396 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[NOVEMBEK, 
em Italy and Switzerland, and is valued for the 
fine white flour and starch made from it, due to 
its containg more starch than other kinds of 
wheat. Spelt weighs 8C to 40 lbs. to the bushel. 
It has been cultivated in the United States, and 
has done well. Seed may be got through 
some seed importer. 
Walks and Talks on the Farm.~No. 35. 
I sent my Amber wheat to the city yester- 
day. I had made up my mind weeks ago to sell 
when I could gel $3.50. I could have got it be- 
fore I threshed. But the price fell to $2.25 be- 
fore it was ready, and I held on. Yesterday I 
was offered $2.55. This was what tliey were 
paying for the general run of amber wheat, but 
I thought mine better than the average, and 
asked twenty-one shillings. The miller said he 
did not wisli to pay more to one than be paid to 
others, just justifying those formers who say it 
does not pay to clean their wheat and try to 
furnish a good article. I have always contended 
that the better you could make it, the better 
price it would bring. Such certainly ought to 
be tlie case, and I believe it will be found so as 
a general rule. Well I was finally off'ercd $2.61, 
and took it for the one load. The miller, after 
he had bought, said it was the best wheat he 
had seen this year, and showed it to several 
other millers. He took the whole crop at 
$3.62'|a. I presume it will be higher— but this 
is high enough — for those who have to buy. 
But is there not a pleasure in raising a good 
crop and getting a good price for it ? 
I lost considerable from not having barn room 
for all my barley. That which was stacked out 
of doors was weather-stained, and will not 
bring as much by 10 cents a bushel, as that put 
in the barn — though fully as good a samjile in 
other respects. My loss this year from slacking 
would pay the interest on a good sized barn. 
It annoys me to see farmers sacrificing their 
barley, simply for want of correct information. 
Large quantities liave been sold in this section 
at 85c. to 90c. per bushel, and a dollar is about 
the outside figure for choice four-rowed. Farm- 
ers seem to have been seized with a desire to 
sell at once, and have rushed in the crop and 
taken just what they could get, from the idea 
that as the yield was large, prices must be low. 
Bitt they forget that hitherto a great portion of 
our barley has been brought from Canada, and 
that, large as the crop is with us, it is not large 
enougli to supply the demand, and that the de- 
ficiency must be obtained from Canada. The 
price at which Canada barley can be bought, 
therefore, will determine the price in this market 
At the time when farmers were selling here for 
90c. to $1.00, barley in Toronto was worth 60c. 
in gold — say 90c. in our money. The duty is 
15c. more, also in gold, say 22c., and the ex- 
penses of buying, commission, freiglit, etc., are 
about 20c. more, so that a Rochester malstercan 
not get barley from Canada for less than $1.32 
per bushel. Had our papers given this informa- 
tion, tliey would have saved to the farmers of 
Western New York over a million dollars. As 
It is, we have lost all the benefit of the duty on 
barley. I called tlie attention of one of our 
largest brewers to these facts. " Well," said he, 
" I am buying all I can handle at 85c. to $1.00, 
and of course shall not pay more as long as I 
can get it for less. But," he added, " I shall 
pay $1.25 if that is the market price." He ad- 
mitted that they could afford to pay it, and the 
only reason barley has sold so low is, thi\t farm- 
ers were afraid to hold it, under a mistaken ap- 
prehension that the market was overstocked. 
Potatoes are rottmg baJlj- — especially the 
Mercers. I am told that a farmer in tbis neigh- 
borhood offered to sell five acres forfive dollars, 
and that, after examming the crop, the offer was 
refused. The Squire says his Mercers are more 
than half rotted. On the low land my Flukes 
are considerablj- affected, but on dry upland 
they are excellent. They are about the best 
variety I have yet raised — little inferiorin quali- 
ty to the old Mexicans, and not unlike them in 
shape and smoothness of skin, while they j-ield 
far better. It seems essential, however, to 
change the seed frequently. On good land, I 
believe, as many Flukes could be raised per 
acre as of Peach-blows. But it would be neces- 
sary to plant much thicker in the rows, and the 
rows closer together. I would have the rows 
only two feet four inches apart, and the sets ten 
inches in the rows. Manure high and cultivate 
thoroughly, and on good warm soil a great 
yield might be expected. Many people object 
to manure, but if it is thoroughly rotted, I do 
not believe it promotes disease. The trouble 
with Peach-blows is, that they require a long 
season to attain their best yield. They will usu- 
ally keep growing until frost comes. But this 
year the tops of mine withered up the second 
week in September, just at the time when the 
tubers ought to have been making their greatest 
growth. The result is, that there are a great 
many small, immature potatoes. The yield, as 
it is, will be large, but if the season had been 
favorable for continued growth until the middle 
of October, I think we should have had three 
hundred bushels or more per acre. The Flukes, 
which mature three weeks earlier than the 
Peach-blows, had attained their full growth, and 
suffer little from this early withering up. The 
cause of this early withering of the Peach- 
blows I do not know. We had a severe frost 
on the 22d of September, but the tops of the 
potatoes were withered up a week or ten days 
earlier, and before we had any frost. It does 
not seem to be the disease — at all events there 
are as yet no symptoms of rot on the tubers. 
But perhaps there will be in a few days. 
The Squire paid me a visit this morning, and 
we walked over the whole farm. He says my 
young clover, where we put the superphosjihate 
and other artificial manures on the wheat, is the 
best lie ever saw. At harvest it looked thin on 
the ground and quite poor. But after the wheat 
was cut, it improved rapidly. It is now as thick 
as it can stand, and is nearly a foot high. I am 
saving it for the sheep I intend to buy for fat- 
tening this winter. As a general rule it does 
not pay to feed young clover too close in autumn, 
especially witli sheep, as they sometimes eat 
out the crown. But I think where there is a 
good heavy growth.they will not injure the plant. 
When we came to the corn lot, he had a good 
chance for " a dig." The cultivators were still 
in the field where they were last used. " Well, 
now," said he, " if that was on my farm I should 
not be surprised, but I thought you were going 
to set us a better example." I was foirly caught. 
I told him we intended to have gone through 
the field once more. " Yes, but that is two 
months ago, and I should think a model farmer 
would have found or made an opportunity to 
have got them home before this." 
Tliey shall not be there another day — or pos- 
sibly they will be there all winter. I will send 
a wagon for them purposely. I might have 
done so before, but thought we might have a 
chance to bring them home without sending a 
team on purpose for them. But I am satisfied 
that the better plan in such cases, when a tool 
or implement is done with fur the season, is to 
put it up at once, even if you have to send a 
man half a mile to get it. But my precept is 
better than my practice. I try to get things 
put up, but it seems almost impossible. 
But the Squire thought my com was a capital 
crop. It was injured by the severe frost three 
nights ago (Sept. 22), and there will be plenty 
of nubbins for the pigs. It is very unsatisfactory 
food for fattening hog.s, but if well steamed, cob 
and all, and mixed with sound corn meal, or 
barley meal, it will give a prett}' good account 
of itself To feed it alone raw is a great waste. 
Last year I kept my soft corn in a crib, made of 
r.ails and covered with boards, for several 
months, feedingitoutin snrall quantities through 
the winter. In frosty weather it would shell 
and grind nearly as well as the sound com — 
and that which was left on the cobs was not 
lost, as the cows and pigs cleaned it all up. 
But this year, if I mistake not, there will be a 
good deal of corn that will be altogether too 
immature to keep in this way. Still, there can 
be little doubt that such corn will ripen to a 
considerable extent in the crib, from the sap in 
the cob. Of course the crib must be a narrow 
one, or the corn, if very soft, will be liable to 
mold. In very cold weather, however, there 
is not much danger of its spoiling. I see the 
Agriculturist for last month, in its " Hints about 
Work," recommends spreading the soft corn to 
dry on a loft. This is a good " hint," and will 
be worth more to me this fall, as some of the 
old correspondents of the Oeiusee Farmer used 
to say, "than the subscription price of the paper 
for a year." It is a simple matter, but farming 
is made up of just such simple things, and I 
confess I had not thought of spreading out corn 
to dry. It is no great " discovery," (excuse me 
Col.,) but it is just such little "reminders" 
that make these " Hints about Work" so useful. 
We are making a cellar under the old barn. 
The soil is very dry, and I spread a few cart 
loads of it on the top of the manure on the wet- 
test parts of the barn yard. I was astonished 
at the effect. It absorbed the moisture and 
made a drier surface for the cattle far sooner 
and better than a good layer of straw. Of 
course we want some straw as well, but it is 
evident to me that a few cart loads of dry sand, 
or what is far better, dry muck, would save a 
good deal of straw in littering yards and stalls. 
Sand, too, when mixed with manure, has the 
effect of increasing fermentation. Prof Way's 
experiments proved this to be the case to an ex- 
tent far greater than any one bad previously 
thought possible. In our cold cliinate, where it 
is diflScult to get manure re.ady for spring crops, 
a little sand scattered occasionally on the ma- 
nure yard would increase fermentation and 
prove beneficial. 
I have two cows, mother and daughter, that 
both leak out a good deal of their milk. Is there 
any cure for it? I am now milking them three 
times a day, and this prevents it, but it is some 
trouble to go to the field just to milk the.se two 
cows. But we get nearly or quite as much 
milk from them at noon as we formerly did at 
night. But we do not get near as much at 
night as we do at noon. Why is this ? 
A lady met me in the city yesterday and told 
me she had just seen the De.icon, and that 
he said I " was going to make farming pay.^' 
