No. 8. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



plonls — wUich confirma ns far as it goes, tho state- 

 ment of Mr. Smith. Tbe English periodicals con- 

 tain numeroua communications relotivo to the value 

 of salt in destroying slugs, (snails?) and worms. — 

 Grub worms I presumo is meant. Tbey also stale 

 that to insure success the weather and the land must 

 be damp. Mr. Field (Cultivator, vol. 4, p 183) kill- 

 ed grnbs by using beef brine. 



Any farmer who has a quantity of old brine and a 

 watering con may easily prove the truth or falsehood 

 of these positions wbeii the grubs appear next year. — 

 It is very desirable that intelligent farmera would on 

 6ome scale oi- other, no matter how small, settle the 

 question experimentally— and forward the result to 

 iome agricultural journal so that from the number and 

 variety of tbe communications ooraething Tike certain- 

 ty may be derived. It is to be regretted that the at- 

 tention of intelligent farmera is not sufficiently con- 

 centrated npori the various topics of agricultural 

 inquiry that are continal recurring. From the want 

 of concert among them many a valuable suggestion is 

 lost. Here is a communication from a most respecta- 

 ble and accurate man that has slumbered for twenty 

 years, which would have been of inealciilable value 

 16 the farmers if ten of thorn had during that long pe- 

 riod ftated its truth and piibliq|]ed their experiments. 

 It is true that v.'ith the generality of farmers their ex- 

 periments are rather the result of accident than de- 

 sign ; at least this has been the case. But as there is 

 now a spirit of liberal inquiry aroused in the farming 

 itiind, can it not be directed in a good degree to the 

 same channel by the agency of the agricultiiral editor? 

 Will it not do for you to urge your correspondents, 

 for example to put a good deal of salt, attic, as well 

 as common, in their comtjiunications for some time to 

 come, and thus furnish abundant data for settling the 

 value of salt to the farmer both as a manure and a 

 vermifuge. 



Every year the wheat districts suffer to a greater or 

 less extent from the ravages of rust, arid yet it is ren- 

 dered more than probable that the free use of salt as a 

 manure prevents this terrible disaster. At all events 

 the celebrated Dr. Cartwright aseertained that if one 

 pint of salt be dissolved in eight pints of water and 

 applied to rusted wheat at the rate of two hoghsheads 

 to the acre, the rust entirely disappears in two or three 

 days, leaving only a alight discoloration of the straw. 

 Now will not tbe sowing of very fine salt upon rusted 

 wheat when it is wet with dew or rain answer every 

 purpoaa and save the farmer from heqvy loss ? 



Yours most triily, J. B. NOTT. 



Norman Vale, Guilderlan^, July 7, 1842. 

 Every thing connected with the great elh^Ve of 

 \^estern New York is important, and tterefore we 

 subjoin the following communication published in tbe 

 Maine Farmer of a late date. We do not feel author- 

 ised to decide upon its soundness, but submit it to the 

 observing and e:^perienced. 



Advantages and Disadvantages Of the Bald 

 and Bearded varieties of Wheat. 

 Mr. flor.MES : — As the fdrrtlers of Moine are at 

 some loss as to which is tbe most profiiab'e to raise, 

 tbe bearded or bald varieties of wheat, I have thought 

 that it would be beneficial to state the advantages and 

 disadvantages of both, according to my experience. 



Advantages 6/ Said Wheal. — The flour is whiter, 

 tHakes more pounds of flour to the bushel, as the hull 

 i« thinner and there is less bran, packs closer in the 

 bundle, and takes less room in tbe stack or barn. TAc 

 disadvantages arc, the liability to lodge or to be thrown 

 down by storms and roins, rusts or blasts easier, or 

 more likely to be rusted and blasted, takes longer 

 to gr(-w, does not ripen as early in the season, and 

 must be mixed thinner in the paste before baking. 

 The bread dries sooner ofter baking. 



The atltantages of Bearded Wheat, especially the 

 Payson Williams Black -Sea, are, stiffer straw, nota- 

 liable to be beat down by storms or to lodge on rich 

 land, quick in its growth, lipens early, and will do to 

 BOW late, i« seldom known to rust or Wast, and prob- 



117 



ably beara more heads to tho acre, though that is 

 doubtful. It need not be mi.xcd so ibin in the poatc 

 before baking. The disadvantages are, yellow flour, 

 thicker hull and consequently more bran. Does not 

 make as many pounds of flour to the bushel. 



Let it bo remembored that all bald wheat rhakes 

 while flour, all bearded wheat yellow flour. 



Wintlirop, Maij, 1S42. E. W. 



Seed Wheat.— Caution to Farmov*. 



Tbe subjoined ie a very important Commiinication. 

 Some years einse, having taken great poins to gel 

 some celebrated wheat from a distinguished cultivator, 

 we received a few bushels very much mixed with rye, 

 oats, &C. We undertook to clean it by picking ou^ 

 with the hand all the " foul stufl"." The undertaking 

 was most tedious ; nnd being obliged to leave home 

 before it was finished, we left it in charge to a man 

 in our employ. He being very impatient, and not 

 destitute of that self-conceit of superior sagacity so 

 common in such cases, immediately after we left, took 

 tbe whole to tho mill and passed it through the smut 

 machine. The conseqtVence wos, its germinating 

 power w«8 destroyed, and with the exce[)lion of a 

 very few straggling plants, we lost our seed and our 

 labor ; to say nothing about our temper. — Ed. 



Mr. Golman — Through the niediwm of yoUr paper 

 I wish to caution the farmera of Weslirn l^ew York 

 againslsowing wheat threshed with a machine, fori 

 believe it is one great reason, if not the only one, why 

 we do not have wheat grow as thick now its it did be- 

 fore machines come in use. I came to that conclusion 

 last fall, and threshed my seed with flail, arid the re- 

 sult is, my wheat came up twice as thick as my neigh- 

 bors, according to the quantity of seed sown per acre, 

 threshed with machine, which was about one bushel 

 and three fourths per acre, and it stando so yet. I 

 further believe wheat should be sown as soon as the 

 last week in Augubt, for as far as my knowledge ex- 

 tends, wheat Down at that time has not failed to be of 

 a good quality, when thet sowed ten or twelve days 

 later has been very much injiif ed by the rust. 



JO. WICKbFF. 

 Romulus, Julijj 1S42. 



For the Tlea Giftesci Finiier, 

 Tiirnips without Cost. 



In well manured ground, now occupied with corn 

 and potatoes, where it is not intended to plough the 

 ground before late in aiitiimn, a crcp of White Nor- 

 folk or other fast growing turnips, may be raised with- 

 out detriment to the present crop, nnd without any 

 cost excepting the seed and sowing, by scattering a 

 small quantity between the rows tbe last time the cul- 

 tivator or plough is passed between them. This lat- 

 ter operation every good farmer knows, should tie 

 done much later than mony practise, stirring the soil 

 end destroying the weeds often being a matter of 

 great iriiportance, so far at lec'st ija the corn crop is 

 concerned, even v/hen the plants have attained the 

 height of two or three feet. The corn being cut up 

 early in autumn, leaves the full occupancy of the 

 ground to the turnips and they advance rapidly in 

 growth. When sown among potatoes, they will in 

 general have at least one month for growth after the 

 potatoes are dug from the ground. 



It is true that by this method Keavj' ctoips CnHHot 

 be obtained ; btit that a considerable (Quantity is gen- 

 erally affor-led and much more cheoply than they are 

 otherwise obtained, has been sufficiently proved by the 

 experience rif the writer. j. 



Lime and Mode of Application^ from Pro- 

 ceedings of Royal Agricultural Society 

 in June last. 



Mr. Raymond Barker communicated some obser- 

 vatinna on the use and abuse of lime as a dre.ssing for 

 and, by Mr. Wm. Henry Fisher, at 18 Conduit 

 'treet, London. The author's groat object is u> im- 

 )i(sa upon farmera the importance of using quick 

 lime, and not lime which once bad been quick, but 



by deloy in use and exposure to tho atmosphere haa 

 become effete, and has obsorbed from the air the car- 

 bonic acid which it ogiiin chonges to the carbonate ot 

 lime it was before burning He considers that many 

 thousands of pounds arc annually thrown away by ag- 

 riculturists from want of a proper knowledge ol this 

 simple foct ; and he recommends them to use their 

 lime in the fresh burnt state, by caning it direct from 

 the kiln upon their land, spnading it in the lump, and 

 in that stale ploughing it in directly, the sooner it 

 being got from the kiln into the land the better. The 

 autbor concludes bio communication with tbe follow- 

 ing remarks:— "The lime will be found, if proper, 

 ly burnt, On rt Second pliughing, to be crumbled to 

 pieces or powder, nnd on harrowing will be intimate- 

 ly mixed with Iheeoil. From the bent evolved during 

 tbe slacking of the lime underground, and its cnueti- 

 city, which din"uses itself by the agency of tbe mois- 

 ture it meets with through the soil, it will be found to 

 destroy, or at any rate to be extremely obnoxious to 

 wireworms, slugs, grubs, and other enemies which 

 the farmer haa to contend with, nnd which are very 

 frequently the cause of failure in hie crops, as well as 

 in rendering most vegetable matter in tho soil soluble, 

 nnd food for future crops. These are the properties 

 that lime has in contradistinction to chalk ; the latter, 

 no doubt, is ti very useful addition to many soils, but 

 do not go to the great expence of buying or burning 

 lime, and then oilow it to be converted again into 

 chalk, or carbonate of lime, bciisre you plough it into 

 your land. In some districts the limestone is burnt 

 in large lumps, particularly where wood is employed 

 as a fuel— in which cose it should be broken to about 

 the size of a small penny roll before it is ploughed in. 

 In some cases it may be said, that, owing to the dis- 

 tance of procuring lime, enough cannot be brought at 

 one time for a ploughing ; all I can say is, plough it 

 in as soon as poeeibie. If the turnip-fly is generated 

 in the soil; lime, applied in the manner I have direct- 

 ed, would no donbt do much towards their extermi- 

 nation ; and the Bami3 effect and result would hold 

 good in respect to the black caterpillar. In conclu- 

 sion, tbe good effects of applying lime in the manner 

 recommended, I have myself experienced, and have 

 received ample testimony to the like purport from ex- 

 tensive agriciiUilriats, who, at my suggestion have 

 adopted t be pl an." 



Royal Agricultural fSocietr.— Marling with 

 Shale. 



Charles Charnock, Esq., of Holmefield House, 

 near Ferry Bridgb, in Yorkshire, Eng., communicat- 

 ed to the Council the results of his application of Burnt 

 Blue Shale, as a substitute for clay or marl on the 

 hilly and thin soil of his farm. Mr. Charnock stated 

 that in the coa! districts, a blue clay was brought up, 

 and nccuniulated so rapidly near the mouth of the 

 pits, as to become a great nnd inconvenient incum. 

 brance to the owners; that this clay was similar to 

 the " Blue Shale" of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 

 and was frequently burnt, and when drilled along with 

 crushed bones, was in this state found useful in pro- 

 moting ihe growth of turnips ; but as the whole of 

 the heated moss required frequently to be turned over 

 before it could be thoroughly burnt, the operation was 

 found to be tedious and expensive. 



Mr. Charnock having bad some years' experience 

 of the utility attending the application of the Blue 

 Shale to the gravelly part of bis own farm, was in- 

 duced, fiom the success which had attended his triols 

 of it, to select from the numerous experiments he had 

 made on this point, one average experiment to be sub- 

 mitted to the consideration of tbe Society, and to 

 show to its members that even an article so abundant 

 and liseless as this shall become of value if rightly ap- 

 plied to its proper purpose, and, as in this instance, to 

 soils of a gtdvelly and sandy nature. 



Mr. Charriock'S experiment in question was tried 

 upon a soil lying upon the magneeian limestone — a 

 substratum proverbial for its natural poverty nnd ina- 

 bility to resist drolight ; and he enters into a detailed 

 statement of all tbe particulars relating to his opera- 

 tions. The result of this experiment was found to bo 

 in favor of the system he had pursued, and that hia 

 barley crop gave an increase of 27 3-7 bushels, and 

 his wheat crop 17| bushels, per acre, besides saving 

 the expense of from 12 to 16 bushels of rape-duat on 

 the crop. 



Waterloo Woolen Factory — Is now daily thronged 

 with farmers and farmers wives, many of the latter 

 encumbered with their nurslings ; 4000 lbs. of wool, 

 on the daily average in June, are here sold or exchang- 

 ed for cloth — the long sales room is crowded with ea- 

 ger buyers; such another hum of voices and confusion 

 of tongites, is not to be found outside s Jews Syna- 

 gogue. S. W. 



