100 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



VoL^2.,: 



Exciesceiiees on Plum Trees. 



We first observed ihe new excrcecences or. plum 

 trees about the li2th of lost month; but 03 vegctnlion 

 has been unusually backword, it is" probable that in 

 other years, tbcy will appear nnicli earlier. The 

 worms in some of these bunches are more advanced 

 than in others. 



The more we see of the works of this insect, the 

 more we are satisfied it may be easily kept in check, 

 or entirely destroyed. Excepting the few that mi- 

 grate, it seems not much inclined to wander from its 

 native tree, unless others are very near. Where it at- 

 tacks plum trees with thick branches, the proprietor 

 may find an advantage in cutting out a part with all 

 tljeir leaves and fruit on, — because he can find the 

 bunches so much more readily, and because the fruit 

 that remains will be finer and more valuable. Sum- 

 mer pruning is much approved bysom* horticulturists. 



Possibly some of our readers may think wc are be- 

 stowing an undue share of attention on this subject. 

 We don't think so. We expect the most indolent 

 will be the first to complain; and it is this class that 

 we more especially want to stimtilale into action. 

 Get up half an hour before the usual time — steal 

 away from a noon spell to attend to it — take the neigh- 

 bor that comes to spend an idle hour along to see the 

 operation and to assist — it will do him good — and the 

 plum trees will be saved from ruin. 



Even as late as when our paper makes it appear- 

 ance in these northern parts, it is probable that many 

 worms will 6till remain in their nests. Cut open the 

 bunches, and see if it is so. If any are found, destroy 

 them. If half of them are stopped on their way to 

 mischief, it will be something of great value, not only 

 as it gets a man's hand into the business, and prepares 

 him for doing his duty next year, but he will have 

 much less to do. t 



Kust oa Wheat. 



A well written paper on the cause of Mildew, 

 Blight, or Rust, was lately read before the Philadel- 

 phia Society for Promoting Agriculture, by Kender- 

 ton Smith, in which he endeavors to show that this 

 malady is occasioned by sotcing grass seed amousst 

 ihewhcat. We have no doubt however, that in dill'er- 

 fc:;! seasons, and diflerent circumstances, the presence 

 of rust nit.;' be owiiig to more than one caufe; yet, if 

 sowing grass seed '.".'ith wheat, often, or generally pro- 

 duces it, it is a most imponir.t discovery. 



From this paper, (published in the FiTmere' Cabi- 

 net,) we make the following extracts: 



" The wheat of several fields which came under 

 oiv observation [in 1838] and which had not been 

 Bown with grass seed, was good, the straw bright, and 

 the grain ot excellent quality. I also lemarked, that 

 Other fields which wci'fi sown with grass seed, and in- 

 deed the crop generally throughout the country was 

 greatly injured, and in most instances, utterly des- 

 troyed by mildew or rust. What appeared very re- 

 markable was, that we heard of excellent crops which 

 had been raised in the very midst of this ruin and des- 

 olation. 



" In the summer of 1838, I was appointed by the 

 Bociety, one of a committee to examine a reaping ma- 

 chine, then recently invented. We visited the farm 

 of Mr. John Fox, of Oxford township, Philadelphia 

 county, for the purpose, where the machine was put 

 in operation upon a field of eight acres. This grain 

 was remarkably fiue^n all respects: It was tall, and 

 much of it was lodged, yet the berry was perfectly fil- 

 led, and the straw was in no respect touched with 

 mildew. T/(Ci-e tens no grass soicn with this grnin ; 

 and 1 have since learned that Mr. Fox and his brother 

 have for many years, always sown their wheat widiout 

 grass, and that their crops have been uniformly good. 



"Adjoining this field was another in wheat, the 

 straw of which was tall, and the growth of which had 

 been apparently as vigorous, but the grain was shrunk 

 and of little valu3. This field was sown with 

 timothy the previous fall, and with clover in the 

 ^pring, and the ginund was covwed with a tliicWand 



heahhy coat of these grasses. The soil, siliiation, and 

 advantages of these lots, for the growth of wheat, 

 were to all appearance the same. There was anotii- 

 er field of wheat on the opposite side of Mr. Fox's 

 field, and only separated from it by a road, which was 

 also utterly worthless from mildew. This lot had al- 

 so been sown with grass, and there was a strong 

 growth upon it. Here then was a field of very supe- 

 rior wheat, situate between two other fields which 

 were scarcely worth cutting. 



" Within the last two years I have heard of many 

 instances of good grain, and but one instance of mil- 

 dewed wheat having been produced on lands not 

 sown with grass, or on which there was itot a strong 

 growth of grass or weeds. In every case 01" mildew 

 during that time, I have ascertained upon iitquiry, 

 that grass had been sown with the gtain, or prevailed 

 to considerable extent naturally. 



" I do not wish to bo nndcretood as stating that the 

 presence of grsss alicat/s produces mildew or rust, 

 lor I know that good crops of wheat have grown 

 with it in dry seasons; but I do contend that the pre- 

 sence of a thick growth of grass or weeds upon the 

 surface of the land, predisposes the crop to disease or 

 mUdevv, and that in wet seasons it is almost invariably 

 noxious and hurtful to the wheat plant. 



"P. S. I am informed by Mr. Isaac Newton, an 

 active and zealous member of the Society, and one of 

 our most enterprising farmers, that he had last year, a 

 field of about eight acres of wheat, which he sowed in 

 the fall with timothy and herd-gross, except one land, 

 nearly in the middle of the field, which by accident 

 was omitted. The wheat upon this land was not af- 

 fected by mildew, and the grain was of superior quali- 

 ty, while the rest of the field was rendered worthless 

 by mildew." 



The foregoing statements are very interesting; but 

 we would refer our readers to an able article on this 

 subject, published in our current volume, at pages 

 38 — 50, which is worthy of a careful perusal. Now 

 is the season for farmers to make observations in re- 

 gard to this matter. Let thein take notice, in addi- 

 tion to the above suggestions, whether stable manure 

 is favorable or unfavoroble ? Whether compost, in- 

 cluding a portion of lime, has a bad eficct ? Whether 

 head-lands in fine tilth, but trodden hard after the 

 wheat was sown, are more free from rust ? Whether 

 this fungtts often spreads from low wet places into the 

 drier parts of the field ? and whether it rarely occurs 

 under the shade of trees ? The satisfactory determi- 

 nation of these points may lead to very important re- 

 sults; and wc should be pleased to bear from corres- 

 pondents on the subj.'xt. f 



"S. W." ana the Com Laws. 



To the Editors of the Nac Genesee Farmer: 



Your correspondent, " S. W." appears to have paid 

 much attention to the subject on which he treats; but, 

 ou the whole, his speculations are much better adapted 

 to the state of information and feeling which existed 

 fifty years ago, than to the present time. 



While every laborer must, as he ought, acquire by 

 his daily wages sufficient to clothe and educate res- 

 pectably his family and provide something for fu. 

 ture use, it will be difficult to convince our farmers 

 that their profits will be increased by the " low prices 

 of agricultural products." It may be replied that this 

 will regulate itself — that the cost of labor will be pro- 

 portioned to the prices of the articles produced; but 

 this is not true, except in part; and can only be the re- 

 sult of great uniformity in the cost of the articles con- 

 sumed, according to their value For instance, if the 

 bulk of our importations are purchased at high prices, 

 the wages of the working man wutdd doubtless exceed 

 the means of the farmer to pay, if wheat was at a low 

 price. 



It id gratifying to observe, notwithstanding the les- 

 sons of patience read to us by " S. W.," and hia con- 

 clusion " that we have no right to complain of the 

 English Corn Laws, which save her ogricultural in- 

 terests from ntter prostration and ruin,' ' that the spirit 

 of free trtide is ^ireading in England as well as this 



country. He has doubtless observed, that though ;j 

 generally opposed by the landed interest, which seeka.'i 

 but its own selfish ends, regardless of the claims and- 

 sufferings of community, a mighty movement has ta- 

 ken place, which must result in the repeal of those laws, 

 at no distant period When this takesplace,it must be. ., 

 obvious that the market for our wheat will be much.? 

 better than at the present. 



If " S. W." will take into consideration the tin- 

 limited capabilities we possess of producing this great 

 staple, and the certainty that in a few years at farthest, 

 our market will not be adequate to the supply, he will 

 agree with Got. Davis, of Massachusetts, in saying, 

 " that the policy of our nation in sustaining the cot- 

 ton growing interest to the neglect of wheal, is un- 

 wise and unjust." 



It has often seemed passing strange to me that s" 

 little has been done to promote the prcspcrity of mil- 

 lions at the North, in this important particular, when 

 a few hundred thousand men at the South have an ac- 

 credited representative at the Court of St. James, 

 watching every movement which may affect in the 

 slightest degree their favorite exports. 



But there is another aspect to this question, to 

 which I would direct the attention of your correspon- 

 dent. He thinks we hare no right to complain when 

 the landed interests seek their own protection; but did 

 he ever reflect that this protection was the cause of 

 want and miseiy iucaculable ? It is not the only re- 

 sult of ihis 85'sleni, that the English laborer ia abso- 

 lutely precluded fiom any higher expectation than 

 providing a scanty support for his family; thuaextin- 

 gniahing those noble incentives to exertion, which lie 

 in the path of the humbi'est individual among us; but 

 let him bear in mind, thct no small share of the peo- 

 ple of that country, from the operation of those laws, 

 inhabit damp and noisome cellars, crowd to an incred- 

 ible extent every garret and hovel, and drag out a most 

 miserable existence, that " the agricultural interests" 

 may ride in splendid coaches and feast upon the dain- 

 ties of the earth. Snrely the dictates of philanthropy 

 should outweigh those of cold selfisiiiiess. It is how- 

 ever, by no means certain that Englith proprietors 

 would be the losers by an act of justice and mercy; 

 for, says Lord John KiisscU in his motion for the re- 

 duction of duty on foreign grain, " the safety of free 

 trade has always been considered as an axiom by wri- 

 ters on political economy, and 1 see no good reason 

 why it thould not be reduced to practice." 



S. R. W. 



For ihe IVetff Genesee Farmtr. 

 notation of Crops— "Root Culture. - 



Messrs. Editors — I am often asked by brother far- 

 mers how they can change from their old impoverish- 

 ing mode of farming, and adopt an improved system. 

 I say to such, fix on a proper rotation of crops — begin 

 on a small scale till ' sure you are right, then go 

 ahead.' My rotation for a five or six years' course ie, 

 1st. Peas, on green sward; 2d. Corn or roots, with 

 manure; 3d. Spring wheat; 4th. Oats, and seed wiih 

 clover, or clover and timothy; Mi. Hay or paeluie. 

 I find winter wheat a rather uncertain crop, on ac- 

 count of its winter killing, and therefore prefer spring 

 wheat. The Italian I have found the most productive 

 variety. I have raised more than thirty bushels uf 

 this kind to the acre for the last four years, since 1 

 have adopted the above rotation; and last year I cut. 

 from one acre, 1010 sheaves, whi<;h yielded fifty-six 

 bushels ; and 1 believe I can do it again. 



My rnta baga crop last year was JSSfi bushels, from 

 three acres. I kei^t twenty pigs entirely on thcin, and 

 four working horses in good condition, without grain. 

 I also teed sheep, calves, and cattle on them. But 

 some farmers eay, " my pigs will not ent them:" v«iy 



