the former to be placed by an intelligent farmer as high as 75 per cent. increase on the crop of 1843, on account of the low price of pork and the almost no price to be obtained for corn.

A good judge thinks that the product of the wheat crop for 1844, in Gwinnett, must have been about 60,000 bushels, which was probably an increase of 20 or 30 per cent. over that of 1843. This favorable result is said to be owing mainly to the fact that the spring of the last year was dry a state of things which it is observed in that region always is favorable to wheat. On the whole, then, we believe that, from the best intelligence we can obtain, the wheat crop for 1844 in Georgia must be set down as 20 or 25 per cent. less than that of the previous year.

As to Iowa and Wisconsin, adjoining Territories, to judge from the accounts of the progress of the wheat crop, though there is considerable diversity of opinion, it was a very fair one. Thus, in July, we find the following notices. A correspondent of a public journal, under date of July 5, at Bloomington, says that "the fall wheat is good, but that it is expected that the rust will injure the spring wheat."

We have just received a letter from one of the largest wheat growers in Iowa, dated July 28, which states that "the crop of wheat in that Territory has been well secured, and the yield is full an average crop. The number of immigrants is very large, and all the breadstuffs will be needed for home consumption."

Milwaukie, July 25.-"The harvest has commenced in our vicinity, and the prospect is of a good crop, and the weather is very favorable for ingathering."

Southport. The harvest has just commenced, with most encouraging prospects to the farmer. Some fields on the prairies have been slightly touched with rust, but those in the "openings" have not, and none will be greatly injured. Some beautiful samples of new wheat have been brought into market already. That brought in by Captain Rand, of Pleasant Prairie, is as fine as we ever saw. Wheat commands 60 cents this week froin our buyers."

The Davenport Gazette of August 1st says "that the wheat crop in that country, under ordinary circumstances, would have been unprecedented; but the late heavy rains have caused rust to injure it, so that it cannot be called more than an average yield. Those who cut their wheat early rescued it from rust, but much of that left until fully ripe was scarcely worth the cutting."

Green Bay, July 16.-" The crops in northern Wisconsin (wheat and corn particularly) never looked better than at the present time."

Some later accounts, however, speak of the wheat crop of lowa as poorer than last year. In the northern section of the Territory, it is considered to have been very good; but in the southern it is said to freeze out more, and not to be equally large in proportion to the quantity sown. On the whole, as the cultivated tracts seem to be continually more extending, the crop in these Territories may be set down at an advance of 15 or 20 per cent.

Though but a moderate product in comparison with other more favorite crops, yet the wheat crop for South Carolina, for 1844, (differently estimated as a "fair crop," "average crop," "one-quarter more," "wheat crop produced abundantly,") probably was a general increase on the preceding year of about 20 per cent.

Alabama, likewise, owing to the great attention paid to the cotton crop, raises but little wheat. The crop of 1844, on the whole, seems to have been a "pretty good" one, and may probably be set down as an advance of 10 per cent. above that of 1843.

In Missouri, the earlier report in some places was favorable. In Madison, Washington, and Jefferson counties, it was thought that there would. be an average yield of wheat; but the heavy rains destroyed a large proportion of the wheat crop, so that it is thought that there was not more than half an average crop; and we feel justified in placing it at 40 per cent. less than the crop of the previous year, believing that, taking the various elements which help to form our conclusion into view, we shall not err greatly in such a deduction. .

Besides the particular notices which have been given of the wheat crop under the different States, we find the following general estimates respecting the wheat crop of the whole country, which it may be well to quote, as showing the views of those who have paid considerable attention to the subject. The Cultivator thus sums up the product of wheat for the year 1844, in a late number, (December:)

"This great staple product has yielded variously in different sections of the country; but in a territory embracing so many degrees of latitude, and possessing so varied a climate, it can hardly be expected that the same crop will succeed equally well in all parts the same season. In Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the spring wheat is generally cultivated, as it is considered better adapted to the climate than the winter wheat. The worm in the head, (cecidomyia tritici,) improperly called weevil, has prevailed there to such an extent for several years, that this crop has been considered quite uncertain. The insect has, however, been less destructive during the two last years, and, from all the accounts we have seen, the yield of wheat in that section has been generally good the past season. In the eastern part of this State, (New York,) the insect above mentioned injured the winter wheat to some extent; but in the Genesee valley, and the great wheat districts of the State, the crop was good. In northern Indiana, northern Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the fly (cecidomyia destructor) did much injury to the crop, in many instances occasioning almost a total failure; and we are informed that this enemy has already made its appearance in great force in the early fall-sown wheat. In the southerly part of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, wheat, in many cases, did not fill well; the growth of straw was very great, but the prevalence of warm wet weather occasioned much of it to fall down or rust. This was quite generally the case on rich land. On the uplands, of not so rich a quality, the crop was better, and the grain plumper and heavier. Taking the Western States together, however, we think the wheat crop did not give an average yield per acre, though, from the large quantity of ground sown, the aggregate product was not probably less than in any previous year. So of the country at large, there was probably as much wheat produced the past season as in any former one.

The aggregate of the wheat crop, as appears by the tabular estimate, for the whole country, during the year 1844, was 95,607,000 bushels.

The ravages of the Hessian fly are becoming every year more alarming, and there is great danger, if more pains is not taken in time to counteract the evil, that the wheat crop in our country will be seriously lessened, if not destroyed, by the same. In the hope of aiding the wheat growers

tion of foul seed, garlic, and filth, (except cockle,) is effectually taken out of the wheat by this process. He has no smut in the wheat since he adopted this plan. Glauber salts can be purchased by the barrel at about one cent and a half a pound. The wheat swells while undergoing the process about 25 per cent.; that is, four bushels will become five. If, after washing, it be left upon the barn floor all night, and thus become dry, it will lose a large portion of its increased bulk. It is better, however, to put it in the ground while somewhat moist, as germination will take place sooner; and the quicker any seed germinates after being put in the ground, the better. Besides the great object in view, the getting rid of smut and other impurities, there can be no doubt that a most valuable nutritive and stimulating principle is added to the seed grain, in the soda that is absorbed. Farmers will do well to try the experiment. They may be assured it will do no harm, and it is not very costly. Probably a dollar's worth of the salts would be sufficient for fifty or a hundred bushels of seed."

A distinguished agriculturist recommends the following recipe, on the information of one who said he knew it to be infallible, after many experiments: "Dissolve a pound of blue stone in as much water as will cover five bushels of wheat, and let it remain about eighteen hours before it is sown, and you will never have smut in your wheat."

We find, also, in one of the numbers of the Southern Cultivator, the recipe for the prevention of smut in wheat, which we give as we find it:

Mr. EDITOR: I discover that you have several correspondents, giving various means to prevent the smut in wheat; and, as this is an important matter, I will give you one.

My neighbor, Alexander R. Bell, of this county, has long been considered a great wheat grower, and a great many persons are in the habit of sending some distance to purchase his wheat, on account of its superior quality. About the time he was cleaning his crop, I happened in, and he took me to his barn, to show me his great yield. I was astonished to find that there was no smut in his wheat, and remarked it to him. He said, no; I never have smut in my wheat. I inquired the means of preventing it, and he gave me the following: Sow your wheat the first of October, and when you harvest let what you intend to make seed of remain five or six days longer in the field before it is cut, and by this means all the grains will be perfectly ripe and good. This is all he does to prevent the smut, and he never has it in his wheat.

I stated that I had been out to see his yield, which I found to be fine. He sowed one bushel and a peck of wheat, and it yielded him forty bushels and a fraction over; it was as nice and as fine wheat as I ever saw, and made good flour. Yours, respectfully,

W.

COLUMBIA COUNTY, GEORGIA. An editor of an agricultural journal recently established in Cincinnati, Ohio, a good judge in these matters, says, that the failure of the wheat crop in Ohio is often falsely ascribed to rust, as he states that many fields said to be destroyed from rust, on examination, "were in reality very little affected by rust at all. The straw merely turned brown because it had not the materials to give it a better color; and the berry did not fill, simply because the plant could not obtain the proper elements for it to fill with." To obviate the evil which arises from the mixture of cheat with wheat, the following is said, in an agricultural paper from which it is taken, to be a good method:

"Instead of having a riddle, as ordinarily used, in the fan, place a board in the riddle's place; it may be an inch or two narrower than the riddle in width. By this means, the cheat is carried nearly off the screen board; and, with the aid of a strong wind, is driven pretty effectually out at the second run of the grain.

"The present year I undertook to clean some Mediterranean wheat, which had a pretty large share of cheat in it. By the aid of the above plan, at the second run, it was pronounced by an old and experienced farmer to be clean enough. I believe I might have run it five or six times the ordinary way without having it as clean. Thus I saved much labor, as well as some time, though it must be let through slowly and regularly, to prevent the falling sheet of wheat from obstructing the passage of the cheat while blowing out and falling through the fan sieve. This I accomplished by resting the half bushel on my shoulder, and letting the grain fall gradually into the fan hopper, which was aided by the jar of the fan in motion. This last precaution may not be necessary where hoppers are new, and properly constructed; but ours was old, and worn loose at the connecting points."

In the report for 1843, some notice was taken of a few varieties of wheat, and their adaptedness to our country. We find in the last volume of the New York State Agricultural Society a valuable essay on this subject, by General Harmon, of that State, who has done much to improve the culture of this valuable grain; and though it has been more or less published in the various agricultural journals in our country, yet it is believed that some extracts from it (in appendix No. 3) will not prove an unacceptable addition to this report. Different varieties are of course adapted to different soils and climates.

The following is a notice taken from a public journal respecting a kind called the China or hardware wheat, said to have been originally found in a crate of China ware, imported from the north of China, and by the way of Canada introduced into this country. It is said to average from 150 to 180 grains to the head, and that it will yield from 45 to 50 bushels to the acre, and ripens 8 or 10 days sooner than any species of wheat. The crop is said to have been ripe at an early date.

Mention is made in some of the papers of a species of wheat, in the vicinity of Cincinnati, called Alabama wheat, from the fact that half a pint was brought from that State in 1839. It is said that 2,000 bushels of this variety has been raised in 1844, in the Whitewater valley, and that it takes the preference over all the wheat brought into the market at Cincinnati, weighing from 64 to 68 pounds to the bushel, and the yield averaging. 30 bushels to the acre. Some of this variety may perhaps be received for distribution this winter at the Patent Office.

The Black Sea wheat, a spring wheat, has been already alluded to as a favorite variety in Vermont. It is said to be very hardy, free from rust, and produces a better yield than any other of the varieties there cultivated, especially on unfavorable soils. It is stated, by one conversant with it, that he believes it will yield better there than rye, even where rye has heretofore been considered the safest crop.

The flint wheat is highly commended in Michigan, and it is stated, that where it is used it is quite free of the fly. One person says, that in Unadilla were two fields immediately adjoining each other, of like soil, and both prepared and sown alike, and about the same time, one with

also discovered that a great deal of the wheat was light and shrivelled, some of it requiring five pecks, in measure, to make a bushel of the standard weight. We also regret to learn that many fields were injured by the rust. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, we are inclined to believe that the aggregate amount of wheat obtained this season in the agricultural region of the country adjacent to our city will fall but little, if any, short of the average yield of former seasons; for we are assured that much more wheat was sown last fall and spring than usual; and many of our farmers have, undoubtedly, harvested unusually fine crops."

Referring to later accounts, also from various sections, since the harvest, we gather the following particulars, which, in some parts, are less promising:

"On the southeast, embracing several counties, including the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Norfolk, &c., there has been, it is thought, an increase of 20 per cent. over the previous year.

"This is owing to the favorable effects resulting from the use of marl in that region-more attention having been directed to this object than before."

From this point, towards, the centre, it is judged that there has beer. "an increase of 25 per cent., owing, among other reasons, principally to the growing of a more forward kind of wheat and a more favorable spring.' On the east, from the centre of the State, in several counties bordering the Potomac and its vicinity, there seems to have been "scarcely an average crop;" while on the southern central section of the State, bordering on North Carolina, the wheat crop is represented as having "fallen off at least 50 per cent., on account of rust, caused by its coming up badly and a moist warm June." North of this last section, however, the injury seems not to have been much felt, as the crop is pronounced to have been, "both in quantity and quality, an average one." Further west, in the counties on the Kanawha river, it was likewise "an average crop."

Taking all the information within our reach into the account, we seem to be authorized to estimate the crop in Virginia in 1844 to be an increase of about 20 per cent. over that of 1843.

The notices respecting the wheat crop in Indiana, in May and June, are of various kinds. Complaints, even at that early date, are made of the fly; but the principal injury seems to have been occasioned by the severe rains, which deluged portions of the wheat-growing sections of the State. Thus we find accounts like the following:

A person, near Goshen, Indiana, writes: "I am almost discouraged; the weather is very unfavorable for farming; very wet and rainy. The fly is taking the wheat here at a dreadful rate, destroying some pieces entirely. The crop here presents a most unfavorable appearance. Some fields have been ploughed up, and corn planted therein."

Again: speaking of the prospect of the crop in the valley of the Wabash, especially the bottom lands, it is said: "There is every appearance of a bad crop. Other accounts, however, at this period, are more favorable. Thus the Indiana (Rising Sun) Blade, of the 18th of May, says: "The prospect of this portion of the country for abundant crops is favorable. The wheat is unusually forward, and we are informed by farmers that, from present indications, it will be ready to harvest by the middle of June, some two or three weeks earlier than usual."

And again the Madison (Indiana) Banner, of June 5th, after noting