116 
WHEAT GROWING IN THE WEST. 
ceded that I know something about salt water, 
whether I do or not about the necessity of salt¬ 
ing bipeds and quadrupeds. But beginning 
where your correspondent left off, I shall dis¬ 
pute the point upon which he closes his article. 
It is not a “ mooted question, whether salt is ne¬ 
cessary to man or beast.” The argument ad¬ 
duced by Mr. R. is sufficient for a reasonable 
man, but here is another anchor to wind’ard. 
In Prescott’s Mexico, it is mentioned that the 
Tlascalans, during a war of more than 50 
years with the Aztecs, were confined to the pro¬ 
ducts of their own territory, and in all that time 
made no use of salt ; until the taste of the 
people had become so accustomed to its disuse 
by long abstinence, that it required several gen¬ 
erations after the conquest, to reconcile them to 
the use of salt at their meals. Evidence of a 
similar kind could be furnished to almost any 
extent, to prove that salt is not a necessary of 
life or health, any more than tea, coffee, pepper, 
spice, and spirituous liquors, all of which are 
stimulants to the appetite, or exciters of the pas¬ 
sions—very evil ones, too, sometimes. No de¬ 
generacy can be attributed to the Tlascalans, in 
consequence of their not using salt; for at the 
time Cortez appeared among them, they were 
the bravest and hardiest race in Mexico. J 
A Jaunt in Ohio. —I cannot follow the writer 
in all his wanderings—I must only stop at a few 
points as he whirls along a railroad, tiresome 
for its directness. Although Ohio has now be¬ 
come an old state in comparison with several 
others, yet it seems as though a great portion 
of the surface of its rich soil is still covered 
with the original forest, wasting its riches upon 
the desert air. 
Osage-Orange Hedges you say “ may make a 
substantial enclosure.” So it may —will it? 
[Yes, it does, and will. — Eds.] 
Wasting Manure .—You speak of the way the 
manure from the distilleries and pig pens is sent 
into the river as a great want of economy. It 
is not of the least importance. If they retain 
the hogs and whisky, what on earth more than 
that can the people want? 
Ladies' Department .—My daughters, as well as 
a great many other daughters, always look to 
this page for something new and interesting in 
domestic economy—things that may be relied 
upon not only as useful, but correct. 
Foreign Agricultural News .—This page is un¬ 
usually rich this month. Do not fail to refer to 
it when your horse has the colic. 
Phosphate of Lime. —This article which is no¬ 
ticed in the Editors’ Table as lately discovered 
on Lake Champlain, undoubtedly contains an er¬ 
ror in the figures—92 per cent, is quite too high. 
[We have the best authority for making this 
statement, namely, that of the gentleman, (and 
he is a good chemist,) who analysed it.— Eds.] 
If it is half that, it is valuable. Reviewer. 
WHEAT GROWING- IN THE WEST. 
As 3 r our paper is a national one, perhaps 
some of your readers may be interested in a 
brief statement of the system of wheat growing 
in this part of the west, and its actual and prob¬ 
able effects upon the soil and the purse. 
It was a very natural and obvious move on 
the part of the first settlers of the west to en¬ 
gage in raising wheat. Possessing a soil rich 
in the organic and inorganic elements of that 
noble cereal, and generally having but a small 
amount of capital remaining, after paying for 
their farms, they adopted at once, that course 
of husbandry which would yield the readiest 
returns for the capital and labor bestowed. But 
a most wretchedly destructive feature was giv¬ 
en to our early farming, which is ignorantty 
persisted in at the present time, to a great ex¬ 
tent. It consists in what is called “ stubbling 
inthat is, as soon as the grain is removed, 
and the hogs have gleaned the fields of the 
scattering heads, plows and teams are put in, 
and the stubble turned under; and this, at the 
proper, or improper season is again sowed with 
wheal. It must be sowed. If it cannot be 
sowed early, it must be sowed late, even if the 
snow flies. You will agree with me, Messrs. 
Editors, that this is a most baneful practice. 
Another practice is to summer fallow, or 
plant with Indian corn, and sow with wheat, 
each alternate year. This practice, although 
not so deleterious to our soils as the former, is 
highly pernicious, and should never be prac¬ 
tised without a liberal application of manure. 
The effects of these iniquitous practices are be¬ 
coming year after year more apparent. Our 
farmers are cramped; they have depended on 
the wheat crop, and that has failed; the poor 
little insect has to bear all the blame, when in 
fact, I believe the more effective cause, is to be 
found in mean, yes, mean cultivation, and a 
broken-down soil, a soil deprived or robbed of 
its essential elements of cereal constitution. We 
are almost certain of a good crop when we 
have a piece of “ new breaking ” to put in with 
wheat. 
But a small portion of the farmers in this 
part of the west have yet introduced the culti- 
| vated grasses. Marshes abound, from which is 
