As the valley of the Ohio is a ' ve c j a _ 
channel for the SW wind, it leads to a ^ 
sion, that this rain sets in more early a ? 
than elsewhere on the same latitude m 
ca . There may, however, be some o 
meridian of longitude, that is situate< ' 
directly under the greatest influence o . 
• |( le of the polar opening farthest_ hom the 
1 'S- hence be sooner affected by the change 
„f season; for at such side must the winds 
° f MS i„ and out of the sphere with the grea- 
ti: 'c, u lc further support of my position, I state 
that 1 remember, as far back as the first or se- 
rond harvest, which was raised in the Miami 
purchase, that the rains frequently interrupted 
us very much in getting the harvest home: and 
that in passing from hence up the Ohio, by wa¬ 
ter in 1814 (with the first regiment) I found the 
mvheat was very little more forward in the 
' neighborhood of Pittsburg when I got there, 
than it was at Cincinnati when I started. I 
hence conclude (and more especially if these 
rains commence at Pittsburg first, as I believe 
they do) that the wet spell in July is nearly or 
quite over, before the Monongahela harvest is 
cut; and we know, that that country produces 
very good wheat. I am told, the harvest at 
Louisville is generally got home before this 
~ain begins; perhaps the strip of country is not 
wide on which the harvest and the remv spell 
in July happen at the same period. 
As wheat, or flour, is one o* the staples of 
the state, would it not be a politic measure foi 
the state legislature to grant, for a few years, 
such premiums as would encourage the pro¬ 
duction of a kind of wheat, that could be cut 
and housed before the 4th, or at lest by the 
I'Otli of July; for all that part of the state south 
of a line passing from Marietta in a W or WNW 
direction across the state; and for that part of 
the state N or NE of such line, a like encour¬ 
agement for the production of a kind of wheat 
that need not be cut until the major part of 
the rain is over, say 20th of July, or later, if 
practicable. If such dividing line should not be 
the most suitable, it could be varied after be¬ 
ing tested; at any rate, the farmers on either 
side of the line, would sooner forego the pre¬ 
mium than not use the kind of seed found to 
suit their situation best. The districts N and S 
of this line might be subdivided into ranges; 
and the periods fixed for obtaining or winning 
the premium varied according to the distance 
from the dividing line. 
When wheat gets wet, after having been 
ripe and dry, whether standing or cut, it swells, 
and again shrinks when dry. if this does not 
make the wheat weigh less to the bushel, it at 
least injures the flour, in proportion to the fre¬ 
quency and excess of its swelling; it may be 
considered as a small deg ree ox malting, hence, 
like malt, when moi sture and he at is applied, 
