54 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 2. 



Fictitious Signatures. 



Il" it were the custom in any deliberative assembly 

 —whether at VVnshington or at Albany — for the ora- 

 tors to conceal their persons and disguise their voices 

 by speaking through trumpets, — would their speeches 

 interSBt the audience as much as they do at present 7 



When a person walks in, or sits down in a legisla- 

 tive gallery, is he satisfied to close his eyes and listen 

 to strange voices 1 Would not the same sentiments 

 and the same arguments be more interesting if he 

 knew from whose mouth they proceeded ? Is it not a 

 laudable curiosity that prompts him when a speaker 

 takes the floor, to ask who ho is, and to whom he be- 

 longs 1 



Now as we presume our readers will be willing to 

 concede the right answers to these questions, we will 

 take the liberty to osk another. Would not the anony- 

 mous articles which are found in our columns, be 

 more interesting if we knew who wrote them ? Wc 

 are free to admit the title of some writers to conceal- 

 ment, such as our [Fair] correspondents "Annette" 

 nnd "Fanny;" but to "C. D"— " S. W."— "P"_ 

 " B," and many others, whose names if written out 

 would shed a halo round our pages, — we feel unwil- 

 ling to make this concession. We do not insist, in- 

 deed — being gratified to hear from them under any 

 aignatnre — but we hope they will consider how much 

 our interests, and the interests of the community, 

 would be promoted by such disclosures; and how 

 much more eagerly the reader would take up our pa- 

 per to learn something of hie old friends and acquain- 

 tances, t 



For the New Genesee Farmer, 

 Importance of Wheat Culture. 



Messrs. Editors — To improve the true interest of 

 lite farmer, of any section of country, you must most 

 Burely instruct him in the manogement of his lands 

 for the production of the staple crop of the country, 

 or to the growth of that crop for which his lands are 

 best adapted, and which will yield him the greatest 

 profit. It is well known that our principol profit is 

 produced from our wheat crop. It is thq odaptaiion 

 of our soil to the production of this finest of grain, 

 that will ever render our lands voluoble above any 

 others adapted only to the production of the coarser 

 grains. And accordingly wisdom would dictate that 

 our improvements in agriculture should tend mainly 

 to the increased growth ol' this crop. It is true that 

 exclusive wheat cropping may not be advisable; but in 

 the management of our farms we ought to odopt a 

 system of lototion not calculated to interfere with the 

 growth of wheat; but rather to fit and prepare our 

 lands tor the reception of that crop. Since the set- 

 tlement of this country perhaps too much attention 

 has been turned to raising wheat, or we may have 

 practised a bad system, and thereby drained and ex. 

 hausted our londs in many cases; bnt having discov- 

 ered this error, we must not henceforth quit our old 

 crop ond bestow our attention on other branches of 

 forming to the neglect of this. And now, Messrs. Ed- 

 itors, what I would compla.n of in your paper, is the 

 little attention paid by your agricultural writers to 

 wheat growing, and the much to other things of mi- 

 nor importance. Perhaps it is taken for granted by 

 ■11, that no information con be imparted to our formers 

 on this subject. The old motto that " practice makes 

 perfect," I think will hardly apply in this cnso; for 

 •urely I believe that there are no greater errors com- 

 mitted among us, than in wheal culture; and there 

 is no branch of cropping in which larmers more disa- 

 gree than in this. For example, some think the best 

 time for seeding is the last of August and the first o( 

 September; others think the middle or tast~of Sep- 

 tember preferable; somewUl plough in eeed, others 



harrow in: some think one bushel per acre sufficient, 

 others two and others three. And also in regord to 

 fallowing, there is much diversity of opinion. Now 

 theee and many other points which might be mention- 

 ed, are subjects worthy the attention of some of your 

 intelligent, practical, agricultural writers, and subjects 

 vhich might be profitably discussed. If some of 

 your able correspondents will give us a chapter month- 

 ly on the subject of wheat culture, grounded on expe- 

 rience and observation, there will be more good result- 

 ing to the farming interest of Western New York, 

 than oil the articles on ruta baga and mangel wurtzcl 

 that hove ever oppeared in all the agricultural papers 

 in the Union. Not but thot the root culture has its 

 shore of interest and credit, but in this section it is of 

 minor importonce; and surely the New Genesee Far- 

 mer ought to be adapted to its location 



Yours respectfully, R. 



We fully agree with the preceding remarks on the 

 importance of the wheat culture, and we earnestly 

 call upon our correspondents to furnish whatever may 

 be valuable upon the subject. We think however, that 

 the culiure of root crops is quite underrated, os it is on 

 these that the former mutt greatly depend for the suc- 

 cessful and profitable feeding of cattle, and consequent 

 manufacture of manure, that prime mover in good 

 farming, not by any means excepting the culture of 

 wheat itself. 



A premium would have been oflTered last year, by 

 the Genesee Agricultural Society, for the beet wheat 

 crop, hod it not been too late when the list of pre- 

 miums was published. « 



Best Time for cutting Timber. 



We suppose onother age must pass away before the 

 notion of lunar ivfluence on timber will be entirely 

 exploded. When the yielding mind of childhood re- 

 ceives a wrong impression from a parent or preceptor, 

 and it is allowed to harden for years before Philosophy 

 attempts to efface it, argument too often glances ofli' 

 like water from a goose's back. 



On what does this notion rest 1 Why the moon 

 raises tides on the oceon. Admitted; buton whotclse 

 is its influence felt ? If it has not room enough io 

 raise tides on our lakes, can it possibly raise tides of sap 

 in the pores of a tree, where a microscope is necessary 

 10 discover them ? 



But if it did raise the sap, what advantage could we 

 derive from that knowledge ? It would raise tides 

 every day; and no one particular time would be better 

 than another. 



It has been handed down to us as a rule worthy of 

 remembronce, that " the old of the moon in February 

 is the best time to cut timber." But why is theoUof 

 the moon better than the new f This question might 

 puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer. The "old of the moon" 

 may come on the first day of the month; or it may come 

 on the lost — it may difler a whole month. The sap 

 may be frozen, and the moon notable to stir a particle. 

 Or can it act on solids as well as fluids ? If it con act 

 on frozen timber, why not on seasoned timber, or solid 

 rock? We cannot understand such occult principles. 



We admit indeed that the time prescribed may serve 

 well for cutting some kinds of timber; but certainly it 

 is not the best time to cut all kinds of timber. 



We believe it maybe laid down as a maxim thot 

 limber is most durable if cut when it contains the least 

 sap; and we hove no knowledge that sop ever runs 

 from a tree in full leaf. On a former occasion we sta- 

 ted a fact from an observant neighbor that basswood 

 rails which be cut when the sop was in full flow, rotted 

 before they seasoned, though immediately loid up in a 

 fence. On the reverse, we have several instances of 

 timber cut in summer that proved very durable, with 

 not one cose to the contrary. We therefore infer that 



the gradation from the best time to the worst is in the 

 following order: Summer — Autumn— Winter. No 

 timber should be cut in the Spring before the tree is in 

 full leaf. 



Physiologists when treating of the functions of 

 plants, hove been too fond of drowing generol rules, 

 like other people, from a few observatinns. Because 

 the sap of some trees, flows not in winter, they have 

 erroneously concluded il was so with all. The sap of 

 the sugar maple however, flows us soon as the leaves 

 drop in autumn; therefore to hove thattimber durable, 

 it should be cut when the tree is in leaf; and as every 

 leaf is employed in pumping out the moisture, it might 

 be well to let the tiee lie unlrimmed till they are with- 

 ered. 



A timber tree may be very valuable or otherwise, 

 according to the time of cutting it; and in this country 

 where they are growing scarcer every year, it is more 

 especially important to hove the best information on 

 the subject. f 



Discovery in Sugar Making. 



The following communication came too late for last 

 month, but we now insert it, with the hope that possi- 

 bly it may not be too late for trial this season. We 

 know nothing of the value of the proposed improve- 

 ment. 



For the yew Genesee Farmer. 



Messrs. Editors: — As the time for making Maple 

 Sugar is at hand, I take the liberty of sending for in- 

 sertion, a very simple plan for clarifying it and making 

 a much purer and whiter article than can be done by 

 any other means. For some time the process was a 

 secret, it having been accidentally discovered by a far- 

 mer whose sugar in consequence always commanded 

 a higher price and more ready sale than that of his 

 neighbors, and who for a long time would not let the 

 method he used be known. 



The story is this: — Having once borrowed a sugar 

 kettle from u neighbor, on attempting to use it, he 

 found it leaked from some cracks. Hoping to remedy 

 the evil he threw in some Indian meal to fill up the 

 cracks and enable him to use it. It did so; and to his 

 astonishment on " sugaring off," he found a much 

 better article than he was in the practice of making. 

 As the corn meal was the only thing he could attribute 

 it to, he continued the use of it, and soon osccrtained 

 that it was a very great improvement on the common 

 method o*'sugar making. 



The receipt is as follows: — To the sap required for 

 40 or 50 lbs. of sugar, odd about a pint of corn meal, 

 to be put in while cold and boiled together. 



The above I received casually from a farmer who 

 has used the process, and a neighbor of him who dis- 

 covered it. It is so very simple, and I am induced to 

 believe so very efficacious, that I send it for insertion 

 in your valuable paper, with the hope thot it may 

 prove of use to some of your readers. Should ony try 

 it, I hope they will let it be known in some future 

 number, how it succeeded. VERNET. 



Cazenovia, Feb. Uoth, 1841. 



For the New Genesee Farmer. 

 Blue Grass and Quick Grass, (or Couch Grass.) 



Messrs. Editors — The prevalence, tenacity, and 

 prolific dissemination of the grass well known amon" 

 us by the name of Blue Grass, (Poa comprcssa ; ) 

 the increased expenses of cultivation, and greatly di- 

 minished returns of product which result from its 

 presence in our groin fields and cultivated meadows, 

 at once demand, and will repay, the strictest inquiry 

 as to the most successful means for its prevention or 

 eradication. 



This gross seems to be the natural or spontoneous 

 growth of rich, moist land in this country, and its 

 seeds opjiear to be thence disseminated by domestic 

 animals, upon the upland pasture, where the opera- 



