Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1857-09-03
To Clean CHESS ont Of Seed wheat

70 Clean Chess out OF Seed Wheat
On our late visit to the farm oil Mr.. John
Johnston, near Geneva, N. Y, he informed
us that some years ago he was believer in
and an earnest advocate Of, the theory that
wheat would turn to chess. In some of the
early volumes Of the Gennesee Farmer he
cited several facts which had come under
his observation, and which appeared to prove
that, in spite Of botanists, wheat would turn
TO chess. This idea was combated by sew
eral correspondents of the farmer; and, as
Mr.. j confcssor 10 us, he had to acknowl-
edge to himself that lie was worsted in this
paper war;" Fully pursuaded that he had
the best side Of the argument, and thinking
that his opponents had the advantage simply
because better skilled in the use OF the pen,
he resolved to prove beyond all controversy,
by ocular and Practical demonstration that
wheat would turn 10 chess.
He took three bushels Of wheat Eve be-
lievs this is the quantity, but it is immateri-
ally and looked il over, grain by grain, pick
ing out all the chess. When he had fin
ishsd he was satisfied that there was not
grain Of chess in the whole three bushels.
Now, then, thought he, / shall have them;
il get chess from this wheat il won't do
for them TO tell me that sowed chess
with the wheat; and he had no doubt, that
as usual he would have slots Of chess. -
The wheat was sown; and the result was,
that while there was an abundance of chess
in the wheat cleaned in the ordinary way,
there was not single ear Of chess on the
land sown with the clear wheat. This ex-
pertinent which Mr.. j. made in order to
conyice the theorists that wheat would
turn TO chess, had the effect of convincing
him that he was in error; and that the great
cause Of chess IN wheat must be ascribed
| 10 sowing chess with the seed wheat.
Once satisfied that wheat. would not turn
to chess, Mr.. j. resolved tosow no more OF
it, and he hit upon plan of cleaning seed
wheat which took out every grain OF chess.
The method is simply this: After the wheat
has been cleaned in the ordinary way, by
running il through tanning mill, take the
riddles out of the tanning mill, leaving the
screen in; take off the rod that shakes the
riddles and screen; pour the wheat slowly
into the hopper with basket or half
hushel; turn the mill a little quicker than
for binary cleaning, and every grain of
Of chess will be blown out, unless where
three seeds stick together, which is some
times the case with the top seeds. Two
men will clean from ten 10 fifteen bushels
per hour. If the wheat is light, weighing
from fifty to ffty-fve pounds per bushel,
considerable wheat will be blown away with
the chess; but where good Genesee wheat
is raised, as in this section, weighing from
sixty 10 sixty-four pounds to the, bushel,
little or no wheat will be blown out In
some cases it is better to raise the hind end
Of the tanning mill ABOUT two inches from
the floor; more wind can be given and not
blow away the wheat.
Since Mr.. Johnson adopted this method
Of cleaning his seed wheat, he has not raised
swine glass full Of chess in more than
twenty years."
We may remark that the same practice is
very generally adopted in England, not only
in cleaning seed wheat, but in cleaning all
their grains for market, more especially
barley.
There is high duty on the process Of
converting barley into malt (about seventy
five cents per bushel and the masters nat
urally do not wish to pay duty on barley of
an inferior quality, or on light grains that
will not terminate, or, consequently make
malt. On this account farmers are particu-
larry careful TO clean their barley before sen
ding it to market. II is first run through
the tanning mill to seperate the chaff from
ii; then through a machine 10 break off the
"pales" or boards; and then again through a
tanning mill with finer set of riddles and
screen. After this, the riddles are taken
out, and the barley is run through as in the
process above described. Many farmers
have machine on purpose for this work,
and consider it indispensable. 1t is called
a "Heaving Machine" A good sample of
English barley when cleaned in this way
will weigh fiity-six pounds per bushe. On
Mr.. Lawes' farm, at Rothamsted, we have
known this experimental barley TO weigh
ffty-eight pounds per bushel. This great
weight per bushel, however must not be at
ibuted to the process of cleaning alone
1t is more probably due to climate, inasmuch
as the wheat, no matter how well it is clean
ed, is not so heavy as Genesee wheat.
Mr.. Johnston thinks every agricultural
paper in the country should give this pro-
cess of cleaning wheat, and urge their read
ers TO adopt it. If any wheat grower will
once try it, he will never again sow wheat
without running it through tanning mill
in the way described [Genesee Farmer.
Curious TREEsIN CuBA.-The editor Of
the Horticulturist who is a professor of
botany, spent the last winter in Cuba, where
he found many trees and plants very differ
ent from anything in this country, some OF
which are very curious in their habits; one
of the most SO is the cius,a rosea Ell aha,
commonly called copey, or another of almost
identical habits, called jaquey: Ficus hldi-
ca occideniat'S.) Both parasites, The seeds,
being deposited by birds in the forks of
trees, vegelate there and send down small
fbrcus roots along the trunk until they reach
the ground, however distant, and these roots
continue increasing until the whole body is
enveloped the roots uniting together where
they come in contact, until they finally form
an enveloping case, with the boe of the old
tree for the heart which is killed nv its