24 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
fillerirair ^griraltirat 
New-York, Wednesday, March 22, 1854 
Bound Volumes. — We have a few ets (26 
numbers) of volume eleventh, bound and un¬ 
bound. The price, at the office, of the unbound 
volumes is $1.00. The bound volumes are 
neatly put up in cloth covers, gilt backs, at $1.50. 
We can also furnish the covers separately, 
gilt and all ready for putting in the paper, for 
twenty-five cents each. With the covers thus 
prepared, any bookbinder can complete the 
binding for twenty-five cents.' Volumes sent to 
the office will be bound complete for fifty cents. 
We are having printed a new edition of the 
first ten annual volumes of the monthly Agri 
culturist, which can be supplied for $1.25 per 
volume or $10 for the set of ten volumes. 
Acknowledgements. — We are indebted to 
Wm. Duane Barnes, of Middletown, Ct., for a 
copy of the annual address before the Middlesex 
County Agricultural Society, by Prof. W. C. 
Fowler. 
We are also indebted to some unknown friend, 
for a copy of the Transactions of the Michigan 
State Agricultural Society for 1852. There 
seems to be some error in the date, as several 
of the articles are dated during 1853. We have 
laid the report upon our table for a more thor¬ 
ough examination. 
-• 9 «- 
GUANO ON COEN. 
The Genesee Farmer says, “ whether it is on 
the whole better to sow guano broad-cast over 
corn ground, or use it in the hill, is still an 
open question.” 
We can assure the Genesee Farmer that if 
this be an “ open question” in Rochester, it is 
not so in all other places. The farmers in the 
vicinity of New-York have used guano for the 
past nine or ten years, and in every instance 
which has come to our knowledge during this 
time, of their applying it in the hill, from igno¬ 
rance of its caustic nature, they have lost their 
crop. We have made repeated experiments 
ourselves with guano—thus applied. Covering 
it several inches deep with earth before planting, 
and yet it invariable killed the corn. The only 
safe way of applying guano is as recommend in 
our last number, page S. 
The Farmer says “moisten with water, and 
crush the lumps with the back of a hoe.” 
It is much better to crush the lumps dry with 
a heavy wooden pounder upon a floor, then pass 
through a seivc till the whole is made fine. 
Again the Genesee Farmer says, ‘‘A trifle (of 
guano) taken up between the thumb and fin¬ 
gers, is a dose for a hill of corn.” 
We regret to see such advice as to quantity, 
in so respectable an organ. Unless the land be 
very rich, a table-spoonful at least ought to be 
applied around each hill. This would be about 
200 or 250 lbs. per acre; and many apply from 
300 to 500 lbs. per acre with good and econo¬ 
mical effect. Very poor land requires the latter 
amount for corn. 
The same article speaks of “ guano and wood 
ashes mixed with the soil.” If unleached wood 
ashes arc mixed with guano, the tendency would 
be to liberate the ammonia, and the guano would 
thus lose its most valuable element. 
We have not adverted to this article for the 
purpose of finding fault, but to guard those 
who use guano, against what we think would be 
injudicious practice. 
- » C » - 
SPRING WHEAT. 
There are several inducements to lead farmers 
to use every available acre for raising Spring 
Wheat. This crop is not always as certain or 
as valuable as the winter varieties, yet it may 
be safely put down as one of the most profita¬ 
ble crops that can be sown the present spring. 
A few hints as to its cultivation may be valu¬ 
able. 
Soil .—The soil should be as warm as possi¬ 
ble ; the short season allowed for growth and 
maturity requires a genial soil. If the season 
proves favorable, spring wheat will do well on 
cold clay lands, but the chances are better for 
that sown upon a dry, warm, loam}'- soil. If 
the land was plowed in the fall, and has been ex¬ 
posed to freezing and crumbling in the winter, 
so much the better. Such land is ready for sow¬ 
ing without the further use of the plow. Where 
the sub-soil is not poisonous, deep plowing is very 
desirable, as it will be better penetrated by the 
warm air. Let a part of a field be sub-soil plow¬ 
ed, and we can almost guarantee that the yield 
will be much greater, than on that part of the 
field which has received only the ordinary treat¬ 
ment with the common plow. 
Kind of Seed .—It may not always be con¬ 
venient to procure the best seed. Get the kind 
most available, which has been tried and proved 
in your vicinity. The Black Sea is not of so 
good a quality as many others, but in conse¬ 
quence of scarce by ever being attacked by the 
fly, it is highly prized. There are two varieties of 
this, the red and the white chaff. The red is 
generally preferred because most hardy. The 
white produces the best flour. The flour of the 
red is usually of a dark color, but it is sweet, 
and as palatable and nutritious as the white va¬ 
riety of winter wheat; and although it miy not 
bring as high prices in the market, it is equally 
good for home use. There are other varieties 
of spring wheat which arc of a superior quality, 
though probably not equal to the Black Sea in 
resisting the fly, such as the Siberian, Italian, &c 
Time of Sowing . — Spring wheat should be 
sown cither quite early or somewhat late. That 
sown early comes to maturity before the appear¬ 
ance of the fly, and that sown late does not get 
to a fit state to be attacked, till after this pest 
has ceased its ravages. The best plan is to put 
in the seed, if possible, as soon as the ground 
will answer to be worked, and if it cannot be 
done then, to delay several weeks. 
Sow spring wheat where the winter variety 
has been hilled out by frost .—We have found it 
quite profitable to sow spring wheat upon fields, 
or parts of fields, where the frost has killed out 
that sown in the fall. The ground needs no 
preparation. The cost of the seed is trifling 
compared with the loss of the use of the ground. 
Our plan is to go over the field, and wherever 
there arc a few square rods more than half killed 
out, scatter on the spring seed, and then go over 
it with a hoe or light harrow. Usually, at har¬ 
vest the winter wheat will ripen a little earlier, 
and in harvesting the patches of the spring 
variety can be left to be cut afterwards. The 
winter wheat mingled with the spring, will not 
be entirely lost, even if it stands a few days till 
the other ripens. We have often had both come 
to maturity at the same time. 
-© • •-- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
A SCORE OF QUESTIONS. 
1. What is the best plan of a barn for twenty 
head of cattle, whether with stanchions or stalls? 
2. The best way to make stalls for horn cattle? 
3. How to prepare land for all sorts of roots, so 
as to raise a good crop ? 4. How to manage 
them throughout? 5. Which kind is the most 
profitable? 6. Are Crowd’s churns a good sort? 
7. What sort of a weed is chess? 8. What is 
murrain and hoven in cattle ? 9. What arc the 
symptoms and cure? 10. What are all the 
names of diseases that cattle and horses are sub¬ 
ject to, with symptoms and cure, if space will 
allow? 11. Do you krmw any remedy for the 
wheat midge in wheat? 12. What kind of 
sheep are the best for this cold climate? and (14) 
where they can be had nearest here? and (15) at 
what price ? 16. What is a good bread recipe? 
17. Is rolling land beneficial? 18. Is the clod- 
crusher a useful instrument or not? 19. Will 
winter wheat do to be sown in the spring? 20. 
What is the price of turnip-cutters, and do they 
cut them in small pieces or slices? 21. How 
many bushels will they cut in an hour? 
Manoah Steves. 
Lower Coverdale, New-Brunswick, March 2, 1854. 
We publish the above series of questions as a 
sample of many that are frequently sent us. It 
affords us great pleasure to answer all corres¬ 
pondents when their questions come within a 
reasonable compass; but to reply in full to the 
above, and others received by us the past month, 
would require the republication in our journal 
of a large agricultural library, •vhich would be 
an injustice to most of our subscribers ; as they 
expect our columns to be more particularly oc¬ 
cupied with the topics of the season, and the 
current agricultural matter of the day. We beg 
respectfully, therefore, to say to our correspond¬ 
ents, that they will find most of their questions 
fully discussed and answered in the back vol¬ 
umes of the Agriculturist , in the Farmer’s En- 
cyclopedea, Youatt’s Works on the Horse, Cat¬ 
tle, Sheep, and Swine, Allen’s Work on Farm 
Buildings, ditto. Book of the Farm, ditto. Domes¬ 
tic Animals, and sundry other works too nu¬ 
merous to mention. These volumes may be had 
for various prices, from 50 cts. to $3 each. We 
will give a list with prices in a future number. 
We will now answer such questions of our 
correspondents as books cannot do so well. 
Quest. 6.—The Crowell churn is upon the 
whole considered the’best with us, as it gathers 
the butter after it has come, which no other 
churn does so well. * 
Quest. 11.—There is no remedy for the wheat 
midge, except by getting a new variety that 
ripens earlier or later than the sort you now 
cultivate. We have known much benefit de¬ 
rived from burning the stubble soon after cutting 
the wheat, and especially the grass in the fence 
corners, since this grass serves as a harbor for 
the insects, which is proved by the fact that the 
strip of grain around the outside of the field is 
usually much more injured than that in the cen¬ 
tral portions. It seems a pity, however, to burn 
up what might otherwise add to the fertility 
of the soil, if it can be avoided. 
Quest. 12.—If you desire wool, the Merino 
sheep is the best; if mutton, the Long-woolled 
