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NEW ENGLAND FARJVIER, 



MARCH 4, 1840. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



Boston, VVedhesday, Mabch 4, 1840. 



LECTURES ON MINERALOGY. 



We see our friend Teschemacher lias announced his 

 design to give next month a course of lectures on Mine- 

 ralogy, with practical illustrations. Tile science is full 

 of interest and value, especially to the privileged resi- 

 dents in the country. VVe must hope lie will have a large 

 class. His ability and learning in the natural sciences 

 are unquestioned ; and his power of communicating will 

 render them interesting and agreeable. U. C. 



THE SEVLNTU AGRICUl.TURVL MEETING 



Was holden on Friday evening, '.J8tli ult. Owing to 

 misunderstanding as to the lime of meeting, and the at- 

 tendance of the members of the Legislature upon the ex- 

 hibition of llie pupils of the Ulind .Asylum, which occu- 

 pied them until night, the attendance was not so full as at 

 some times; but it was quite respectable in point of num- 

 bers. Mr King was in the cl>air ; and in (he absence of 

 the secretaries, Mr Allen Putnam, of Danvers, was ap- 

 • pointed secretary of the meeting. 



The subject uf discussion given out for the evening, 

 was the Small Grains. 



Before proceeding to the discussion of the evening. 

 Gen. H. A.. H. Dearborn, for many years Presiitcnt of the 

 Massachusetts I (orticulturiil Society, and always distin- 

 guished for his interest and skill in the useful and practi- 

 cal arts, appeared at the request of the committee of ar- 

 rangements, and addressed the meeting in an able man- 

 ner on the general'subject of agiicullure. VVe shall 4iave 

 the pleasure of presenting his address to our readers on 

 an early occasion. The report is made, but our space 

 does not admit ofHs insertion. 



The subject of bttiall Grains being announced for dis- 

 cussion, the Commissioner requested through the Chair, 

 that Col. DuncaB* of Haverhill, for some years President 

 of the Essex Agriailtural Society, and highly intelligent 

 and skilled both in the science and piactice of agricul- 

 ture, would favor ihemeeting with any inlbrmation he 

 might have, respecliug the cultivation of rye by Mr Kee- 

 ley, of Haverhill, the farmer who succeeded in so extraor- 

 dinary a manner in the cultivation of rye on an exhaust- 

 ed soil. (T!ie report of this case is given in tlie TrEUisac- 

 tions of the Essex .Agricultural Society for the year I83'.i, 

 and in the Appendix to the First Report of the Agiicui- 

 tuVe of Massachusetts.) 



Col Duncan began by stating that he cam'e there to 

 receive and not to imparl instruction ; but, called upon In 

 the way he had been, he did not feel at liberty to reluse 

 his contribution to the valuable objects of the meeting 



In ri;spect to the cullivalioii of rye, his own experi- 

 ments had not been unsuccessful nor particularly suc- 

 cessful. He did not consider rye in his own cultivation, 

 a very eligible crop He could raise more of wlieat than 

 rye. The experiments of Mr Keeley, an inhabitant of 

 Haverhill, had, however, been eminently successful 



Mr Keeley's management consisted in a sort of sum- 

 mer fallow ; ploughing in the first and second crop of 

 weeds on the ground, for the land was full of charlock ; 

 then sowing rye upon the p'ouglied furrow : and espe- 

 cially ploughing and sowing on the same day. His suc- 

 cess had been most remarkalde ; and on land which with 

 ordinary management would yield not more than from 

 ten to twelve bushels of rye per acre,^!'; was able by. his 

 improved management, to get thirty tojffi.nv o.isliels. 



Mr Duncan then proceeded to speakiiof ;iie cultivation 

 of wheat. He said he laid it down as a iir.-posilion whioh 

 could be demonstrated, that wheal in Kiassachusetis was 

 a profitable crop ; il could be raised among us to advan- 

 tage ; and in asserting this, he niainlv relied upon his 

 own experience. In 1822, he commenced farming He 

 sowed three-fourths of an acre on a wel soil, with wheat, 

 using one and a half bushel of seed. I'he yield was 

 twentyeight bushels to an acre. He knew nothing bet- 

 ter with which to lay down his land to grass than wheat, 

 and he preferred to lay his land to grass before the sward 

 was entirely rotten or decomposed. 



In 1823, he cultivated two acres of the same field willi I 

 wheat; the crop was thirty bushels on one and a half i 

 acre. With the exception of a single year, he had eon- i 

 stantly sown wheat from that time to the present; and' 

 with the exception of one year, ho had always been sue- ' 

 cessful in its cultivation. In the year of failure to which 



allusion had been made, he had lost his own seed wheat 

 and obtained some frcun a neighboring farmer ; and then 

 his crop was poor. He had been able to obtain for a series 

 of years, from twenty to thirty bushels, without any 

 thing peculiar or remarkable in his cultivation The 

 kind which he is used to plant is the Gilman (same 

 as the Tea wheat,) and the Black Sea wheat. He con- 

 sidered them equal in value. 



He is accustomed to sow wheat on land which had 

 been for other crojis iiiatiurcd two years previously to li 

 wheat. His land is usually ploughed in the. fall and in 

 the spring. He has never applied lime in any great quan- 

 tity to his land ; but when be could obtain that which 

 had been broken or the rubbish of old plasteiing, he is 

 glad to use it. If any lime or refuse ashes were to be 

 got, he always endeavors to obtain ihoni for his land 

 Sometimes he had applied lime to his land after tlit 

 wheat has come up, and sometimes ashes. Last year he 

 applied five to seven bushels of ashes to an acre and with 

 success. Im'ecd he has always been successful in the ap- 

 plication. 



These facts should recommend the cultivation of wheat. 

 In his opinion, no grain was so favorable to the laying 

 down of land to grass. It would be difficult to convince 

 himtliat wheal could not be successfully raised in the 

 country Certainly any man could raise his own bread 

 cheaper than he can purchase it; and he considered it 

 a souud"7na.\iin in domestic economy, that every farmer 

 should produce as much as he can and buy as little as 

 possible, and especially that he should grow what is re- 

 quired for his own consumption. He himself had raised 

 wheat enough to supply two families for years; and al 

 the rate of twenty bushels to an acre, no crop could be 

 more profitable. 



Another fact which came within his knowledge, con- 

 firmed his own experience. He was for some time in 

 Haverhill one of the overseers of the poor. The town 

 has a good farm for the poor, and il is managed by a 

 good farmer. They were in the habit of purchasing 

 much flour for the establishment ; and the bill conse- 

 quently, was a heavy one. He«uggested to the farmer 

 the expediency of cultivating wheat; but the farmer said 

 that il could not be grown on the place. Col. Duncan 

 ■insisted upon il that a trial should be made. He propos- 

 ed that the manager should take a bushel of seed and 

 make atrial upon a small scale. The crop was a decent 

 oiTe. He tried a second crop and has continued until he 

 raised 33 bu. to the acre; and this on land where it was 

 said wheal would not grow. He cannot agice that it 

 would be better to buy our flour. Let the value of mo- 

 ney fluctuate as it may, the farmer who supplies his own 

 wants from his own labor and land, has a currency of fixed 

 value, and which will not depreciate. 



He'proceeded to s'ate, in answer to inquiries which 

 were made of him, that he was accustomed to sow his 

 wheat as early in the spring as the land could be got fit, 

 when the lantl was warm and dry ; and he said he pre- 

 pared his seed wheat fur sowing by soaking his seed in 

 brine and then covering il with lime. He was not par- 

 ticular as to the quantity of lime which he used to a bushel 

 of seed, nor as to the time during which it lay in the 

 steep. He thought that the benefiis of lime were in the 

 prevenliimof smut and the destruction of insects ; and 

 that it operated likewise, as a stimulus to vegetation. 



,Mr Brigliam, from VVeslboro', then proceeded to slate 

 what had been bis experience in the use of lime for wheat. 

 It was generally understood that liine was a powerful 

 and valuable manure. He had made several experi- 

 ments during fmir years in the use of it upon the wheat 

 crop, but never with any decisive results. He had some- 

 times sowed lime upon his land and Sometimes sowed 

 wheat without applying il, and found no perceptible dif- 

 ference. 



One year since he prepared an acre with a view to an 

 experiment. On one quarter of an acre he applied at the 

 .-ale of 40 bu. of lime to an acre. On an adjoining quar- 

 ter he applied 20 bu. peracro. On another, at tlie rate of 

 iU bushels. On the remaining quarter lie applied no 

 lime. He saw no decisive effeclE, either good or evil. — 

 !t may be that he had not used lime in a proper manner. 

 At any rate, he had not succeeded to ascertain its advan- 

 tages or its effects. His crop of wheat had generally ave- 

 raged about 20 bushels per acre 



.Another gentleman stated that he was very desirous of 

 gelling at the facts in the case, and of deleVmining the 

 question whether the beneficial efl"ects of lime were as 

 great as had been represented. - He himself had not found 

 it useful on light lands. He thinks il may be useful on 

 clay lands in operating mechanically to divide the soil. 



In 1812, the farmers at Kennebeck suflercd much from 

 smut. Lime had been found eflectual in destroying ibe 

 seeds of smut. Other steeps have been recommended 



and tried, but lime is of all things the most easy to 1 

 obtained. He had ma.le many inquiries. Ho had aski 

 a thousand farmers what benefits had been received fro 

 lime. But there was no satisfactory proof of any adva 

 tages derived from its use. He had been told of a fa 

 mer in Virginia who had had a great crop of wheat ( 

 land v^'hich had been limed; but before hisinforniast g 

 through Ihe story, he learnt that the land had been rich 

 manured. He expressed a strong wish that some persi 

 would make in these matters such experiments as cou 

 be confidently relied on. 



Mr BrighaiH complained in strong and just terms ofti 

 imperfect manner in which experiments were made ai 

 reported. Unless they are niade with great care and e 

 actness, they decide nothing satisfactorily. Mr Brigha 

 being inquired of as to the nature of the land on whii 

 these trials were made, answered that it was. grain Ian 

 Mr B. did not doubt the utility of lime when applied 

 some soils, but he had not himself experienced any ben 

 ficial effects from its use. 



Col. Duncan in reply to some idjquiries put to hii 

 said that his soil was good and well manured. He w 

 of opinion that a soil which was inclined to clay ai 

 strongly tenacious, was most suitable to wheat. It is li 

 practice to sow wheat on land which has been planu 

 two years." 



Some conversalion ensued upon the use of lime in pr 

 venting smut. Mr Krigham knew a neighbor who hi 

 steeped ills seed in strong brine and then coated it wi 

 Jime, but the smut was not prevented. 



Another farmer supfiosed il probable that the failure 

 this case arose from his not having suffered the wheat 

 remain at all after having been coated with lime, but 

 his having sowed it immediately. This gentleman, i 

 speaking farther on the subject of lime, considered th 

 it aftbrded no help lo vegetation ; that it operated 

 destroy manure ; but that in its mechanical effects upo 

 a tenacious soil, it might gperate as sand, and serve 

 reduce it to a fine state. , 



Mr Cooley, from Hawley, Franklin county, was hapr 

 to give his experience in the raising of wheat. He hi 

 cultivated wheat for thirty years, and with as much su 

 cess as any crop. He is accustomed lo prepare his see 

 wheat as slated, with brine and lime, and allowsit to n 

 main two days before sowing He had sown wheat Ihi 

 prepared ; and also allowing it to remain four days afti 

 being steeped and limed; and at the same time he hi 

 sown wheat without preparation. In the case of it 

 prepared seed, he obtained 34 1-2 bushels to the acre :. 

 in the case of that sown dry, he obtained 19 1-4 bushel 

 He tried this experiment a second time, and the resu 

 was nearly the same He had tried three experimen 

 of this kind. He had applied lime to his land wilhoi 

 perceptible advantage. He considered the application i 

 lime to the seed in general a sure preventive of smut. li 

 tliought some grounds might be infested with smut, h 

 sowed wheat on all kinds of land. He had sowed it ui 

 on poor and exhausted land. For the two years pa 

 wheat had proved a most valuable crop. The land o 

 which wheal is to be sown, should be airy; and not i 

 sheltered as to collect the damps and fogs. He, togetlii 

 with a neighbor of his, had had great success in the in 

 provementoftbeir crops by selecting their seed with grei 

 care. He had, from the seleclion in his field of sora 

 superior heads, obtained by cultivation a very supcri( 

 variety. He himself usually selected his best seed at ih 

 fanning mill. He did not deem it necessary as a preven' 

 ive of smut, that the seed should always be steeped i 

 brine ; but when lime was applied, it should remai 

 sometime on the seed before sowing He had oblaine 

 18 bushels of wlieat per acre on his poor land. 



Mr Holland, of Maine, then addressed the nieetini 

 He would give in this matter of preventing smul, the el 

 perience of others. In I837-8-H, he was a joint owns 

 of Pitt's Threshing machine; and in tlireshing and deal 

 ing the grain for diflerent farmers, he inquired of ihei 

 how smut might be avoided. He knew a careful fnrme 

 who Imd raised wheat twenty years without any smul 

 His rule was to steep his wheat 48 hours in strong brin 

 and then apply two quarts of quick hme lo a bushel be 

 fore sowing. Other fijrmers whom he knew, had usoi 

 blue vitriol, applying a solution of two ounces lo a biishe 

 of seed. This was considered a sure preventive, bul no 



beneficial lo Ihe wheal. He knew one farmer, whi 



^accustomed lo salt down his seed wheat in the win 

 ter and lef it remain until time of sowing in the spring. 



Mr Clark, of Norlhamplon, slated that the ierniers o 

 his vicinity considered their wheat injured and its vege^ 

 laling powers in many cases destroyed, by steeping it ii 

 in strong brine. '1 hey sowed the Italian wheat and i 

 was thought it was liable lo this injury from being a thitr 

 skinned wheat. 



