AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 331 



to heating and sprouting lias been found to be less, and the same 

 princiiDle, carried a step further, indicates single sheaves set upon 

 the butts, near enough to each other to prevent them from being 

 blown down by the wind, as the best possible condition of grain 

 that has been cut and remains out in a rainy time, next best to 

 remaining uncut. When we have substituted for the old fash- 

 ioned practice of opening the shocks for the advantage of an 

 hour's sunshine — that of unbinding the sheaves for a like expo- 

 sure when circumstances will admit of it — we have reached the 

 best possible practice short of artificial covering, and it remains 

 yet to be proved that even that exceeds it. 



The only objection that can be urged against this process, is, 

 that the straw is more likely to be damaged by it, but the straw 

 is of very little value when compared to the grain. Managed in 

 this way, grain may be cut and set up in the most catching 

 weather, with no risk of damage, if care is only taken to see that 

 the sheaves are set up as often as they may be blown down. 



When the rust begins to strike grain, it should be immediately 

 cut and cured after this method, as the disease then stops, and 

 the shrinkage is less than if allowed to stand until ripe. 



Adrian Eergen, of Long Island, remarked, that he had long 

 been in the habit of growing rye on his farm, and that although 

 he cultivated it as thoroughly as formerly, yet his crop- had fallen 

 off from twenty or thirty bushels an acre to ten bushels. He 

 manured as well and plowed better than formerly. 



Mr. Field, of Brooklyn, said the same remark would apply to 

 the barley crop on Long Island, and no reason had been discovered 

 for this retrogression. 



Dr. Bartlett suggested the use of forty to fifty bushels of lime 

 to the acre, as it was probable the soil had become exhausted of 

 that element by the growth of grain crops. 



THE SOIL OF LONG ISLAND. 



Mr. Field said : It is a remarkable fact that there is on Long 

 Island a tract of land 70 miles long and varying from three to 

 five miles broad, which, in consequence of a particular prejudice, 

 although within an hour's ride of New- York city, has been 

 allowed to remain as unpopulated and uncultivated as the deserts 

 of Arabia. He contended that there was no good reason for this 

 prejudice, but that with proper cultivation those lands were capa- 

 ble of becoming very productive. 



Mr. Judd expressed his views at length on the subject. He 

 stated that there was much good land scattered throughout the 



