15-^ 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol 3 



Nediteiraueaii Wheat. 



Every thing connected with the Wheat Cnlture is 

 of immediate and the highest importnnce to the Farm- 

 ersof Western New York, This induces us to give 

 an inseriion in full of the subjoined correspondence. 

 The parcel of wbelit hns been duly received and will 

 be placed in hands which will do it full justice. We 

 acknowledge ourselves in this and in many instances, 

 personally and publicly indebted to Mr. Ellsworth, for 

 his distinguished and disinterested efforts lor the ad- 

 vancement of the agricultural interests of the ooiin- 

 iry.— Ed. 



PATENT OFFICE, 



July 20//i, 1342. 

 Sir — I have the honor to transmit a parcel of Med- 

 iterranean Wheat, respecting which much has lately 

 been publi.ihed, and the peculiar qualities of which 

 are described m the accompanying loiters from Dr. 

 Smith of Philadelphia, and Mr. Powell, seedsman, in 

 the same city. 



I am, most respectfully yours, 



H. L. ELLSWORTH. 



' Philadelpliin, July \Hh, 1842. 



Dear Sir — Tours of the 6th instant, came duly to 

 band, and I should have answered it sooner, had busi- 

 ness and other circumstances permitted. 



That variety of ibe Mediierranean Wheat which I 

 have sown tiir several years past, I consider proof 

 agninst the ['ly and almost proof against the Rust. 



For Ibe former, no rationol explanation has thus 

 far been given : but the instances have been so nume- 

 rous where this and the other kinds of Wheat among 

 us have been sown on adjoining lands in the same 

 field, with cultivation precisely the same — whereMis 



Philadelphia, July Uth, 1842. 

 H. L. Ellsworth, Esq. — 



Dear Sir — So far as heard from, the Mediterranean 

 Wheat grows more in favor as it becomes better known, 

 Mr White, formerly a merchant ofour city, stated to 

 me last fall, that be had tested side by side with two 

 or three others, and that this was the only one escap- 

 ed Rust, Fly, &c. It is an early Wheat, adapts itself 

 to the generality of soil, but especially to light sand — 

 and as it becom-^s acclimated assumes more the cast 

 of our Orange Wheat. I find a concurring opinion 

 from many neighborhoods, that the Mediterranean 

 Wheat this season, exceeds by great odds, all other 

 varieties. I can supply a clean good article, as per 

 samp'e, at|;I,75 per bushel. 



Very respectfully, 



M. S. POWELL, 

 23 Marke t-street. 



Silk Machine. 



Dr. A. K. Spsulding, of Maumee, Ohio, writes, 

 that be has a Silk Machine far superior to any appara- 

 tus to be found elsewhere. That it — 



1. Secures the most perfect ventilation to the 

 worm in all its stages. 



2. It enables the feeder to change them with great 

 rapidity, even a hundred thousand per hour. 



3. It furnishes the most complete windin" cham- 

 bers, exactly suited to the wishes of the worm. 



4. The cocoons can be gathered from these cham- 

 bers .500 per cent faster than from any other known, 

 saving all the floes perfectly clean. 



5. It may be adapted to a room of any size, and 

 may be used in any spare room or parlour without in- 

 ury. 



6. It can be made by any one who can use a hand- 

 saw and hammer, and at an expense little more than 

 that of plain shelves — being the most simple and most 



has remained untouched by the Fly, produi ing a heavy economical as well aa the best method of fitting up a 

 crop, and the othrrt a\n\oH entirely destroyed, that " ' ■ ■" 



the most sceptical have no longer any doubts upon the 

 Bubject. 



But that it should so generaV.ij escape the mildew 

 we have endeavored to ctplaiii from the fact, that it 

 ripens Irom ten to twelve days earlier, than any wheat 

 now sown in the Middle or Eastern States (as far as 

 my knowledge extends). But that this is a full and 

 eatisfoctory explanation I am not entirely prepared to 

 believe ; for the causes to whicli we have generally 

 attributed the production of mildew may exist, when 

 this Wheat lasn^crptiUe of being aeicd uponby them, 

 as well HS the other kinds. 



These causes we understand to be : 



1 . Thit state of the Plimt when the grain is fully 

 formed liut very solt and milky, the whole energies of 

 the plant directed to its perfection, and the sap vessels 

 all distended. 



2. That state of the Atmosphere which tends still 

 farther to distend the vessels ; as heavy dews, and logs 

 and clouds, which obscure the Sun for several hours 

 after his rising. 



X A sudden outbreaking of the Sun, with such 

 power aa to rupture the tap vessels of the plant, there- 

 by giving a nidus for the Seeds of the Parasite to take 

 root. 



But be the causes what they may, it is rarely ir jur- 

 ed by tiio Fly or Rust; nor are these all its advantages 

 over any Wheat among \is For it may he sown 

 from the first of September to the middle of October, 

 and upon soil so thin that the farmer would no: think 

 of snwingany other kind of Wheat, and yet produce 

 a fiir crop. 



I have sown it for two years, a^ier a crop o( corn 

 and potatoes had been taisen from the ground, and ful- 

 ly believe, that the yield after the potatoes, was up 

 wards of thirty bushels In the acre. 



If sown eaily, one and a hall bushels per acre will 

 be enougih, but if not sown till in October, at least 

 two bushels should be sown. 



Now although the straw is so soft that il will most 

 ceitaiuly fall in rich ground, still it ripens well, even 

 should the timothy grow up throiwh it and hide it 

 from view. Andaltiiough the grain is not so while 

 and mellow, as some other varieties of Wheat, elill, 

 that it will p'oduce more superfine flour to the acre 

 for 11 given number of years than any other Wheal 

 now extant, I feel no hesitation jn asserting. 



I shall bo able to pupply any moderate quantity in 

 time fir sowing, delivered at any place to be mention 

 ed in Philadelphia. 



With seniimen 8 of regard, 



I remain your friend, 



„ „ , ^ MOSES B. SMITH. 



xaoK. H. L. Er.LswoRTH, 



Commis»ioner of Paitnts, , 



cocoonery, ever yet invented, either in Europe' or 

 America. 



He adds— 



" A letter enclosingone dollar current in New York 

 and Boston, free of expense to the proprietor, shall be 

 answered, and enclose a perfect drawing and descrip- 

 tion so perfectly plain that it may bo understood by 

 any one who can read the description — and twenty 

 five dollars enclosed as above shall entitle the payer or 

 payers to five rights, or the right to the coiin'y in 

 which they live. Single rights ten dollars, and a per- 

 fect model sent to order." 



We conftes vra are anxious to know something 

 more of this invention ; and when we shall have be- 

 come betier acquainted with ils merits, will inform 

 our readers of the same. 



ludian Coru. 



When David Thomas travelled through Indiana in 

 1818, he visited a prairie near Vincenncs on which a 

 luxuri.int crop of Indian corn had grown for more than 

 sixty years in succession, without the aid of any kind 

 of manure. He was then of opinion if f mistake not, 

 that the soil contained a mineral substance which con- 

 tributed to the inorganic structure of the plant ; per- 

 forming at the same time the office of collecting by 



.emical attraction tlie carbon and ammonia of the 

 osphere, to nourish the organic development of the 



^en 



When travelling along the alluvial flats of the Cuy- 

 ahoga in 182S, I noticed that each stalk in a hill of 

 corn pvo.luccd one large car and sometimes two oars ; 

 I have evciy year since tried, by high manuring, to 

 ])roducc the same result in my garden, but without suc- 

 cess until the present season. I could always produce 

 stalks as thrifty and large as the river bottom, but the 

 ears did not set or fill to the same extent. I attribute 

 my success this year to the accidental combination of 

 a just proportion of heat and moisture at the time when 

 the pollen was distributed; this happy combination 

 nightly takes place on the river bottoms, and perhaps, 

 also, on the upland prairies near the Wabash at Vin- 

 cennes, by the aid of the heavy night dews and river 

 fogs almost unknown in this region, at least to the sa ne 

 extent of aqueous profusion, as it exhibits on the bot- 

 toms and prairies of the great South West. 



But apropos of mineral or inorganic manures, it is , 

 now well known that wood ashes contains about elev- 

 en dinerenl incombustible substances in greater or less 



quantities, all of which must be sufficiently compo- 

 nent in the soil, before the perfect developement of veg- 

 etable growth, and the full maximum of cereal maturity 

 can be produced in the plant ; vrgctable manures un- 

 doubtedly supply all these substances, but they are not 

 sufficiently concentrated or administered in sufficient 

 quantities, to do any thing more than to produce du- 

 ring its decomposition (which in worm lands hardly 

 reaches beyond two or three crops,) the maxunum 

 yield. 



May we not, therefore, infer that the cause of the 

 perpetual fertility of Vincennes Prairie, is the great 

 abundance of decomposed vegetable matter there 

 found, not in the usual form or deposit of semi vegeta- 

 ble decomposition to be diminished or exhausted by a 

 few years croj>inng| but in something like the more con- 

 densed and indestructible form of wood ashes 1 I 

 have otlen wished that we had in our country more 

 analytical skill and enthusiasm in the cause of a^ricul- 

 tural chemistry, in order that the theory of mineral 

 manures might be better understood. The learned and 

 indefatigable Sprcngel, supported by the opinion of 

 Licl ig, has shown incontestibly that plants have inor- 

 ganic parts which must ho fed and grown by the aid 

 of inorganic or incombustible food, that they " must 

 have mineral food as well as vegetable food." These 

 learned authors have faithfully exploded the old physi- 

 ological doctrine about the essential nature of vegeta- 

 ble matter, their chemical analysis goes to prove that 

 " all plants have two essential parts, an organic and an 

 inorganic part." S. W. 



iyatcrlo,Sept.8ih, 1842. 



The Prospect of Pricc8.~The New Tariff, 



Farmers should not be disconraged at the present 

 lo(V prices for their jiroducta. If our agricultural 

 staples are low, oil other commodities are low or will 

 be low in proportion. Besides when prices are low 

 the export of our suiplus productions is then the most 

 active. In 1^34 the crops were good in England, yet 

 owing to the extreme low prices of flour in the United 

 States, more was exported Ironi this country in that 

 year, than in any one year since that time I It is pro- 

 liable that the wheat crop in Great Britain will be abun- 

 dant this season. Still as soon as the price in New 

 York falls much below $5, an active export of that 

 article will commence even ti England, not perhaps 

 10 be consumed there, but to be S'lld in bond, ou: of 

 which large quantities are taken for exportation to 

 foreign British ports, and cilonies in the Mediterra- 

 nean, and in the East and West Indies. 



Since the reduction of duties under the new Brit- 

 ish Tariff, our export trade to England has very much 

 increased. Our packet ships lo London and Liver- 

 pool now go out fntl freighted with our agricultural 

 prnduciione, including naval stores and pot ashes, the 

 duties on which are reduced very materially under the 

 new tariff. 



Thus we see that the late fall in the price of onr 

 great western staple, Flour, so far from being a calam- 

 ity to the farmer, has had the effect to clear the 

 market by creating an export demand, which, while 

 it gives activity to the market at home, also pays 

 our foreign debt, or brings back an equivalent in spe- 

 cie, commodities, or credits. 



In 1838 our Flour Factors in New York were aided 

 by the Banks to monopolize the flour market and pre- 

 vent an export at .fS the barrel, which was ofTcTed for 

 shipment to Great Britain ; the result was that Eng- 

 land got her supply from the continent, and the fiour 

 which might have been sold at $8 the barrel, fell be- 

 low $6. Ill New York, Factors. Millers and Banks 

 were ruined ; many farmers were ruined, not directly 

 by the high prices they received for their products, 

 but indirectly by the mania for speculation, and ex- 

 iravognnt living which these high prices induced. 



The protective tariff bill recently passed by 

 Congiess, is doubtless looked to by high tarifT 

 advocates, as the certain harbinger of a prosper- 

 ous trade to the nation. I wish 1 could view all ils 

 prohibitory provisions with that eye of faith, which en- 

 ables the friends of restrictive law to look beyond the 

 simple laws of trade, for that mysterious accumulation 

 of wealth, which is based upon buying and selling to 

 each other, at prices sufficienily high to cheat both 

 pariiee into the belief that they are growing rich. 



Waterloo, 1843, S. W. 



