Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 499 



qnicldime to the bushel, put it into boiling water of sufficient quan- 

 tity to saturate the M^ieat, put it in a pile on the barn floor, put on 

 the liquid boiling hot as soon as the lime is slaked, and sho\xd over 

 until well mixed. Tliis process seemed to produce the desired effect ; 

 and as often as smut has appeared in my wheat, I have repeated the 

 same process with the same result, 



Mr. D. W. Cogswell, Henniker, iST. H. — The following receipt has 

 given perfect satisfaction in my vicinity for years : Two ounces blue 

 vitriol and two quarts of salt, well dissolved, to a bushel of wheat; 

 wash the wheat in the above solution. I sowed three bushels of wheat 

 this year which was raised two years ago, and proved to be very 

 smutty when gathered. Last spring I washed the wheat in the above 

 solution, when sown, and have not been able to discover the least 

 appearance of smut this season. My wheat never was better than 

 now. Have counted eighty-two good plump kernels in a single head. 



TuE Fak "West. 

 Mr. George May Powell, of New York city, wrote from Council 

 Bluff, Mo., that the causes which underlie the fertility of this region 

 seem of such national importance as to be worth}^ of special investi- 

 gation. In this region 100 to 125 bushels of corn to the acre, and 

 forty bushels of wheat, are reported to be raised with no more labor 

 than is required to produce half these yields in the Mississippi valley. 

 The two chief reasons for this fertility appear to be, first and mainly, 

 the impregnation of the soil of the region with alkali brought by the 

 streams from the sterile sage plains of the farther West; second, the 

 soil is a clayey, calcareous alluvion, which has been changed by wash- 

 ing and mixing with silex, an organic matter, from the usual tough, 

 laminated structure of clay, to such a condition that a lump of 

 it may be crushed in the hands to powder like a lump of ashes 

 compacted by wetting and drying. Hence the crops may feed on it 

 as greedil}' as they will. This soil is also said to yield beets, in which 

 sugar predominates instead of woody fiber, as in those raised in black 

 alluvion. The growth of hemp produced in this soil is very large. 

 These and some other crops were heavier than are often seen on such 

 soils which look darker and richer. In conclusion, Mr. Powell 

 expressed the opinion that a thorough examination of the composition 

 of the soil in this Missouri basin, and of the comparative yield of 

 various crops raised there and in other sections of the AVest and 

 South, is well worthy of attention. 



