30 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



30th of October, and on the 20th of No- 

 vember retained all the taste and appear- 

 ance of a good household bread. . The 

 bread is made in the usual manner, only 

 with less water and a little more salt. — 

 The beet root must be grated at the mo- 

 ment of making use of it. The Austrian 

 Minister has ordered different experiments 

 to be made, which, however, it is easy for 

 any person to do themselves. — Selected. 



From the N, Y. Commercial Advertiser. 

 EXPERIMENT WITH WHEAT. 



The American Agricultural Association 

 held its monthly meeting on Wednesday 

 evening. Hon. Luther Bradish presided. 

 R. L. Pell, Esq., of Pelham, detailed , an 

 experiment in the cultivation of wheat, 

 which appeared to us entirely new. He 

 said that on the 4th of October, last year, 

 he cleared the tops from a potato field, 

 burnt them, and returned the ashes, with 

 the view of sowing wheat. The seed 

 was prepared thus': soaked four hours in 

 brine that would buoy up an egg ; then 

 scalded with boiling hot salt water mixed 

 with pearl ashes, then through a sieve 

 distributed thinly over the barn floor, and 

 a dry compost sifted on it, composed of 

 the following substances : oyster shell lime, 

 charcoal dust, ashes, brown sugar, salt 

 Peruvian guano, silicate of potash, nitrate 

 of soda, and sulphate of ammonia. The 

 sun was permitted to shine upon it for 

 about half an hour, when the articles be- 

 came, as it were, chrystalized upon the 

 grain. In this state it was sown at the 

 rate of two and a half bushels to the acre, 

 directly on the potato ground, from which 

 the tops had been removed, and ploughed 

 under to the depth of five inches, harrowed 

 once, a bushel of timothy seed sown to 

 the acre, and harrowed twice ; at the ex- 

 piration of fifteen days, the wheat was so 

 far above ground as to be pronounced by 

 a neighbor far in advance of his, which 

 had been sown in the usual way on the 

 first of September, thirty-four days earlier. 

 A composition made by Mr. P., containing 

 thirty different chemical substances, was 

 spread broadcast over the field before the 



wheat came up, at an expense not ex- 

 ceeding three dollars. The yield per acre 

 was somewhere about seventy bushels. 



The flour made from this wheat, which 

 weighed nearly sixty-five pounds to the 

 bushel,' received the first premium at the 

 last Fair of the American Institute. The 

 superiority of the flour was owing to the 

 enormous amount of gluten it contained. 

 Mr. P. read Dr. D. P. Gardner's analysis 

 of the flour, which showed that it con- 

 tained eighteen per cent, of gluten, after 

 having been dried by an air pump over 

 sulphuric acid. His manures w T ere ap- 

 plied for the purpose of producing gluten. 



BEAR GRASS. 



We find the following in the " Southern 

 Cultivator" with respect to a production that 

 may become an important article of com- 

 merce to the Southern States. It promises not 

 only to enlarge the narrow market of the agri- 

 culturist, but the manufactures dependant upon 

 it, as those of cordage, matting, &c, are of 

 that simple character admirably adapted to 

 give employment to Southern labor. We be- 

 lieve the bear grass would grow as well in 

 Eastern Virginia as in Georgia. Mr. Myerle, 

 the writer of the letter, has long been cele- 

 brated for his skill and experience in the 

 growth and management of American hemp. 



Washington, Dec. 11, 1846. 



Hon, G. W. Towns: Sir,— I take the 

 liberty to draw your attention, and through 

 you the attention of the farmers of Geor- 

 gia to the importance of cultivating the 

 "bear grass" plant. From this plant hemp 

 can be made equal to manilla or sisal. — 

 It is indigenous to the whole Southern 

 States, hardy in its nature and easy to 

 cultivate. The articles which it closely 

 resembles, namely, manilla, sisal and jute, 

 are now in great demand — and that de-" 

 mand increasing daily. For rivers, ca- 

 nals, and all internal purposes, it is found 

 to be superior to any other cordage. From 

 manilla, the following articles are pro- 

 duced : rope, bagging and fine fabrics 

 equal, and for summer apparel, superior 

 to linen — the same manufactures, can be 



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