AS I 
402 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
A much smaller quantity of seed is re¬ 
quired, because no allowance need be made 
for portions left partially covered, or covered 
too deeply ; nor for a large number of seeds 
falling together, as usually happens in broad¬ 
cast sowing; nearly half a bushel of seed 
per acre may thus be saved, which, with the 
present high price of wheat, would pay the 
cost of a seed-sower the first year, upon a 
a large farm, or where several small farmers 
unite in purchasing one. 
Where the plants grow at uniform distances 
the light and air enter more freely, and a 
more vigorous growth is secured. Direct 
experiments have shown that where the 
heads of wheat stand well apart the kernels 
upon each head are plumper, and often more 
than double the number of those upon heads 
growing closely together. 
With the plants at equal distances, the 
roots occupy the whole soil, and do not in¬ 
terfere with each other, and there is a 
greater certainty of using up all the fertilizer 
applied to the ground. 
Next to drilling-in wheat Ave recommend 
plowing it in Avith shalloAV furrOAvs. In this 
method the grain is covered more uniformly 
Avith the ploAv than it would be with a har¬ 
row ; the plants come up in rows and admit 
light and air; and as they stand between the 
‘small ridges, the soil from these Avill crumble 
down Avith frost, and falling around the roots, 
Avill be partially equivalent to hoeing. Of 
course the ground should not be touched with 
harroAv, roller or brush after the Avheat is 
plowed in. 
MANURES FOR AVHEAT. 
These must be varied to meet the condition 
of the soil. Where the ground is cold and 
wet, and consequently contains undecayed 
vegetable matter, alkalies, such as newly- 
slacked lime or unleached ashes, are highly 
valuable. In soils not abounding already in 
sulphate of iron or sulphuric acid in some 
form, plaster of paris is an excellent fertil¬ 
izer, as it—-so to speak—catches ammonia 
from the air and from rain Avater, and thus 
supplies wheat with one of its best stimu¬ 
lants. Barn-yard manures of all kinds are 
ahvays good. We recommend less rotting 
or composting than is usually practiced ; let 
the manure, even to long straAv, be kept from 
fermenting, and get it under the surface soil, 
where it Avill without fail decay gradually 
and furnish just the nourishment needed. 
If this is done there Avill not be a Avaste of 
the greater part of the best elements Avhich 
are usually lost in the rotting process. 
Clover ploAved under Avhen at its full groAvth, 
and while still green, is one of the very best 
fertilizers for wheat. When clover, or 
manure, or sod is once plowed under, wheth¬ 
er before or after the harvest season, it 
should never be turned up again. Let the 
surface be thoroughly pulverized with a 
heavy, sharp harroAv, or with a cultivator, 
but never use the ploAv a second time, at 
least not deeply enough to throw up to the 
surface the organic or vegetable substances 
buried at the first ploAving. 
Of all “ foreign manures” yet tried upon 
wheat, there has none been found so gener- 
ally beneficial as genuine Peruvian guano. 
Wheat seems to delight especially in am- 
moia, and guano furnishes this in abundance 
at the cheapest rate. Much value has been 
claimed for super-phosphate of lime and other 
manufactured articles, but the benefit derived 
from these often lies more in the advertisement 
of the interested manufacturers, than in any 
observed valuable results. Comparatively 
good results have, indeed, been observed, 
but it is worthy of remark that these have 
always folloAved where guano, or some good 
substitute for it, has been added to the super¬ 
phosphate. The safer, cheaper plan for the 
purchaser is, to go to the fountain head and 
get the pure, undulterated guano itself. 
MECHANICAL TREATMENT OE SOILS FOR WAEAT. 
First of all, after making it dry, let it be 
stirred deeply ; we do not say ploAved deeply 
in the common acceptation of that word, for 
it is not always advisable to turn up to the 
surface a great depth of the sub-soil. This 
may be poisonous, or otherwise unfit for 
direct contact with the young plant. But 
it should at least be stirred below Avith a 
sub-soil plow to let in the air and allow 
water to drain off. If this is done the roots 
will strike down to a greater depth ; they 
will derive more nourishment, as well as 
sap Avith which to appropriate the Tood col¬ 
lected from the air by the leaves ; the frost 
will be less likely to heave them out; and 
the roots thus allowed by the deep cultiva 
tion to penetrate deep downwards, will be 
beloAv the temporary effect of the sun in long 
drouths or hot weather. 
Where under draining is not already done, 
wheat soil should in all cases be plowed in 
narroAv lands, and the dead furrows betAveen 
be left deep and Avell cleaned out, so that no 
water shall stand in the soil during freezing 
weather. A single illustration will show the 
importance of this. Dry or partly dry solid 
substances like soil, are but comparatively 
little expanded and contracted by heat and 
cold, Avhile water expands and contracts 
about one-eight of its Avhole bulk by a change 
of nine degrees of temperature, ( 40 ° to 31 °.) 
Eight measures of Avater Avill produce nine 
measures of ice, and a soil saturated with 
Avater Avill swell and contract in freezing and 
thawing just as much as the same bulk of 
water itself. Now a wet soil by these al¬ 
ternate expansions and contraptions, breaks 
and tears the roots of Avheat, and if it is not 
Winter killed outright, it will be so much in¬ 
jured as to have a sickly, late groAvth in the 
Spring^-a result not found where the soil is 
free from Avater during Winter. All Winter 
crops are in a similar condition. Hence, we 
repeat, let the best provision possible be 
made to keep the ground free from water 
during freezing weather. 
Killing Stumps.— Mr, HoAvard of Islip, in¬ 
quires if there is not some acid or other 
compound that could be used on stumps of 
trees, to prevent their sprouting so vigorous¬ 
ly as they often do. 
Either of the stronger acids, and especially 
nitric acid, if applied in sufficient quantities, 
would effect this, but the cost would be ten 
times as great as the frequent use of an ax 
for a dozen years. If no leaves or shoots 
are permitted to groAv for two or three years 
in succession the roots Avill die a “natural 
death.” It is allowing a few shoots to re¬ 
main every year that keeps alive some por¬ 
tion of the roots. No plant will long sur¬ 
vive the entire deprivation of leaves, which 
are its lungs as well as feeders. 
HYDROPHOBIA. 
There are a number of recipes going the 
rounds of the neAvspapers, for the treatment 
of persons and animals bitten by mad dogs. 
One premises !he existence of little vesicles 
or Avater blisters under the tongue, which 
are to be opened on a certain day, for the 
escape of the poison from the system. It 
can hardly be necessary to say, that all 
this is absurd as it appears to be ; that this 
is an old story again in circulation, and that 
these vesicles have been looked for repeat¬ 
edly but never found. 
Another receipt for the cure of canine 
madness, recommends some mixture of cal¬ 
cined oyster shells, to be taken into the 
stomach at stated intervals ; a medicine, of 
Avhich the most that can be said is, that it 
Avould do no harm. 
But all these receipts are productive of 
mischief, as any confidence that may be re¬ 
posed in them leads to delay. When a per¬ 
son is bitten by a dog supposed to be mad, 
the proper course to be pursued is, not to 
kill the dog, but to confine him where he 
can do no further mischief. The latent pe¬ 
riod of the disease in the dog is only eight 
or nine days, so that, if this time elapse 
Avithout any signs of madness, the person 
need feel no alarm. The longest period 
urged for keeping the dog in conefiment is 
thirty days. 
It is commonly supposed that if a dog bite 
a person during the time between having 
been bitten and running mad, on killing the 
dog all danger to the person is avoided ; but 
there is no ground for this belief, and the 
practice prevents knowing Avhether the per¬ 
son is really in danger. 
Expe^ence has shoAvnthatof those bitten, 
but a small portion are affected with the dis¬ 
ease. Hunter states an instance, in which 
twenty persons were bitten by one rabid an¬ 
imal, and only one had hydrophobia. Hence 
has arisen the multiplicity of “ sure cures '■ 
that are going the rounds of the newspapers 
—receipts that are worthless ; for Ave have 
yet to receive evidence of the first case, in 
which human intervention has delayed the 
progress of hydrophobia, Avhen the disease 
had been once developed. There is a case 
reported by a Liverpool surgeon, under the 
name of hydrophobic mania, which ended in 
restoration to health; but the bite of a cat, 
to Avhich it Avas attributed, occurred ten- or 
eleven years previously! 
The only treatment worthy of confidence 
is, preventive. It consists in removing, as 
far as may be, the poison from the Avound, 
and then searing its surface. To this end, 
it should be immediately and repeatedly 
Avashed Avith water. If a limb has been bit¬ 
ten, a handkerchief should be tied around it 
betAveen the Avound and the body, and tight- 
