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1864. 



THE ftlti^IS FIMeK. 



275 



Time to Harvest Wheat. 



A very interesting experiment to determine the 

 proper time for cuttinji wJieat, is reported in full 

 in tbe Germantowii Teeegraph, reproduced from 

 last year. We regret that our limits do not per- 

 mit us to give the article entire. A field of wheat 

 of uniform growth and appearance was taken, and 

 two sheaves cut and labeled eich morning from 

 the 26th of June t<. the 20th of July. Each lot 

 was left in the field one day and then placed under 

 cover, and at an appropriate time thereafter sepa 

 rately threshed. Equal measures of each was then 

 carf ?ully weighed, with the following results : 

 The measure of that cut on 

 July 20, weighed 18 pounds, 14 ounces. 

 " 19 " 18 " 14^- " 



" 18 " 19 " 2 " 



" 17 " 19 " 3 " 



" 16 " 19 " 6 " 



" 15 " 19 " li " 



An experienced miller to whom the samples 

 were submitted without any knowledge of how 

 they were produced, selected that cut on July 1 1th 

 as the best, but hesitated between it and that cut 

 on the 9th and 10th. The parcels cut July 8th, 

 Tth, 6th and 5th, looked as well as the other, but 

 the miller reported them lighter, and said they 

 would dry away more. The experiment was con- 

 tinued by reducing the parcels cut after July 4th 

 to four lots, and grinding them separately. The 

 first or earliest lot yielded 16 per cent, of flour ; 

 2d lot, including the parcels cut on the 9th, 10th 

 and 11, yielded 78 per cent. ; 3d loty 76 per cent. ; 

 4th lot, 74 per cent. The flour from the 2d lot 

 was pronounced by far the best. 



During the first six cuttings the grain when 

 crushed between the fingers left nothing but the 

 husk and a fluid tesembling city milk. During the 

 next five it seemed to become much thicker and 

 the husk became more solid. That cut on the 8th, 

 10th and 11th, when crushed, seemed to be a soft 

 pulp with no juice. That cut on the 12th could 

 be broken very readily, while the last cutting 

 cracked under the teeth, like wheat which has 

 been kept all winter. 



All the members of the party instituting the ex- 

 periment resolved unanimously, that the proper 

 time to cut wheat is when the grain, in the middle 

 of the ear. can be crashed between the fingers, 

 and leave nothing but the husk and a thick pulp, 

 without any fluid around its edges. 



What shall we Eat ? — Is an important ques- 

 tion in these times of high prices. Dr. Hall, in a 

 late number of his Journal of Health — good author- 

 ity, by the wav — says the cheapest articles of food 

 at present prices are bread, (especially corn meal), 

 butter, molasses, beans and rice. He shows that 

 25 cents worth of flour, at 8 cents per pound, con- 

 tains as much nourishment as $2 25 worth of beef 

 at 25 cents per pound ; and that a pint of white 

 beans, costing 7 cents, has the amount of nutri- 

 ment of 8^ lbs. of beeJF at 25 cents per pound, or, 

 in other words, the roast beef diet is twdve timet as 

 expensive as the beans. Furthermore, a pound of 

 Indian meal will go as far as a pound of fine flour, 

 costing nearly twice as much. Here are some of 

 the common articles of food, showing the amount 

 of nutriment contained, and the time required for 

 digestion : 



Time of digestion. Amt. of nutriment. 



Apples raw 1 h. 50 m. 10 per cent. 



Beans, boiled. . . ..2 h. 39 m. 87 per cent. 



Beef, roasted 3 h. 30 m. 26 per cent. 



Bread, baked 2 h. 30 m. 80 per cent. 



Butter 3 h. 30 m. 96 per cent 



Cabbage, boiled. .4 h. 30 m. 7 per cent. 



Cucumbers, raw. .. 2 per cent. 



Fish, boiled 2 h. 9 m. 20 per cent. 



Milk, fresh 2 h. 15 m. 7 per cent. 



Mutton, roasted. .3 h. 15 m. 30 per cent. 



Pork, roasted 6 h. 15 m. 24 per cent. 



Poultry, roasted. .2 h. 45 m. 27 per cent. 



Potatoes, boiled. .2 h. 30 m. 13 per cent. 



Rice, boiled 1 h. 00 m. 33 per cent. 



Sugar 3 h. 30 m. 96 per cent. 



Turnips, boiled ... 2 h. 30 m. 4 per cent. 



Veal, roasted. . . .4 h. 00 m. 25 per cent. 



Venison, boiled. .1 h. 30 m. 22 per cent. 



According to the above tables, cucumbers are of 

 very little value, and apples, cabbages, turnips, 

 and even potatoe?, at present prices, are expen- 

 sive eating. Some vegetables and fruits, however, 

 should enter into the family consumption. Among 

 those which contain the most saccharine matter, 

 sweet potatoes, parsnips, beets and carrots, are the 

 most nourishing. Boast pork, besides being an 

 expensive dish, requires too lengthy a drain upon 

 the forces of the stomach to be a healthy article of 

 food./ '■: V v. r < -. 



■ ' i»» ■ " ' '* . ■ 



Shrinkage of Forage Plants in Curing. — John 

 Wells, of Dorchester, a distinguished agricultural 

 writer of his time, said the loss of weight in drying 

 green herbage will b£ found to vary essentially as 

 compared with that of Scotland. It should be pre- 

 mised that the time of cutting the several grasses, 

 &c., in the following statement, was that usually 

 practised by husbandmen in this Commonwealth. 

 Of 100 lbs. of forage plants cured in 1822, the pro- 

 duct was as follows: 

 100 lbs. of green white clover, gave of hay 17^4 lbs.' ^ '' 

 100 " of red clover, " " 27}4 " 



100 " herds' grass, " " 40 



100" fresh meadow, •« '• 38 



100 » talt grass, •• " 39 



100 •« mixed, 2d crop of rowan" " 18% 

 100 " com stalks, " " 25 



100" ♦' cut in milk with ear 25 . 



It should be observed that the weight will vary, 

 from ripeness and other causes, such as wetness of 

 the season, shade, thickness of growth, kind of soil 

 &c. The above statement will be read with inter- 

 est at this time. — Boston OiMimtor. 



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