198 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
sorting out the large kernels only for 
seed. He had a coarse hand sieve made, and 
kept a person using it for several days every year. 
To secure 100 bushels for seed, or family use, 500 
bushels were sifted over. Four bushels out of 
every five passed through the meshes, only the 
fifth bushel of large plump kernels remaining in 
the sieve was thrown into a separate bin to sow, 
or grind for home purposes. Even that passing 
through the sieve was always good enough to 
bring the highest market price. This practice, 
pursued from year to year, produced marked re¬ 
sults in the improvement and increased yield of the 
crop. Not only does such a method improve the 
quality of the wheat grown, but it is the surest 
plan for getting rid of foul seeds. 
Many good wheat growers thresh all their 
seed wheat with a flail, to avoid crushing the ker¬ 
nels by using a threshing machine, which often 
cracks or bruises at least a tenth part of the very 
best kernels Their method is this : The whole 
sheaves are thrown upon the threshing floor, and 
the heads beat a few times with a flail, which' 
takes off a portion of the ripest and plumpest 
grain. The sheaves are then packed away in the 
mow to be run through a machine at leisure. Any 
one used to the flail knows that by only stopping 
to beat off half of the grains, he can, in a short 
time, thresh a hundred bushels. It is the last and 
smallest kernels that require the most of the hard 
knocks with the flail. 
No specific variety of seed has proved best in 
all sections. Experience and observation are the 
safest guides in each locality. Taking the country 
together, the Red Mediterranean has done far 
better than any other single variety. 
Preparing the seed. —To prevent all danger of 
smut it is always safest to soak the seed 8 or 10 
hours in brine strong enough to float an egg ; drain 
it well, and then shovel it over on the floor with 
fresh slaked lime until every kernel is well 
coated. Enough may be prepared at a time for 
two or three days’ use, if it be not left in a large 
heap to heat. The prepared seed should not be 
long exposed to the sun, before being covered in 
the earth. The lime serves a triple purpose; 
it prevents smut, helps prepare organic matter in 
the soil around the seed for furnishing the first 
roots with immediate nutriment, and also aids to 
destroy or prevent insects. We think a still bet¬ 
ter soak than the above is made by mixing one 
quart of tar with five or six quarts of warm wa¬ 
ter. Coat the seed with this, and afterwards roll 
it in lime. The tar affords additional nutriment 
to the young plant. The seed can be treated to 
the tar and lime and used immediately, or not, as 
may be most convenient. 
Mode of sowing. —For very many reasons, we 
strongly recommend sowing wheat, as well as 
other seeds, with a drill machine. The seeding 
is done much more uniformly, with little more 
than half the quantity of seed,—the saving of seed 
in a single season is enough alone to pay the cost 
of a drill, that is on a large farm, or where two .or 
three farmers unite in purchasing one. The seed 
is covered at a more uniform depth than with a 
harrow. Wheat growing in drills is less likely 
to rust, as light and air penetrate between the 
rows. Next to drilling, plowing in is advisable. 
A gang plow is admirable for this. The common 
plow, if run shallow, but at a uniform depth, 
leaves the seed in rows with a little ridge of earth 
between them. During Winter and Spring these 
ridges crumble down, and materially aid to cover 
and protect roots thrown out by frost. The old 
plan of harrowing in seed, which covers a part 
of the kernels two to six inches in depth, another 
oakt from half an inch to two inches, and a third 
part not at all, should be discarded—the sooner 
the better. 
The finishing touches. —Let the surface of every 
wheat field be left as smooth as may be. The 
growing scarcity of labor will increase the neces¬ 
sity of using harvesting machines. Let the small 
stones he pressed under with the roller, carried 
off, or piled up. If grass seed is to be sown on 
the wheat, now or in the Spring, it is important 
to leave the surface smooth for mowing. But the 
most important thing for the wheat crop itself, is 
to leave it well drained. Remember that it is the 
freezing of water in the soil, and not of the soil it¬ 
self, that kills wheat. (See § 1 and § 2, page 101 
of this volume.) If wheat fields are not already 
underdrained so that no water will stand in any 
part of them in Winter or Spring, then special care 
should be taken to have a good system of deep 
dead furrows left well opened—from every low 
spot especially, and then take care that none 
of them get choked or filled during Winter. 
HUSKING MACHINES. 
are seen thrust into the ear just before the opera¬ 
tor. By the motion of the wheel which is moved 
by a foot paddle, these chisels rise up, come to¬ 
gether, strike down into the ear, spread apart, rise 
up again, and so on. The operator simply works 
the wheel with his feet and lays down the ears 
under the fingers or chisels in succession. 
If a machine could be invented with intelligence 
enough to both pick and husk corn as it was 
driven through the field by horse-power, we 
should have some hope of relief from the sore 
fingers, (we speak feelingly) and aching shoulders 
incident to corn husking. But on this point we are 
yet skeptical. Several attempts have been made 
to construct machines which will husk the ears 
after they are picked from the stalk, but it ap¬ 
pears to us that we could husk corn on the stalk 
faster than we could pick off the ears and place 
them in a proper order in a machine However, 
we may be mistaken on this point, and on this 
account, or more to gratify the curiosity of those 
who may wish to know how husking can be done 
by machinery, we present an illustration of the 
last invented, and probably the best implement 
designed for this purpose. To explain its opera¬ 
tion, we may take two narrow chisels and place 
their flat sides together. Stick these down 
'through the butt end of the ear close to the ker¬ 
nels. Then draw the chisels quickly apart, 
and the ear will be pushed out of the husks, 
falling on one side, and the butt and husks on 
the other. In the machine here shown a similar 
operation takes place. The two chisels or fingers 
IS THE SEED CORN SELECTED? 
Now is the time to attend to it. Look out the 
most forward, thrifty stalks, where there are two 
or three good ears on each. Let these ripen 
thoroughly—if practicable, more than the general 
crop, which should be cut before the stalks are 
dry, in order to make the most of them for fodder. 
See last column of page 150, July number. Se¬ 
lect only for seed such ears as are entirely filled 
out at the tips and butts with plump kernels. Let 
these be kept in a dry place over Winter. The 
old plan of braiding them in tresses, and hanging 
them up, is by no means a bad one, though some 
may think it troublesome where fifty or a hundred 
bushels of seed corn is wanted. It pays just as 
well, proportionally, to expend time and care for 
a large amount of seed, as where only a few ears 
are wanted. Proper care in the selection of the 
best ears will not only improve the quality, but 
also the quantity of the next crop. And further, 
a little extra care in ripening and keeping seed 
dry, may save an extra planting next Spring—per¬ 
haps save the loss of a crop. 
DIG MUCK! DIG MUCK!! 
We have very often referred to the value of 
muck and swamp mud as fertilizers for all crops, 
and on all soils not well supplied with organic 
matter, and especially of the great utility of mix¬ 
ing it in large quantities with the yard manure, 
but we cannot return to this topic too often. If 
we accomplish nothing else than to stir up 
farmers to appropriate to their fields a moiety 
of the rich stores of organic matter now lying 
useless in the swamps, swales, and low spots, we 
shall not labor in vain. All these black earths 
are the remains of plants, and, as we have form¬ 
erly shown, they furnish just the elements to 
nourish other plants of every kind. If not al- 
already attended to, now is the time to dig 
out and pile up large stores of these materials, 
before the ground is filled with water. The Gart- 
ing to yards and fields can be done at leisure, in 
the later Autumn, or Winter months. Remember 
that one load of manure and two loads of muck 
are better than two loads of manure not so treated. 
MILDEW ON GRAPES—REMEDY. 
Mrs. H. F. McKay, of Naples, N. Y., inquires 
“ if an answer to ‘ subscriber’s’ question on mil¬ 
dew will be as acceptable from a lady as from one 
of the ‘ lords of creation’, ” to which we give the 
reply of the Irishman who asked if one man was 
not as good as another : “ Indade he is, and a lit¬ 
tle better.” Anticipating our reply Mrs. McKay 
gives a specific used by her husband, (one of the 
lords, ha!) for years, and no humbug. Take equal 
quantities hy weight of lime and sulphur; put the 
sulphur into a barrel of the unslaked lime upon it; 
pour on a kettle of boiling water. When the 
whole is thoroughly mixed by the slaking and by 
stirring, pour in some cold water and allow it to 
settle. One pound of sulphur and one of lime is 
used for each 40 vines. The liquid is applied with, 
a garden engine or syringe, so as to wet every leaf 
and bunch of grapes. The grapes require constant 
attention at the mildew season, which with us is 
from the last of July to the middle of August. A 
mildewed cluster is now a rarity with us. 
