372 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
* 
the means of preventing many an old one recover¬ 
ing from a stumble; but until our horse-owners be 
taught to look at this matter in its true light, 
the light of common sense, and until it be taken 
up by the influential landowners and more en¬ 
lightened and more considerate of the tenant- 
farmers amongst us, it is in vain to hope for any 
mitigation of this but too-universal cruelty. 
Hundreds of humane men, employers of horse- 
labor, there are in all our counties and towns, 
who if their attention were but called to the sense¬ 
lessness and cruelty of the practice, would at 
once see the necessity of the only prompt rem¬ 
edy; and in these go-a-head days Prejudice and 
Custom have but tottering foundations; the 
one is fast yielding to common sense, and Lord 
Ashburton’s much-to-be-desired “ knowledge of 
common things ;” and the other will not long 
stand its ground unless it has something more 
than the prestige of mere antiquity in its favor. 
We ourself have entirely done away with bear¬ 
ing-reins among our own heavy draught-horses ; 
though our carters were at first rather astonished 
at being desired to discard them entirely, and 
substituting a loose halter or rein at one side 
instead, they soon found that there horses were 
not a whit less manageable without bearing-reins, 
and that they did their work with far greater 
ease to themselves. A great friend of ours, who 
has turned the sword of a dragoon into a plow¬ 
share, and has paid great and successful atten¬ 
tion to farming affairs, gives it as his opinion 
that “a pair of horses, when freed fiom this 
useless tackle, and left to step in freedon, would 
plow from J if not one more land in a day, 
and with greater ease to themselves and less fa¬ 
tigue when the day’s work was over, than when 
confined in their action by bearing-reins.” 
It does appear not a little desirable that im¬ 
provements should be made generally in our 
team-harness, so that .all unnecessary weight, 
and useless gear, bearing-reins, &c., should be 
got rid of; and perhaps if the Royal Agricultu¬ 
ral Society were to offer a prize for improved 
harness, and give the sanction of its authority 
to some improved type, we might hope to see 
ere long a great and beneficial change in this re¬ 
spect. Change is by no means desirable for its 
own sake, but the change from a bad system to 
a good one—from a bad to a good implement— 
cannot be otherwise than advantageous to the 
community; and it is only by observing and 
obeying nature’s laws that we can hit upon im¬ 
provements which may be real and lasting, 
whether in mechanical appliances for plows, 
carts, and harness, or with respect to the practi¬ 
cal details of scientific cultivation, or the condi¬ 
tion and household comforts of our agricultural 
laborers. Agriculture fosters and embraces in 
in its maternal grasp the knowledge of high and 
noble sciences as well as that of “ common 
things;” and it is most unreasonable to hope 
that that powerful Society, which pre-eminently 
represents the influence, the talent, the enter- 
prize, and the humanity of our English agricul¬ 
turists will, among the thousand-and-one other 
improvement, which it has introduced and is in¬ 
troducing, not deem it beneath its notice to 
throw the energy of its influence against the 
unnatural system of bearing-reins .—Journal of 
Royal Agricultural Society. 
For the American Agriculturist, 
WHEAT CULTURE. 
It is the custom among us to sow wheat after 
oats. The ground usually among good farmers 
is twice plowed, before sowing. By some the 
manure is carted out before the ground is plowed, 
left in small heaps, and immediately scattered, 
while others think it much better not to draw 
the manure until the ground is cross-plowed. 
The latter commence plowing with one team the 
farthest side from the entrance, and with another 
draw the manure and scatter it broad-cast from 
the cart. About fifteen loads are applied to the 
acre, which is a fair dressing. Each day the 
cultivator is run over it in order to keep the 
sun from injuring the good effects. The latter 
course I deem to be far preferable. You can 
manure double the amount of land with the 
same quantity, because it is nearer the surface, 
and takes effect immediately, in the case of 
wheat and rye, while most of that plowed under 
goes too deep for the roots of wheat to penetrate. 
Our time of sowing wheat is about the middle 
of September. We sow about two bushels 
to the acre. It is a good plan to prepare the 
seed by making a brine which will bear up the 
drip and shrunk wheat to the surface, and then 
skim them off, having stirred it first. If you do 
not sow drip, and your land is free from it, I will 
assure you, if you have no wheat, you will not 
say it has turned to chess. AVe sow the variety 
called among us the Mediterranean. We have 
been in the habit of sowing, in part the Soule 
variety, but of late it has failed in many cases. 
It is the opinion of many among us, that we 
should change the seed often, but I should not 
recommend to change the variety. I tried an 
experiment of that nature three years ago. I 
sowed plots, side by side, of all the standard 
varieties, ten in number. I procured the seed of 
the best samples, bringing it direct from Genesee 
county at the time the State fair was held there. 
Of the ten varieties, only three proved to be 
worth sowing in our climate—the Soule, and a 
large berry with white chaff, which was on ex¬ 
hibition from Canada, and the Mediterranean, 
which is our standard wheat. The experiment 
has been worth something to me, for I immedi¬ 
ately abandoned the varieties that could not 
stand our climate. 
E. Sherman. 
Searsvitle, Aug. 15 th, 1854. 
INVOCATION TO THE RAIN. 
Ok, long-delayed showers, where linger ye 1 
The dying corn holds up its leaves in prayer, 
And the burning grass, and every sturdy tree, 
Murmur amen, unto the fiery air. 
Each cloud that rises from the distant sea, 
Is watched, as if our hopes were freighted there ; 
And every flashing message from the skies, 
To earth a glad expectancy supplies. 
In vain ! The sickly corn droops low, 
And cattle o’er their desolate pastures roam; 
The anxious husbandmen their toils forego, 
To dream of hunger for the winter home. 
The pleasant winds from foaming waters blow, 
And, day by day, the cloudlets go and come ; 
Yet breeze nor cloud the promised blessing bears, 
And still the sun with added fury glares. 
Earth writhes amid an agony of thirst, 
For ye, bright summer rains, too long delaying i 
Come from your misty bowers where ye were nursed 
By suckling clouds ; oh come, where’er you’re staying ! 
Earth, from your absence, is too much accursed, 
And, like a maniac, her own fruits is slaying. 
Come, gentle rains, emblems of truth and love,— 
And bring the peace ye have imbibed above. 
Bring with you strength to gasping grain and flower,— 
Bring hope to many thousand human hearts,— 
Bring freshness to each plant, and tree, and bower, 
Pining for thee as burning day departs. 
Burst over all, in one reviving shower, 
While into life and joy all nature starts ! 
Come, lay your softening kisses on the earth, 
And fill her veins once more with fruitful mirth. 
Cornstalk, in Baltimore Patriot. 
-« • «- 
A Good Answer. —An over-the-way neighbor 
fairly posed us the other night, by asking us the 
simplest question—“When is a fish crazy?”— 
and assured us it was only when the aforesaid 
fish was in-seine. We left immediately. 
REMEDY FOR 'WHEAT-WEEVIL. 
In answer to a recent inquiry, we gave it as 
our opinion that one of the most promising 
means of avoiding the weevil, was to sow early 
wheat on good soil, that it might advance to¬ 
wards maturity soon enough to escape the dep¬ 
redations of this insect. Since making this sug¬ 
gestion, we have conversed with a skilful farmer 
of Western New-York, who lives in the midst 
of a fine wheat region, (where the soil is rather 
light and gravelly, but usually produces excel¬ 
lent wheat,) and who has given it as his opinion 
that the severe weather of spring added to the 
attacks of the insect, has reduced the crop in 
this region to an average of ten bushels per acre , 
or one half the usual average, which is esti¬ 
mated at twenty bushels. He has just cut a 
field of the finest wheat, that has yielded over 
thirty bushels per acre , and a single weevil was 
scarcely to be found in any part. This crop 
was put in just in the close of summer—very 
early — on ground prepared as follows: A pas¬ 
ture possessing a fair amount of fertility, was 
well plowed with a double team, and a good 
dressing of well rotted or compost manure 
spread over the inverted sod. It was then thor¬ 
oughly harrowed, to break it fine, and to mix it 
with the soil—an operation of great importance. 
The whole was then turned under with a gang- 
plow, without disturbing the inverted sod. The 
wheat was then sown with a drilling machine. 
The soil was rather gravelly, not liable to be¬ 
come water-soaked, and none of the crop was 
winter-killed. This gentleman gives it as his 
opinion that wheat put into the very best soil 
prepared in the best manner, and sown as early 
as the last of summer, need excite no apprehen¬ 
sions of the weevil—he thinks it will be quite 
safe. Other wheat, which he harvested this 
year from ground last year in corn, was half 
destroyed, and he intends to raise none but in 
the thorough manner above described.— Coun¬ 
try Gentleman. 
FARMING IN FRANCE. 
One of the richest men in France, and who 
associated in that country with those distin¬ 
guished for rank and fashion, left Parisian gaiety 
a few years since and took to farming. He had 
his estates in Normandy farmed after the Eng¬ 
lish fashion, bought a steamer, and established 
a communication between Carenton and South¬ 
hampton, to convey horned cattle, sheep, poul¬ 
try, and all kinds of farm and dairy produce 
from France to England. The captain and 
crew are all English. The steamer makes one 
or two trips a week, and realizes an immense 
profit. A large establishment, both French and 
English, is kept employed by the fanning opera¬ 
tions and the steam traffic. Carenton is a small 
town, where Norman manners exist in perfection. 
It has a church near a thousand years old. 
Among the native farmers in the neighborhood 
agriculture is carried on with primitive simpli¬ 
city. Their horses are harnessed by coarse 
ropes and heavy chains, as in the days of Wil¬ 
liam the Conqueror. Apples, wheat, barley, 
beans, potatoes, all grow in the same field. 
Carenton is about 25 miles from Cherbourg, and 
is connected by a fine old Roman road, straight 
as an arrow. 
- ♦ $ « - 
Franklin College — A Noble Donation.— 
We are in receipt of a letter from Athens, which 
informs us that Dr. Wm. Terrell, of Sparta, has 
made a donation of twenty thousand dollars to 
the College, for the purpose of endowing a Pro¬ 
fessorship of Agricultural Chemist^, and that 
he has suggested Dr. Daniel Lee, the able editor 
of the Southern Cultivator , and now connected 
with one of the Departments at Washington, as 
a suitable person to fill the chair.— Sav. Rep. 
Shot at Sir Charles Napier. —The London 
Diogenes says: “ Since the race is not to the 
swift' etc., why wonder at the tardiness of the 
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