive- 

 ness. It may not be improper to preface my re- 

 marks, that for several years past, there has been a 

 decrease in our seed, which has subjected the po- 

 tato to tlio dry rot, and it has been recommended 

 in the report made by the Agricultural Society 

 lately formed here, and by the most skilfil agricul- 

 turalists, that the must effectual remedy that can 

 be adopted to eradicate it, "is to plint the potato 

 whole ;" but as it is impossible to persuade every 

 one to adhere to this principle, we shall, I fear, be 

 still subject to it. The potato I selected for the 

 experiment was the white kidney (early sort) grown 

 from the apple by the late John Young, Esq., and 

 of course planted ivhole. The following are the 

 particulars and the result. I selected two rows 

 in my field along side of each other, 39 feet long, 

 each planted at the same time, the same manure, 

 and the same seed — distance potato from potato 10 

 inches. When I received your paper, the blossoms 

 had just opened. One row 1 plucked off the blos- 

 soms, and on tlie otlier I suffered the flower to 

 exist. I dug them yesterday, and the product was 

 as follows : 



The row on which the blossoms remained pro- 

 duced 61 lbs. potatoes. 



The row from which I plucked the blossoms, 

 produced 71 lbs. potatoes, not so numerous as the 

 former, but much larger, so that it appears the lat- 

 ter has yielded an increase of one sixth — and of 

 better quality. 



Like yourself, I do not pretend to understand 

 the philosophy of it, but of the accuracy of the 

 foregoing statement you may rely upon, but let us 

 remember, thit the laws of nature are not yet, nor 

 ever will be thoroughly understood, — the common 

 place opinion however here is, that by taking off the 

 blossom, it throws the strength of the plant to the 

 root, and they justify this opinion, by reference to 

 the lopping off the branches of a young tree, whicli 

 causes it to spread, and throw out more bush at the 

 bottom. 



If this experiment, made upon a small scale, yet 

 applicable to a general principle, can elicit any 

 useful information to the farmer I shall be much 

 gratified. I am not without hope some of your 



From the Con. Courant. 



The Ro^an Potato. — On the 1.5lh of April 

 last, through the kindness of a friend, Alexander 

 Thompson, Esq. of Catskill, the subscriber received 

 a few small tubers of this variety of the potato, 

 the average weight of which was a fraction less 

 than five ounces each. I carefully divided twenty 

 of them by cutting them into pieces so as to leave 

 two setts or eyes, on each piece, amounting in the 

 whole to 279 pieces, and weighing a little less 

 than half an ounce each. 



These I planted on the 27th of April in hills, 

 four feet asunder, eacli way, placing one piece only 

 in each hill. 



On the 9th inst the crop was gathered. The 

 product as measured in a half bushel, [ found to 

 be twenty bushels and a half, being a fraction over 

 a bushel to each tuber planted The average 

 weight of a few of the most productive hills was 

 eight pounds ten ounces — the largest single tuber 

 which I weighed, 2 lbs. 13 oz. During the past 

 season the extremely hot weather and severity of 

 the drought in this section of the county, have, in 

 the opinion of the farmers in my neighborhood, 

 lessened the potato crop from one third to one half, 

 on the product in ordinary seasons. It is reason- 

 able to suppose that the same causes have had a 

 like operation upon the Rohan potato. 



From the small practical acquaintance I have 

 yet had with the cultivaticm of this variety, I feel 

 a diffidence in expressing an opinion on the best 

 mode of its cultivation. I will therefore only state 

 briefly the metliod in which I proceeded in this 

 small experiment. Long or barn-yard manure was 

 spread upon the surface of the ground and turned 

 in with the plough — furrows 10 or 12 inches deep — 

 seed planted deep, covered with 4 inches of earth 

 — in hoeing, very little accumulation of earth upon 

 the hill. 



On opening the hills I found the tubers thickly 

 clustered together — occupying little if any more 

 space than if placed in a half-bushel measure. 

 This circumstance has induced me to believe that 

 a space of three feet between the hills would be 

 amply sufficient, and would secure as great a 

 growth in each, as if planted four feet apart. I 

 should also think it advisable to plant in each hill 

 two pieces with two setts on each piece, placing 

 them six inches apart from each other. 



SAMUEL WOODRUFF. 



ff'indsor, Oct. 13, 1838. 



Reaping Machine. — There is exhibited at the 

 New York Fair a mowing machine worked by 

 horses, which cut and clips the grain like shears, 

 and is really a most ingenious plan, and can mow 

 ten or fifteen acres per day. It is the invention of 

 William and Thomas Schubley, of Hagerstown, 

 Maryland. 



The proprietors of the Liverpool lines of pack- 

 ets will hereafter charge twentyfive cents for each 

 letter sent by their ships, between New York and 

 Liverpool. 



