322 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



budding from twigs cut off and buried in winter, 

 an important purpose can be served. Stone-fruit, 

 though easily and safely budded, cannot well be 

 propagated by grafting. The buds cannot be con- 

 veyed alive and healthy any considerable distance 

 in summer, the usual (and supposed only) time for 

 budding. But in winter, the twigs may be safely 

 carried to any distance, and then, in the manner 

 just described, (if applicable to stone-fruit,) the 

 buds may be inoculated in the spring. 



"40. Lieutenant M. F. Maury, U. S. N., long ago 

 made some thermometrical experiments and obser- 

 vations on the difference and changes of tempera- 

 ture, on valley ground and different heights of the 

 hill-sides rising above. The results were, of course, 

 in accordance with the law r s established by science, 

 of the accumulation, radiation, &c. of heat. But 

 the differences observed between hill and valley 

 were unexpectedly great, and indicated important 

 and sure rules for the proper positions of peach 

 and other fruit trees, of which the young fruits 

 are especially liable to be killed by late spring 

 frosts. The surface, soil, and also the air nearest 

 to the earth, in valleys, or low lying land, are much 

 more highly heated in the day, and are also cooled 

 to much lower degrees in the nights, and especially 

 under conditions of the atmosphere most favorable 

 to the radiation (and loss) of heat. Hence, the 

 heat of the earth and of the air of valleys, in sun- 

 shine, tend to forward the budding and blossoming 

 of peach trees sooner than would be on the higher 

 hill-sides, (other conditions being alike and equal,) 

 and the much greater lowering of temperature in 

 the valleys, in the clear nights, and consequent se- 

 verer and later frosts, must act to kill tender fruits 

 when they would be safe on higher though neigh- 

 boring positions, where as great fluctuations and 

 extremes of both heat and cold cannot exist. 



Though the experiments and observations made 

 ajad stated to me by Lieutenant Maury would be 

 e&ough to assure us of their value as instruction 

 in practical agriculture, this instruction is not 

 merely of theoretical and scientific reasoning. The 

 rales indicated have, in some cases, been illustrated 

 m practice, and the practical results have been 

 found to accord with and sustain the theory. He 

 skated as examples of the working of the rule, the 

 following facts : 



In Amherst county, a gentleman pointed out to 

 fitim, a particular horizontal strip of forest land, on 

 which the young sprouts were never killed by se- 

 vere late frosts, when they were generally killed on 

 neighboring land of lower elevation. 



In Frederick county, there is an elevated ridge 

 of land on which the apples so generally are safe, 

 when all others in the neighborhood are killed by 

 frosts, that it has acquired the name of "Apple-pie 

 Ridge." 



When visiting a relative, in Albemarle, he found 

 that all the peaches had been killed by frost in the 

 peach orchards in the valley near the mansion, while 

 they had escaped, and were bearing in abundance 

 at another part of the estate, high up the side of 

 the neighboring mountain. 



The usual safety of the peaches on elevated lo- 

 calities near Washington, affords frequent and ex- 

 tensive proof of the rule. And these proofs were, 

 on one occasion, the more striking, by the contrast 

 of the peach trees of a very careful culturist, on 

 much lower land, having been all killed by frost, 

 when all the neighboring hill orchards had escaped. 



Lieutenant Maury farther remarked that the best 

 fruit-bearing altitudes were not the same in dif- 



ferent localities. They must depend on latitude, 

 and, perhaps, other conditions, and should be de- 

 termined by experiment. 



[Most of the following minutes on "smut," in 

 substance, were prepared for publication some six 

 weeks ago, and (after approval by the Committee 

 of Publication) were placed in the hands of a pub- 

 lisher, who carelessly suffered the manuscript to 

 be destroyed. Anxious that the warning and in- 

 struction should be still made available for the en- 

 suing seeding time, then already begun, the writer, 

 after reaching home, on September 23d, had again 

 to search out his authorities, and, without the aid 

 of any fragment of the previous writing, to prepare 

 what will here appear. This was all done in less 

 than a day, and the second reference to the com- 

 mittee and the sending to the press, &c, will follow 

 as soon as possible after the hasty writing. As I 

 could not again see the individuals whose opinions 

 are quoted, (except in a single case,) my frail me- 

 mory may have caused some errors or omissions — 

 though certainly not as to anything important or 

 material. These circumstances only have induced 

 the thus offering an apology, so foreign to my usage, 

 for even such hasty and imperfect preparation- — E. 

 R.] 



Marlbourne, Sept. 25, 1854. 



Smut in Wheat and Remedies. — Danger of Brine as 

 a Steep. 



41, The disease of wheat called smut is a mys- 

 tery, in respect to its origin or cause, and also the 

 manner of prevention. Among the difficulties of 

 treating the subject, some arise from the one dis- 

 ease, here understood, being called by different 

 names, and also from the one name " smut" being 

 applied to very different diseases of wheat. Hence, 

 many old farmers do not yet know what is smut. 

 The disease I refer to, if existing, is easily seen in 

 the field when wheat is ripening. Most generally, 

 but not universally, if one head of wheat is dis- 

 eased, every h$ad and grain from the same root is 

 completely smutted. The heads appear dingy, and 

 still darker when wet with rain. The skin of each 

 grain is whole, and the grain full, but turgid and 

 misshaped, and very dark. It is easily mashed be- 

 tween the fingers, and instead of white flour, the 

 skin is filled and distended with a loose black dust, 

 having a disagreeable odor, something like that of 

 putrid salt fish. The smutted grains of wheat, or 

 " smut-balls," when broken in the threshing of the 

 wheat, spread the dust over the sound grains, and 

 injure them for making flour, in proportion to the 

 extent of the contamination. 



Certain opinions in regard to this disease have 

 long been generally received as true, and have been 

 taught in numerous publications, and for many 

 years, mostly without being denied or questioned 

 by any opposer. Most of these doctrines, are gen- 

 erally correct. But to nearly all the general rules, 

 there are sometimes found, in practice, remarkable 

 and unaccountable exceptions; and which excep- 

 tions, no less than the general rules, it is very im- 

 portant should be known and understood. For the 

 want of such knowledge, great losses in wheat crops 

 occur every year. 



The opinions referred to, and which have long 



