THE CULTIVATOR. 
97 
from £6 to £8 per ton, (= to $26 to $63,) and so short is the crop 
of straw, that many cattle have not even that, and are dying daily; 
the sheep too are poorer than I ever saw them, and there is a great 
mortality among them; but I fear it will be much more so when the 
grass grows of which there is very little appearance yet, though 
nearly May. The present month (April,) has been the severest 
ever known, and still continues very cold. So much snow fell in 
October, that the harvest could not be got in, in the north of Scot¬ 
land, which, with the severity and long continuance of winter, has 
produced a famine there to an alarming extent, and subscriptions 
are on foot here for the relief of the distressed, without which aid 
the land could not be again cropped in many cases.” 
Gloucester or Cotswold Sheep seem to be coming into repute, and 
to have been much improved. The writer above, and who ranks 
high as a breeder, says his sales, comprising 40 of sixteen months old, 
made near j£17 each, = $75—and. his brother’s more than £15 each. 
THE GRAIN WORM, 
We are sorry to learn, has committed great ravages upon the wheat 
crop, and has extended itself, as we predicted, into Dutchess county, on 
the south, as far as Fishkill; and there are reasons to believe, that it may 
be found west nearly or quite to the Genesee valley. In a circle of 20 
miles around this city, it is estimated, that the product of the wheat crop 
will be diminished two-thirds by them; and we are told that in some 
cases the wheat fields have been opened to the farm stock, not being con¬ 
sidered worth preserving. The worm is also found in rye and barley— 
Some spring wheat was sown by us in May, in the hope of escaping the 
worm. It is now (July 16,) coming into head. The fly of the grain 
worm is seen upon it at evening, in small numbers. We shall note its 
effects in our next number. 
. We would here call the public mind to the fact, that three years ago, 
while the worm was yet but on our borders, the State Agricultural Soci¬ 
ety pointed out, in a memorial to the legislature, the apprehended evil, 
and urged the policy of offering very liberal premiums for the discovery 
of an efficient preventive; but their suggestions were not even cour¬ 
teously noticed. Such premiums might not have done good—bui-.thev 
could not possibly have done harm; and had they led to the discovery of 
a preventive of the evil, such a discovery would have benefitted the state 
millions of dollars. 
EXPERIMENTS IN MANURING CORN. 
A Muskingum farmer tell us, in the Zanesville Gazette, that last year 
he manured two acres of corn, on a sandy loam, putting a shovel full .of 
each of the following materials in the hill, and planting directly upon it, viz: 
1. Half an acre with sheep manure; 
2. Half an acre with chip manure; 
3. Half an acre with earth and manure from the barn-yard, the yard 
being ploughed; 
4. Half an acre with stone coal ashes. 
No. 1, planted on the sheep manure, did not any of it grow. There 
was very little difference between Nos. 2 and 3—the product being about 
50 bushels per acre,—while No. 4 far surpassed the rest, and yielded 100 
bushels an acre. Pumpkins were planted with each kind of manure; all 
did well, and gave a fine crop. 
The quantity of fossil coal consumed in the country is every year in¬ 
creasing; and if these ashes should prove to be a means of adding fertility 
to our soil, to the degree indicated in the above noticed experiment, they 
will become invaluable. We want more assurance, however, which re¬ 
peated experiments only can give, of their beneficial effects, and of their 
adaptation to particular soils and particular crops. We will be obliged to 
any gentleman who has experimented with coal ashes, if he will send us 
the result of his observations on the subject. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH GYPSUM. 
The following was given to the board of agriculture, by H. Smith, as 
the result of nicely managed experiments with gypsum and clover. The 
two pieces were precisely similar, lying alongside each other, and treated 
alike, except as to gypsum. 
CLOVER HAY PRODUCT. 
Per perch. Per acre. Value at 6s. per cwt. 
lbs. oz. Gwt. qrs. lbs. £ s. d. 
A. Gypsum,.. 42 0 60 0 O' IS 0 0 
b. None,. 14 0 20 0 0 6 0 0 
CLOVER SEED PRODUCT. 
Clover 
straw, 
per perch 
l 
Clover straw, 
per acre. 
Am’t at 
12d. per 
cwt. 
Seed 
per 
perch. 
Produce 
per acre 
Value at 
12d. per 
pound. 
A. Gypsum,, 
b. None,.... 
lbs. oz. 
16 0 
3 3 
cwt. qrs. lbs. 
22 3 12 
5 0 0 
£ 3. d. 
1 2 9 
0 5 0 
lbs. oz. 
0 10J 
0 2 
qrs. lbs. 
3 21 
0 20 
£ s. d. 
5 5 0 
1 0 0 
OUR CONDITION. 
“ With the hardiest and most enterprising population on the globe, 
and a soil unequalled in fertility, we have been so idle, or such improvi¬ 
dent cultivators, as to be compelled to depend on other nations for bread. 
Politics, and trade, and the mysteries of banking, and the haste to be rich, 
and the speculations in stocks and in western lands, have employed thou¬ 
sands, we might say millions, who would have been more honorably, and, 
it seems likely to turn out, more profitably employed, in following the 
plough, or in wielding the axe and hoe.” — Gen. Farmer. 
Men have sought too much to live by the labors of others, and not by 
their own industry.- They have built on foundations of sand; and now 
that the rains fall, and storms come, and beat upon their castles, they 
tumble into ruins. Industry is the only sure foundation, at least for the 
farmer and mechanic, to build upon. 
The moisture in the soil influences its temperature; and the manner in 
which it is distributed through, or combined with, the earthy materials, 
is of great importance to the nutriment of the plant. If water is too 
strongly attracted by the earths, [as by clay,] it will not be absorbed by 
the roots of plants; if it is in too great quantity, or too loosely united to 
them, [as in sands,] it tends to injure or destroy the fibrous parts of the 
roots.— Davy. Thus good soils contain clay, sand and lime. 
Absorbent properties of soils .—The power of the soil to absorb water, 
by cohesive attraction, depends in a great measure upon the state of di¬ 
vision of its parts; the more divided they are, the greater is their absorb¬ 
ent power.— lb. Hence the benefit of frequently pulverizing the surface 
among hoed or drilled crops, of thorough ploughing, and of pulverizing 
with the harrow and roller, to avert the effects of drought. 
The power of soils to absorb moisture from air, is much connected with 
fertility. When the power is great, [as in those that have a due mixture 
of sand, finely divided clay, and carbonate of lime, with some humus, 
and which are kept so loose and light as to be permeable to atmospheric 
air,] the plant is supplied with moisture in dry seasons; and the effect of 
evapoiation in the day is counteracted by the absorption of aqueous va¬ 
por from the atmosphere, by the interior parts of the soil during the day, 
and by both the exterior and interior during the night— Davy. 
TILLAGE HUSBANDRY. ~ 
RYE, 
Ranks next to wheat, as a bread corn; is used for that purpose in the 
entire northern part of the continent of Europe, and very extensively 
in the northern states of America, particularly in New-England, where 
it is generally combined with corn meal in the fabrication of bread. In 
Holland, and in some of the German states, rye bread is fed alike to 
horses and their drivers. It is considered wholesome, and the husk pos¬ 
sesses an aromatic and slightly acidulous flavor, which renders it agreea¬ 
ble to the palate. The bran should not, therefore, be entirely separated 
from the flour. 
Soil .—The soils designated by Von Thaer as suitable for rye, and be¬ 
cause, perhaps, that they are illy adapted to other crops, contain from 18- 
to 23 per cent of clay, from 75 to SO of sand, little or no carbonate of 
lime, and but 1J per cent of humus, or vegetable mould. They are con¬ 
sidered the lowest rate of sandy lands, and in the comparative estimate 
of value, as worth only one-fifth of the first class of strong wheat lands. 
A large body of the lands in the northern and middle states are therefore 
proper lands for this grain. In truth, it is generally sown upon soils that 
promise little return in better crops, and is too often left to shift for itself. 
Yet it nevertheless will repay good treatment, as well as more favored 
crops. It is the only grain that will grow upon soils containing more than 
85 per cent of sand. 
Cultivation .—Farms that will not produce good wheat, may be made 
to produce good rye; yet to render it profitable, it should not be made to 
follow, in consecutive years, as it often is, in the same field—sown with 
wheat, in the proportion of one to thirty of seed, rye is affirmed to be be¬ 
neficial to the product of the wheat, affording shade and shelter, and pro¬ 
tecting the latter from mildew, much improving the sample of the grain, 
and, upon light soils, often giving an increase of two bushels per acre in 
the product. This fact, which we take from No. 6, vol. ii., of British 
husbandry, may afford useful suggestions to those who raise wheat only 
for their household consumption. Rye will not thrive upon a wet soil. 
Its general treatment nearly resembles that of wheat. 
The seed is generally sown early in September, sometimes in August, 
and sometimes, in an emergency, in November. It requires more co¬ 
vering than wheat. 
When sown early, rye is often depastured in autumn, by calves, sheep, 
and even cows, without prejudicing the crop, and even to its advantage. 
It is often sown as a soiling crop, to be cut in spring and fed to stock.— 
The quality of the flour is improved by the grain being cut before it has 
become perfectly hard. 
Industry. — It is a serious misfortune to thousands, in these times, not 
to have been brought up to labor. Head work, without the co-operatj on 
of the hands, is becoming rather an unprofitable business to many. Ann 
