278 



MOOHE'B &U&AL UEW-Y02tK3ER. 



noticed other similar caeca. Now, do we really 

 get a materially earlier ripening oT the crop by 

 early sowing* This question * * oM lurttoeea 

 dUooued 



Wheat raising, to a majority of cultivators, is a 

 precarious business. Understand, I do not say this 

 is newipanly so- There are Scj lias and C'arybdis. 

 In steering clear of one we are liable to swamp on 

 the other. If we sow early wo risk the liability of 

 an attack oflhe'* fly "—an enemy to be dreaded as 

 much as the midge, judging from their operations 

 in ibis locality. If wo son early we arc liable to 

 get too large a growth in the full, rendering the 

 crop more easily aflee'ed by the contingencies of 

 winter— smotberiog. winter killing, heaving, etc., 

 — contingencies which may never arise in some 

 localities, or when ground is properly prepared by 

 draining, etc. But we are considering the ordinary 



I know two wealthy farmers, owning adjoining 

 farms, who summer-followed MOh a field— adjoin- 

 ing fields — and sowed to wheat. One sowed the 



Ittl HI 



.nguM 







The other, though fully ready, wailed m 



16th of September. The liut reaped an excellent 



of ground from which be should have taken 2j 

 bushels per acre, the last of August or first of 

 September last. He has just threshed his crop, 

 and obtained ten bushels per acre. He ascribes 

 bis loss to early sowing. These, it will be said. 



.l(L- J C 



old ■ 





Still they do not make a case. They simply make 

 an indication. But as far as my experience and 

 observation have gone, early sowing is rather 

 hazardous, and that tbc best time, taking one sea- 

 son with another, and considering all the exigen- 

 cies of the crop, will be found from the 15th to the 

 20th of September, Farmers, what say you r 



TIKE OF SOWING WINTER WHEAT. 



Mill . 





early, on rich la 

 I have often found tbe main stalk and many of the 

 strongest shoots had formed the first or upper 

 joint and an embryo ear formed nlso; and when 

 we have a very hard winter (sny the thermometer 

 sometimes from 1 l: to 20 below zero,) llio.-e embrvo 



i get 1 



litten i 



. the stalk 



grows np small, like Timothy, only getting about 

 two feet in height and not producing an ear or 

 head of any kind, not w» oheu. I think my farm, 

 a exposure, is more 



liable 



■ the i 



■ I.I.HVn nil, 





would, I -, 





liable to be damaged in that way than land other- 

 wise exposed. I have talked with wheat growers 

 wbo have raised more wheat than ever I did, who 

 thought of such a thing as tbe ear 

 and above ground in the fall, and 

 se, have thought it incredible had I 

 i to the field and dissected a plant 

 ear in embryo, which is sometimes 

 i the point of the finest needle and 

 sometimes as long as the finest needle. With a, 

 bright sun and good young eyes, or old eyes with 

 the best kind of spectacles, one can sec it is tbe 

 ear, and see marks where the grain is to be formed, 

 and with a microscope it con be seen very dis- 

 tinctly. May not this be the cause of those black 

 beads in wheat without either chaff or grain V— 

 Other years we have a great many ears with half 

 nn inch or rsore on the lop having no grain. May 

 not this be produced in tbe same way? When I 

 sow about the 20th of September I never have 

 those black ears without chuff or grain, I have 

 seen none of those in the Mediterranean wheat, 

 but 1 never raised much of it nor never gave it the 

 attention I have tbe White wheat. It is some- 

 what singular that in swales, or low black soils, 

 where wheat grows much largest in the fall, these 

 embryo ears are not so plenty (if at all) as on up- 



Tbis I think will be something new to farmers, 

 and no deubt wilt be criticised, but let them exam- 

 ine carefully for themselves. It is rather a nice 

 operation to dissect the stalk, it requiring care not 

 to break off the little ear. I would give my mode 

 of dissection if I thongbt I could make myself 

 fully understood. Dissecting oue will show how 

 wonderfully Nature has protected the ear in an 

 embryo state. The joint will be difficult to find to 

 those who never dissected one, but in pulUng 

 "ing they will generally break 

 1 good eyes will then detect it. 





NcnrC 





BEES- REPLY TO MB. BRAIL. 



Tut: " last snow," I hardly think, had anything 

 to do with the loss of his three swarms. It is 

 quite common for some few stocks to lose their 

 queens in the course of the winter, (about three 

 per cent,) and sueb are quite sure to desert the 

 first warm days in spring, and join some other.— 

 Probably Mr. B. did not notice this at the time, and 

 only found it out a few days afterward, 



Uisuothavingswarms up toJune 18th is nothing 

 remarkable. During the time that I hove kept bees, 

 1 huve watted several times till July before getting 

 a swarm, and many more times till after the £0tb 

 of June. In a few seasons I have had swarms in 

 May, sometimes as early as tbe middle. The earli 

 t always the best in the produc- 



For 



ney. 



iking wax, he says:— "We generally 

 P tot ib, oontf, [ n & coffcc 3ack t jn ft j ket . 

 Ue.and Bmk „ by puUing on ^ ^ 



nsmgonthetop; but it is always of a very dark 

 color, and not fit for market; - Th|a „ ^ the 

 process thut I would recommend for getting on 

 BDUll qUtntiUfl, onlylwoulj r, u t the W i hta ' 

 side with the combs; it win allow tl « t t" 



bo stirred about, and hasten tb Q pro -ess I 

 account for the dark color uw>88 t{ ^J"" 

 the sack, or bod condition of tbe combs — mould 

 °f » coffee flttck ma' 

 bo too large for tbe purpose — lotting through 

 01th — but I hardly think that could n rr ic t the 

 color. M. Qui,, 



N. Y, 1MB. 



ABOUT WINTERING STOCK. -CUT FEED. 



tin, i 



W, 1. 





,.,..-1,1 



nessing manifestations of vice. Itmay bo 

 that this is not necessary : that goodness and de- 

 pravity—wisdom and foolishness, need not always 

 exist in a state of copartnership, from necessity. 

 But this is a Theological question, which at pros- 

 ent I do not mean to discuss. It is true wisdom 

 that profits by the follies of others, and which, by 

 making a right use of just means, creates a good 

 instead of perpetuuliog an evil. 

 The above sago and exceedingly philosophical 



concerning the shortness (in this vicinity,) of the 

 grass crop, and the difficulty which some farmers 

 will experience in wintering their cattle. Somo of 

 them increased their stock last spring by raising 

 and buying, and now find themselves with more 

 than they can keep— as, with many, only half the 

 usual crop of hay was secured. Barley straw bos 

 been emphatically short, and what the oat crop 

 will be in this respect, cannot bo stmed, exactly,— 

 Wheat has done very well, generally spciilun^, 

 with regard to straw. In thinking thomatterover 

 I have arrived ut tbe conclusion that there is not 

 any very great cause of alarm, providing the right 

 tbing is done in the right way. And here let me 

 say that I am not giving your readers tbe beuetit 

 of a new discovery, but only urging upon their at- 

 tention an old and valued one, that has been tried 

 in the balances and found to be all it was repre- 

 sented. This right thing is, a practice of cutting 

 hay and straw in fine portions, and mixing there- 

 with sufficient quantities of meal to insure its con- 

 sumption. Observation has led me to feel a con- 

 viction of the practicability, economy and wisdom 

 of such a practice. It should be adopted into the 

 details of Agricultural Economy, and every farmer 

 should realize the necessity of cutting his hay, as 

 veil as cutting his grass. 



In speaking to some farmers concerning this 

 ubject, I have been met by the same antiquated 

 jaculalion which has sought to kill so many volu- 

 iblc improvements — " It won't Pay." 0! how 

 this eiclumutiou, like the embodied gbosl of old 



jm, throws its chilling, death-like influence 

 around the form of investigation, and prevents the 

 introduction of tried benefits. I had an oppor- 

 tunity last winter of witnessing tbe operations of 



it-payitc, and I am confident that in feeding 

 forty head of cattle by tbe old process of scatter- 

 ing bay here and there over his barn-yard ond 

 ound bis fields, enough ol it was wasted or re- 

 mained un-eatcn, to have kept three cows in good 

 condition. Now what is wanted is, an improve- 



i tbe 



. that ; 



fed from troughs — fed with cut feed. — 

 If this is not convenient, sheds can be erected to 

 the purpose, and then we want cutting ma- 

 chinery driven by horse power, so thut we can cut 

 up a whole crop of buy and straw, and have it 

 eady for use when wanted. Would not this be 

 uore cheap and economical than any other way V 

 Then with a lurge mixing box, (where necessary,) 

 and such grain as we feed, ground and carefully 

 mixed with our cut hay or straw, shall we not be 

 enabled to feed more cattle with less food than by 

 ordinary wasteful methods, and still keep them 

 better? I know not whether sucu machines as I 

 spoken of, have been invented. Neither do I 

 know whether this plan bos not been suggested or 

 led into execution. If it has, I make no doubt 

 it pays. If it has not, I find no greater pro- 

 portion of doubt while asserting that it will pay. 

 If the old practices urc followed throughout this 

 inter, many poor cattle will come out in the 

 spring looking as if they had been starved through 

 Friends, cut your fodder. Wo have not got, 

 ng us, the machines spoken of, but you can all 

 obtain small machines that will answer. Cut up 

 everything that you feed, grind your corn, cob and 

 all, and sprinkle enough on your cut fodder to 

 make it agreeably eatable; and unless I am mis- 

 taken you will find that you can winter your cat- 

 tle at much less cost, without buying hay at $18 

 or $20 a tun in the spring, without selling your 

 stock at low figures during this fall, and without 

 " stinting and pinching," two cows on the scanty 

 supply of one. It will cost you something to fit 

 up for this method, but make a calculation about 

 it, aad " gel into it " someway or other. Try it, 

 if only for one season. Agitate tbe subject con- 

 cerning those machines, find out what they will 

 cost, ond got up a mutual combination society to 

 build one. Let us hear something concerning this 

 matter, from those more able to give information 

 present but an amateur farmer. 



■ '-!, i 



, N. 



A RURAL LETTER ON VARIOUS TOPICS. 



Ru: 





night, spurred up by 



be barley field, drew in 

 whot oats were fit to bind, ond cleared up things 

 generally for a wetting-up time. And to-day we 

 are taking it in a sweet, gentle, delightful rain. 

 (The same adjectives are equally applicable to the 

 rest we are enjoying after a protruded season of 

 hard "field work.") How refreshing, after such 

 very hot and sultry days as we have bad the past 

 week, to have a half or whole days gentle rain, 

 copiously watering tbe parched earth, starting tbe 

 feed in dry pastures, and re-animating the face of 

 Naturo generally. How much more pleasant and 

 refreshing it seems, however, when we have no 

 grain to be injured, or hoy to be bleached— when 

 everything is properly housed ond sheltered. 



Rural letters, I suppose, should treat of rural 

 affairs; well, then, here goes for the crops in "Old 

 Allegany." Grass is light, and will probably be 

 not more than half a crop in bulk, and that half 

 of an inferior quality; but thit is much bettei 

 than in the dairy section west of us, where, I an 

 tuld, hundreds of acres will not pay the trouble o 

 cutting, and as a consequence cows are offered and 

 are selling very chtaji—l am credibly informed 

 from eight to fifteen dollars per head. Indeed, 

 were it not for machine mowing, acres after acres 

 would go uncut, the small products of which ore 

 now solely secured and sheltered. 



Spring wheat generally looks well ; straw bright, 



filled— a good crop. Bui 



very little attempt 

 I know of but one field, and mostof that was killed 

 by the June frost. Some fields of winter rye were 

 sown, but met with the same fate. Barley and 

 outs are fair average crops— oats were quite exten- 

 sively sown. Potatoes never looked better; de- 

 spite tbe frost, which "laid them low," they ore 

 very thrifty, and will probably, if tbe blight dues 

 not appear, (it has not yet,) be a good crop. 



The corn prospect looks rather dubious. Nothing 

 short of an extraordinary fill will insure anything 

 of a crop, and even then not an average one by 

 far. Many pieces were plowed up and sowed with 

 buckwheat, which looks very well as n general 

 thing; now and then o piece, however, nearly 

 destroyed by grasshoppers. If tho fall ia favora- 

 ble, a good crop may be expected. Lovers of 

 buckwheat "slapjacks" and maple molasses may 

 safely calculate upon feasting, to their heart's, or 

 rather stomach's content, upon their favorite diet. 



Speaking of grasshoppers — Ob, what host*, 

 myriad*, legions there are of them ! Why, 

 Xeaxes' army was nothing compared to them; 

 and tbey are mptrfectly lawless and ill-mannered 

 - stepping or hopping right in before tho cattle, 

 appropriating tho feed to tbe preservation of their 

 unwelcome existences, and deprh ing stock of tho 

 means of subsistence. Carrots, corn, clover, and 

 even May -weed* and tan.'-y urn levied upon to sat- 

 isfy the cravings of their voracious appetites. 

 We are in hopes that lice, cholera, plague, or epi- 

 demic of some kind will attack them, and thin 

 their ranks, if not completely destroy them. 



Is there no way of killing off woodchucks short 

 of hunting und shooting, or trapping them T Can 

 uot o way of poisoning tbem bo devised that will 

 accomplish tbe object? It eecms to me there 

 might. Will some one answer? They are a 

 great annoyance to us who live on the river bottom. 



Will winter barley, after heading out ond being 

 killed by tbe frost, then heading out again and 

 harvested, be good for seed? Will it be a* good 

 os of tbe first heading? We have a piece which 

 was so killed, about a quarter of which oguin 

 beaded out ond matured ; heads rather short, but 

 very tolerably plump. Some Rural correspondent 

 tells of sowing spring barley in tbc fall ; I would 

 like to bear more uponthatsubject. j. s. M, 



SEEDING TO GRASS. 



Eos. Rural: — Your correspondent of July Uth 

 wauted light on tbe subject ot seeding to gross. 

 Now I will tell him how wo do here in old Dutchess. 

 first place we plow the ground good, and 

 spread over it fine rotted sarnyard manure. Then 

 II it becomes well pulveri/ed. 

 The seed is then sown, us ng 10 to 12 quarts to the 

 We tben take a lizbt roller and pass over 

 tbe surface. Tbe proper time for sowing is from 

 the middle of August to the middle of September. 

 If you wish a crop of grass, sow no groin. I think 

 that if H. J. H. follows these directions he will 





>ich ( 



ing.— G. H. 11., DutchUl ;.'<.., A". J'., Aug. 1850. 



Ens. Ruhal: — A word more by way of amend- 

 ment, to H.J. B., on preparing grass seed. On 

 Friday lust, in preparing seed to sow on stubble, I 

 met with a difficulty which I had not encountered 

 before. Tbe air was hot and humid, and the brined 

 seed was not inclined to dry, even when tbe plaster 

 was added ; tbe suit and paster both, us I suppose, 

 inclined to attract moisture under tbc then state of 

 the atmosphere; (hud it been my first attempt, I 

 think I should have given itup, and culled it a bad 

 job.) All my former preparations have been made 

 ol weotber, and mostly in a stove room, 

 i, under a humid atmosphere, I would use 

 rine.— J. H., Henrietta, X Y., Aug. 1.'.. 



THE GREAT WOOL FAIR. -A SUGGESTION. 



Eos. Rural :— Noticing the recent great sale of 

 wool at enormouB prices, at the Wool Growers' 

 Convention, at Cleveland, Ohio, the question in 

 my mind is, Where was all that enormous quon- 

 tity of wool grown '( And why should not Western 

 New York have a placo for deposit— a Wool Grow- 

 ers' Convention, and a lime appointed for a public 

 sale, where farmers can deposit their wool and 

 attend the sale, if they choose?— where manufac- 

 turers can attend personally if they choose, and see 

 for themselves what they purchase, instead of em- 

 ploying local or itinerant agents, who may take 

 advantage of some farmers who don't take tbe 

 papers, und fleece them if they can — and tbe wool 

 has sometimes to pass through several bands be- 

 fore it reaches the manufacturer— all of whom must 

 make a profit, and thus the wool grower is fleeced, 

 if not the manufacturer. 



Among tbe seventeen gentlemen who made large 

 purchases at the above sole, there seems to have 

 been but one ogent— o Mr. Hutchinson. It is pre- 

 sumed tbe other purchasers from Boston, Rhode 

 Island, Piltsficld, Pittsburg, Ac, were owners or 

 manufacturers. I hope some able pen will do this 

 subjectjustice. S. Pikqson. 



Le Boy, N. Y., Aug., I860. 



Gaies in Chickens.— Dough, raised with milk 

 rising, is a sure ond safe remedy for gapes in 

 chickens, fed while fermenting, but while still 

 sweet. I learned tbc cure in this wise. We bad 

 some choice China chickens which contracted the 

 disease, ond tried every remedy that came to our 

 knowledge, but all to no purpose. In petting 

 them I let my bread run over, and when tbey 

 could not eat any thing else, I gave them what had 

 fallen, and found they were almost immediately 

 relieved. I have since set milk emptyings and 

 carried out a panful of fermented dough to my 

 chickens, when twenty or thirty hod the gapes, 

 and uot one that eat of it but was cured. When I 

 season tbeir food with salt, as for cooking, tbey 

 never hove the gapes. I write from on experience 

 of six or eight years, in answer to C. Uulklkit's 

 Inquiry ia the RuitAL.-H. Gavit, <,v 

 Co., I\i., 185». 



Rural Spirit of tlje JJrcss, 



Mr. Joun Wade, an experienced fanner wbo 

 resides near Port Hope, C. W., writes to the To- 

 ronto Glebe (under dote of Aug. 4tb) as follows:- 

 " 1 wish to avail myself of a small space in your 

 widely circulated paper, to say a few words about 

 wheat midge ( ( e^domyia TrUiea.) Prof. Hind, 





, did i 



communication I addressed to the Canadian Agri- 

 culturtrtin Seplembor, 1856. Quoting a passu go 

 from tbat letter with regard to the wheat midge, I 

 stated at that time ' tbat tbe Fife wheat is now as 

 good after being sown seven years as it was at 

 first, without tho least sign or vestige of failure, in 

 any shape except from Weevil • and to know that 

 you con be sure of a crop of wheut sown as late as 

 the 10th of June, and to 111! and ripen without a 

 epeck of rust, and yield 20 to 30 bushels an acre, 

 is scarcely a consideration.' 



"What I stated in 185G with a consideroble 

 degree or confidence, has been, I rejoice to say, 

 fully borne out by three years more experience.— 

 And what I would like to bring before tho public 

 at this time is a theory I entertained seven years 

 ago, and which in my mind is fully established— 

 that the ravages of the midge are confined to 

 about 10 days; and thut Fall wheat which has 

 shot before the 25th of June, has for all this time 

 comparatively escaped ; while both Foil and Spring 

 wheat Bbooting between the 96th of June and the 

 7th of July, has been more or less injured; and 

 tben the Spring wheat coming in after tbat time 



" I will now give you the result of my observa- 

 tions for tbe present season, in this vicinity. Tho 

 midge was first perceived on the wing on tbe 27th 

 June, and in that shape till the 7th of July. All 

 wheat in head before the 27th of Juue, was not 

 much injured; while all which shot between the 

 87th of June and tbe 7th of July, has much of the 

 maggot in it. A neighbor has a field of Club 

 wheat sown in tbe second week of April, clear of 

 insect; while another piece of land sown with 

 Fife at the same time is full of it. This is account- 

 ed for by the Club being ten days earlier in matu- 

 ring. I have visited several fields in this neigh- 

 borhood within the last two or three days. One 

 field sown on the 3d of May, will be damaged 

 nearly 25 per cent. ; another bowd on the 8th 

 will suffer about 20 percent.; and all I have yet 

 seen which was sown after tbe l2tb, is clear alto- 

 gether. I send you these few particulars, with tbe 

 hope that it will draw tho farmers to make closer 

 observations, as to time ond the habits of those 



the bobit of doing; having myself more faith in 

 evading the mischief than curing it, by trying to 

 destroy the insects themselves." 



L Ten 



eFari 



OgtO tbe So'/l'.'i'ir 



ffomcrtvad in relation to the saving of clover seed, 



saving clover seed arc principally imaginary; tho 

 process is simple and easy. After the clover fieldi 

 has been cut or grazed let the second crop come 

 on. When about two-thirds of the heads have 

 turned brown, cut with a cradle or reaping ma- 

 chine, raised well up, turning tbe grass into 

 double swaths to euro. When cured, rake up in 

 the morning, while the dew ia on, into convenient 

 parcels for loading with a pitchfork, and as soon 

 as all the danger for healing is obviated, get under 

 shelter, either in the burn or protect itin the field. 

 " Be careful uot to put it away while any moist- 

 ure remains on the plants ; and on the other hand, 

 don't handle it rudely when very dry, when you 

 don't want the seed to fall, for in that eondition 

 the heads shatter very easily. Having sheltered 

 it, you may wait, if you chooso, till winter affords 

 leisure for threshing out. Sow in tbe chaff", as it 

 is more certain than the cleaned seed. A bushel 

 m the chaff will abuudanlly seed un acre. I may 





ng, ho 



ble date, 



" Tbc second crop produces more seed than tho 

 first, and bencc the economy of first cutting or 

 grazing the field , though lann that cut for hay, 

 1 have often saved enough seed for my own use. 

 It is believed that more seed may bo saved by cut- 

 turned brown than at any other period, because, if 

 cut sooner, too many seeds aro unripe, and if 

 later, too many shatter out of the beads in cutting 

 and handling. Ry pursuing this course every 



farm 



naye 



A week or two ago we gave the "Creed" of 

 the Progressive Farmer, ond to-day present its 

 opposite, which we find on a voyogo among the 

 newspapers : 



1st. Invest all your capital in land and run in 

 debt for more. 



2d. Hire money to stock your farm. 



3d. Have no faith in your business, and be al- 

 ways ready to sell out. 



4th. Buy mean cows, spavined horses, poor 

 oxen, and cheap tools. 



5th. Feed bog boy and mouldy corn atovcr ex- 

 clusively, in order to keep your stock tamo. Fiery 

 cattle are terribly bard ou old, rickety wagons and 

 plow.. 



0th. Use the oil ol hickory freely whenever your 

 oxen need strength. It is cheaper than hay or 

 [Deal, keeps the hair lively, and pounds out all the 



7th. Select such calves for stock as the butcher 

 shuns ; beauties of runts, thin in the hams, and 

 pot-bellied, but be sure and keep their blood tbio 

 with scanty herbage. Animals are safest to breed 



It makes the fields look black and mournlul about 

 planting time, besides it is o great deal of work to 



9th. Never waste time in setting out fruit and 

 shade trees. Fruit and leaves rotting around a 

 place make it unhealthy. 



Tbe road to poor farming, though largely trav- 

 eled, is not well understood, and these landmarks 

 are thrown up for the common bensfit 



rTaqnota Mr. lUanoK't note, as follow; 

 hrcuhlng mj Dajiou wheat. After making a 

 o deduction for tho damage done by ftotl, 



work mi the Btatfl Fair Grounds Id progressing rapidly, 

 and tbat the exhibition buildings are already Tar ad- 

 vanced. Application having been made by parlies for 



faotorily to tbo Inventor and practical men who faivo 

 witnessed Its operation. It Is designed t.i perform tho 

 work of plowing, harrowing and sowing (by tho drilling 



by Holly's Rotary Engine, After a public lrlal-u> 

 take place near Seneca Falls, In afew davs, (nod waloh 

 wo shall probably wllneas and notice,) - the Cultivator 



great premium offered for the best steam plow exhibited 



Tub Early Errs WmtAT.— A farmer In Pickaway 

 "Early Elpo" wboat, and sent eumpk-s to ike Ohio 



BlllOWi:— "Tie wheal called Early Ripe li tbo kind 

 also known as Whig. Dayton, Ac, but the real name, 



T-.ii 



Z!L° D uV 



iTZ^Tot'^ 



becom 



whiter by en 



Jvaliou." 



„ 0P BKBW 



n ABesnEL.-A 8 



P'" 1 



r'^numbt 



of vurlous kinds of 





It alio adds 



he weight, by whlehv 





tho bushel in 



P* r 6W 





15,«0 







23,000 









