210 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
each portion was thrashed, the grain carefully mea¬ 
sured, and the straw weighed. On account of a wet 
season the grain was of lighter weight than usual, in 
G. Britain, per bushel. The result of the experiment 
was as follows :— 
With uncovered manure. 
Produce in (drain. Weight jper bush. Produce in Strata 
acre. 
bush. 
, lbs. 
lbs. 
stones, lbs- 
1 st 
41 
19 
61* 
152 of 22 
2 d 
42 
38 
do i 
With covered manure. 
160 do 
1 st 
55 
5 
61 
220 of 22 
2 d 
53 
47 
61 
210 do 
These and similar experiments have satisfied Lord 
Kinnaird of the advantages to be derived from having 
farm-yard manures put under cover. They seem so 
conclusive and instructive on this point as to deserve 
to be brought before the farming classes of this coun¬ 
try. Not a few of your readers, we doubt not, will 
take measures of some kind to profit by them. It will 
require but a few minutes to determine the probable 
profits of protecting any certain amount of yard-ma¬ 
nure. It appears from the above results that Lord 
Kinnaird got about 125 bushels of wheat more from 
the ten acres manured with covered dung, than from 
the 10 acres which had been manured with the unco¬ 
vered. In wheat alone, then, without taking potatoes 
or wheat straw into account, the difference in favor of 
covered manure was quite considerable. * 
Weeds—Weeds! 
We often observe, in passing through the country, 
the pastures of poor farmers crowded with armies — 
not of Turks and Russians—but of mulleins, horse- 
thistles, and other invaders,, which not only devour the 
strength of the land afid pay nothing in return, but 
continually say, like impertinent tell-tales, to every 
passing traveler, in the language of a celebrated writer 
“ Behold the field of the slothful, and the field of the 
man void of understanding! For Io, it is all grown 
over with burdocks, and Johnswort has covered the 
face thereof.” 
We take it for granted that no reader of this jour¬ 
nal ever voluntarily allows weeds to grow on his pre¬ 
mises, but some, however, obtain stealthy possession— 
and if some of our good friends of this class would go 
over their grounds, make a careful observation, and 
estimate the amount of vegetable growth thus feeding 
on the strength of their soil, which might as well be 
wheat, corn, and ruta-bagas, they would certainly be 
surprised at the amount. It would be a curious ques 
tion in philosophy, why so many will thus allow a year¬ 
ly waste from weeds of some fifty or a hundred dollars, 
with all quietness and submission, who would be rea¬ 
dy in a moment to bring an action at law against a - 
neighbor, whose cattle and swine should devour a fifth 
part of that quantity. 
If we could only have all the value of the riches of 
the country at large thus wasted, placed in our hands 
for endowing agricultural schools, there would be no 
necessity whatever of applying to national and state 
legislatures for help. 
Now is the very point of time for thinking this 
matter over, with a determination to act efficiently in. 
the premises , and if any one is too busy or “ drove rr 
to attend to it, he has certainly either undertaken the 
care of too much land, or else is pursuing a system 
which may emphatically be compared to u saving at 
the tap and wasting at the bung.' 7 No one is ever too 
busy to turn his neighbor’s cattle out of his cornfield— 
and he ought to pursue the same system towards other 
intruders. We have known farms to be affected in 
market value from five to ten dollars per acre, by be¬ 
ing kept neat and clean in one instance, and foul, 
.weedy, and repulsive, in the other. 
Remedy for Smut in Wheat. 
Messrs. Editors —I see a writer in the Country 
Gentleman, asks for a preventive for smut or fungus 
in wheat. This, together with the frequent inquiries 
made by our northern friends, in the wheat growing 
regions, induces me to give you one that is simple, 
cheap, never failing. It is simply a soak in water in 
which blue vitriol has been dissolved, in the following 
proportions: Eor each 4 or 5 bushels wheat, dissolve 
1 lb. blue vitriol in water sufficient to cover and pro¬ 
perty soak the wheat; let it remain in this soak 20 to 
24 hours—sow immediately after taken out of the 
soak. Pursue this annually and properly, and my 
word for it you will never more hear complaint of 
smut in wheat, however badly the seed from which it 
was grown may have been mixed with smut. This is 
the discovery (at least in this state,) of an old and 
successful planter and wheat grower of this district; 
and has been tested many years, always successfully, 
by hundreds, yea thousands. Some say this soak also 
effectually eradicates chess, in a few years, but of this 
I am not fully satisfied. But when properly applied 
and used, that it is a sure and effectual remedy for 
smut, there is not the shadow of a doubt. 
If new, or untried, with you, get a single farmer to 
make the experiment. He, you, or the country gene¬ 
rally, will never regret it. R. Stewart. Newber¬ 
ry, S. C. —<$*-— 
Destroying Brakes, Ferns, &c. 
Messrs. Editors —In looking over the Jan. No. of 
The Cultivator, I noticed an inquiry of D. C. L., Es¬ 
sex, Vt., as to the best method to destroy Brakes and 
Ferns. Having some experience in the matter refer¬ 
red to, I would state for the benefit of those who are 
desirous of ridding their land of these troublesome in¬ 
truders, that there is a “ royal road ” which leads (1 to 
destruction.” To kill out brakes, mowing in June and 
Sept., kills them in 2 or 3 years, except the bog brake, 
the crown of which must be cut with a bog-hoe or 
spade. Docks and burdocks are destroyed in the same 
way. Fern, mowed any time from the 20th of June to 
1st of Sept., raked and burnt, prepares the land for 
after improvement. The next season a good many 
sprouts will startup, enough to discourage the inexpe¬ 
rienced, but keep the guide board up at the beginning 
of the “ royal road,—” (here lies the secret)—in Au- 
