254 



fed upon fodder, cut by one of them connected 

 with the cutter, by a simple contrivance. There 

 are appropriate shelters for carts and implements, 

 convenient store-rooms, &c. In the centre is a 

 small steam engine of six-horse power, which 

 drives the threshing apparatus in the outside 

 building. The grain falls from the threshing 

 machine directly into a fanning-mill, which se- 

 parates the awns and light seeds ; by a set of 

 small iron buckets revolving upon a leather band, 

 it is then raised and delivered into a second, and 

 finally a third winnowing machine, from which 

 it comes forth beautifully clean. Another set of 

 deliverers take the chaff to the room above, 

 where the unthreshed grain is first introduced, 

 to pass once more through and thus prevent all 

 loss. All of this machinery is worked by the 

 engine, and much ingenuity is shown in dis- 1 

 pensing with manual labor. The steam also 

 cooks and steams the food for the stock. Mr. j 

 F. estimates its fuel to cost about £5 a year. A 

 large walled space in the centre of the quadran- 

 gle is devoted to the reception of manure from 

 the stables, piggeries, &c. The stock-yard still 

 presents a goodly show of last year's products. I 

 The frames upon which the stacks stand are all 

 numbered, to the amount of seventy-five. This 

 must be very convenient, especially with crops, 

 the results of experiment." 



From the same article we extract the fol- 

 lowing : 



"Manure. — Every possible means for the 

 collection of manure is adopted. A portion of, 

 the grass land is let to some persons from Edin- 1 

 burgh, in order that they may keep a dairy of i 

 twenty-four cows thereon. Their manure care- 

 fully preserved, adds materially to the supply. 

 In addition to this, and all the manure from his 

 own stables and compost heaps, Mr. Finnie told 

 me that he annually paid about £250 for ma- 

 nure from Edinburgh, giving from three to four 

 pounds for the manure of a single cow. As 

 much more is paid for the portable manures, 

 such as guano, nitrate of soda, bone-dust, &c, 

 making a total of about $2,500 per annum; 

 this too by a tenant farmer, one who has his rent, 

 and a high one, to pay. Nothing can be more 

 conclusive as to the -profit as well as the benefit 

 of liberal manuring." 



PRUNING PEACH TREES. 

 The Editors of the Cultivator lately visited 

 the celebrated nursery grounds of the Messrs. 

 Downing at Newburgh, in New York ; amongst 

 other things they remark, 



" Messrs. Downing practice a new mode of 

 pruning peach trees ; at least, it is new to us. 

 It is cutting off half to two-thirds the new wood 



of the limbs, every autumn. The advantages 

 are that the wood hardens better — the soft and 

 tender twigs, not sufficiently matured to stand 

 the winter, and which are besides most likely to 

 be injured by the aphis or other insects, are taken 

 away, by which the sap and wood of the re- 

 mainder, are rendered more sound and healthy. 

 The number of fruit buds for the succeeding 

 year are increased, and there are plenty of leaves, 

 by which the sap is more perfectly elaborated 

 and the fruit made larger and higher flavored. 



" The soil of the nursery grounds, is mostly 

 a gravelly or stony loam, rather moist. Neither 

 the worm or curculio does much damage here. 

 The solidity of the earth, makes it difficult for 

 the insects to enter it for the purpose of under- 

 going transformation." 



From the Cultivator. 

 BEST TIME FOR CUTTING WHEAT. 



The following experiments just performed by 

 the writer, to determine the best time for cutting 

 wheat, may possibly be interesting to some: 



1844, 6 mo. 29. — A few heads of wheat were 

 cut from the field, when perfectly green, the 

 grains hardly having attained full size, and being 

 " in milk" or quite liquid within. After drying 

 several weeks, a hundred seeds were carefully 

 weighed and found to weigh only twenty grains. 

 They were almost shrunk to chaff. 



7 mo. 4. — Other heads were cut in the same 

 way — they had just begun to assume a per- 

 ceptible shade of yellow. One hundred seeds 

 weighed when well dried, 35 grains, or nearly 

 double the first. 



7 mo. 11. — Other heads were cut — they had 

 changed about one-third in color — the grains in 

 the dough state. One hundred seeds weighed 

 46 grains, and would be regarded as a fair spe- 

 cimen of ordinary wheat. 



7 mo. 15. — Mostly become yellow — a few 

 streaks of decided green near the tips of the 

 chaff — heads quite erect. After cutting in this 

 state, and drying some weeks, the seeds were 

 very plump and fine looking, 100 weighing 55 

 grains. 



7 mo. 29. — Heads dead ripe and curved 

 downwards. 100 seeds weighed 53 grains, be- 

 ing two grains lighter than the last, which 

 would be a loss of about one bushel of wheat 

 in every twenty-seven, by cutting, if dead ripe, 

 instead of two weeks earlier as in the above in- 

 stance — besides the loss by shelling, and the in- 

 feriority of the straw. J. J. Thomas. 



SELECTION OF SEEDS. 

 In a letter to the Editor of the Cultivator Mr. 

 S. W. Jewett says, 



" In Albany, I met Mr. Robert S. Wilson, a 



