Where wheat succeeds, spelt will yield heavy crops, but it grows upon les compact and rich soil, and insures good crops, which makes it, in many ases, preferable to wheat; it succeeds after many a crop, after which wheat could not be planted, and is therefore very important in rotation. On the Rhine, upon light soil, it is sown upon clover stubbles and ploughed in In the spring it is rolled, It is sown about the with a shallow furrow. same time as wheat, and it is not uncommon that it is sown in the month of February, it ripens a little later, but yields fine and heavy grain. The spelt is sown as it comes from the ear with the husk, and requires, consequently, a great quantity of seed; four hectolitres per hectare is considered sufficient. On the Moselle, rye is mixed with one-fifth spelt and sown together; both seem to succeed better, and the spelt is easily separated from the rye, and much better in that respect, than wheat and rye. Harrowing in spring and cutting the leaves, is very serviceable to spelt. Spelt suffers very seldom from blast, and is less liable to the common disWhen the stem (halm or culmm) begins to turn white, eases of wheat. which is generally about the middle of August, the spelt is cut. On the Rhine the spelt is cut and housed the same day, provided the weather is fine. It can be immediately threshed, the ears break off very easily, and treading it out with horses or cattle would do just as well. The grain does not It is sold in that separate from the husk, requires more room in granary, but keeps better than wheat and is less liable to be injured from insects or rats. When the grain is required for use, the husks are rubbed off at the way. mills, which have a pair of stones for that purpose; the grain is separated, A hectolitre which cleaned and ground to flour. Upon good spelt soil 48 to 50 hectolitres are calculated per hectare, to be a good average crop. weighs 42.24 kilograms yields ten kilograms of husks, two kilograms of offals and thirty kilograms of grain; one hectare yields forty-eight hectolitres of spelt=1479, five kilograms which gives 1332 kilograms of flour. One hectare yields 22 hectolitres of wheat 1694 kilograms, which gives 1415 kilograms of flour. Wheat which gives per hectare 83 kilograms, more flour. The flour from spelt is considered finer and whiter than that from wheat, and it is used by confectioners; it goes further in cooking than wheat flour, but bread from spelt flour is of a rather drier nature than wheat bread. Schwertz sums up the advantages and peculiarities of spelt and says: 1. Spelt grows upon bad and poor soil but poorly, it succeeds upon that which is too dry or too wet for wheat, but upon good wheat land it grows exceedingly well. 2. The field requires the same preparation as for wheat, but, is not injured by late manuring, or top dressing, as wheat is. 3. Requires less manure, and less original fertility of the soil than wheat. 4. Grows well after other crops, and even after spelt itself, which may be ascribed to the fact, that spelt exhausts the soil less than wheat. 5. It is less liable to disease, especially blast, than wheat. 6. Birds injure the crops less while on the field. 7. But it lays down and its ears are easily broken off, and has in that re spect no advantage over wheat. 8. Rainy weather is not less injurious to spelt than it is to wheat, but can be immediately housed, sooner than wheat. * A kilogram is equal to 2 pounds 3 ounces avoirdupois. 9. It requires more room at the granary, but keeps better than wheat. 10. Spelt yields a very little less flour than wheat. 11. The flour is white and finer, but the bread from it is drier than that from wheat. 12. The spelt straw is a little more stiff than that of wheat, but it makes not only fine cut straw for horses, but excellent fodder for cattle. In countries where they make straw hats, they use the straw of spelt in preference to others. Mixture of Rye and Wheat.--A mixture of wheat and rye is sown here very frequently, and it is considered to succeed better than when one or the other is sown alone. The Germans use rye for bread, and only on certain holydays they use pure wheat for bread. A mixture of wheat and rye gives an excellent bread, which is considered more healthy than either wheat or rye alone. It is said that it ferments better, and that the bread keeps better; generally they bake only once a week and use stale bread, as hot and fresh bread is considered unwholesome. This mixture of rye and wheat is less liable to lay down, the thin, longer stem of the rye gives room for the wheat which is always stronger to develope itself better and the air can pass through more freely. The 'mildew and other diseases of wheat is seldom observed, the straw of each kind is more vigorous and an acre of such a crop yields more than when sown each separately; it requires a less rich soil and this mixture will succeed upon a light sandy soil, which could not be usou cheat alone; if the soil be more suitable for wheat, they take generally more of the wheat for seed, and for soil of light nature more rye than wheat. Tobacco.-Experience has shown that tobacco planted at intervals for several years on the same field, and tobacco planted upon highly manured ground is not so well flavored as that which is planted upon new ground or ineadows or after clover, or lucerne of several years' standing. After fallow, tobacco succeeds the best, but that would be too costly in countries where land is so valuable. Thorough rotten manure is preferred, and if fresh manure must be employed, it is brought on the field some time before the tobacco is planted, and left exposed to the influence of the weather, before it is ploughed under. Schwertz gives the following method of planting as practised in Alsace. The time from the 27th of May to the 18th of June is considered the most favorable season for planting. When the land has been properly prepared, two persons can plant an arpent* of twenty ares in five hours, and six when the plants must be watered; in the last case, water is first put into the holes and then the plants; when it can be done the water of dunghills moistened with water is preferred and considered highly useful. From five to six thousand plants are reckoned to an arpent of 20,000 Prussian feet, which makes four square feet for each plant, sometimes they are planted thicker. This mode of planting at equal distances, is far from being the best; the leaf grows exceedingly large and perfectly covers the soil, so that it becomes dificult to approach them, and is a great impediment in the operation of picking the leaf. It would be much better to bring two lines much nearer together, and leave a greater space between the next two lines, which word low persons employed in picking or other operations, to approach the plants easier, without injuring them, and the field would contaia * An arpent is six-sevenths of an acre. as many plants as in the old method. It would be a great fault to give lesa . than four square feet for every plant. When the field is planted, it requires to be examined several times, to see if all the plants have taken root and to replace plants which have perished. There is in this country a kind of white worm, which injures the young plants. Weeding and Picking.-The tobacco is weeded and hoed, at least once. The first weeding is in June, as soon as time allows one to attend to it without waiting until tre plants have grown stout. A warm damp weather and a well prepared field favors the growth of the young plants. The field ought to be hoed as soon as possible, especially when it has been much trodden down during planting. Hoeing is considered one of the most important operations for this culture. It requires three persons to weed an arpent of twenty ares, and five or six to hoe it. They allow only seven or eight leaves to a plant to remain, including the leaves near the roots; all the roots are taken off. The leaves being the only object for the planter, he consequently pays all his attention to their prompt development, and cuts at four or five different periods, to the top of the stein, then the central branches, every time they shoot out open; this operation is absolutely necessary. Without mentioning the influence of temperature, of which the tobacco is as sensible as the vines, it has a great many enemies, such as hail, frost, wind, the grasshopper, the rust (rost) and the hen.p blossom, (orobranche ramosa) evils against which, except the last one, there exist no remedies. The hemp blossom (orobranche ramosa) is a parasite plant, which grows upon the root of the tobacco and robs it of its sap. Tobacco attacked by this plant loses its leaves, though the damage is less considerable when this parasitical plant appears about its harvest time. The ravages caused by this plant are enormous among the tobacco, but it is the consequence of a bad management; and the planter is punished for his carelessness. It is caused by a bad preparation of the soil, by the short intervals at which the tobacco is brought back into the same fields again, and especially by injudicious rotation. It is not difficult to destroy the influence of this plant entirely; by planting the field after tobacco, in grain, and after that in the different kinds of biennial crops, as for instance maize, potatoes and then should follow tobacco, by which the bad effects of this plant would be eradicated. The frosts which are so common in Alsace about the month of September, are very injurious to tobacco, it destroys it completely, even when the sides only of the leaves have been touched. Whenever the leaves begin to tum brown, it is full time to harvest them. Harvest. When the leaves begin to ripen, small yellow spots are noticed having the appearance of being pierced, they begin to look shriveled ; « the whole surface of the field has a yellow color which is the signal for harvesting. It is not well to hasten the harvest too much, though it may be necessary in order to prepare the soil for another crop, or from fear of a frost. The tobacco loses in weight when such is the case. They have tried to introduce here, the mode of picking the leaves in sucsession, but it offered a great many difficulties; it cannot be effected without injuring the leaves which remain on the stem, and at a considerable increase ❤f manual labor and consequently additional expense. It is an error to suppose, that the upper leaves of the plant, ripen later because they havebeen developed later than the lower ones. The upper leaves are more exposed to the light and air, and in consequence ripen as soon as the lower A royal ordinance which gave directions how to proceed in the harvest of the leaves, has produced a great many advantages, also the classification of the leaves according to their different sizes, the assortment of the bottom leaves, the picking of the tops and side branches, in short the whole culture. is done with great order and system; the administration pays a higher price compared with former years, when the system was carried on in the old manner, and obtains a better article. The leaves of tobacco taken from the stem, are put in bundles, and fastened with straw, and may remain in this way upon the fields for two or three, and even for four days, according to the state of the temperature. When all the leaves are gathered, the stems are soon drawn up to prevent them from exhausting the land unnecessarily. After the roots have been freed from the earth, which is done by passing over it with a harrow, or by hand, the stems are placed out of the way of the plough. Some place them in the furrows, others scatter them over the following wheat crop, pretending they have a salutary effect upon the young plants, and in the spring they are taken off, and in different ways. To lay the stem in the furrow requires a person with the plough. The tobacco crop prepares the field so well that only one ploughing is required for the following crops. When the stems are placed upon clover or meadows and left there during the winter they produce a wonderful effect; they are taken up in the spring and used for firing, and the ashes are considered superior to any other. Treatment of the tobacco at home. It is not sufficient to bring the leaf to its greatest perfection in the field, the planter must pay the necessary al ention to prevent its deterioration when housed, to which tobacco is more liable than any other crop. With the assistance of a long strong needle and twine, the leaves are strung together and hung up. In a few days these strung lines, which are loosely put together, are taken down and turned, and those which have been above are placed beneath, and in a few days more they are brought into a dry place. In the places where tobacco is cultivated more extensively, proper buildings are put up to dry the leaves in, but generally the lofts of stables, &c., are used for it. The tobacco, after having been exposed to the frost without moving it from the place where it was hung up to dry, is at last taken down and put up in small bundles. In the first three weeks the tobacco is liable to become heated, it must be watched and every time turned when the temperature rises until the tobacco is perfectly shriveled, when it has arrived at that state, the whole crop can be put up in large bundles for sale. Expenses.-The average crop of an hectare of tobacco in Alsace," amounts to about thirty quintares of dry leaves. The prices are fixed by the government and are For the first class of tobacco "second 67 francs per 100 kils. One franc is about 20 cents. 1 kilogram a little more than two pounds three ounces. Suppose that the harvest was an average one and yielded about twenty five quintares. The sum total of the whole harvest 753 francs. Now let us compare the expenses; the following rates have been ascertained from good sources and are conscientiously examined: We suppose the farmer has neither land, nor manure, nor servants and team, that he is obliged to pay for every thing in cash. Rent for an arpent of twenty ares, at the customary rent paid for such land........ Taxes, &c..... Thirty loads of manure, a load for four horses, 720 francs; half of that amount allowed to the next crop. Hauling of manure, (half the expense)... 100 francs. 30" Second weeding and hoeing.. Picking the head and side branches. Gathering the leaf and putting the stems and strings. For labor in the tobacco house.. To putting up in bundles..... Transportation of the green leaves to the farm, &c...... Sum total of expense 1,190 francs. When the receipt is compared with the expenses, a loss of 428 francs, this deficit is still more considerable when the bad years are brought into calculation; it is a known fact that every eight years the tobacco crop fails once. It would be no more than just to divide the loss of the eighth year among the seven good ones. From this statement it appears almost incredible, yes impossible, how the farmer can continue to plant tobacco, but we must bring into consideration that the small farmer does all the work himself, assisted by his wife, children and servants, that he gives to this crop all his leisure moments, and never calculates the cost of his labor. The same is the case with manure, which he considers as a preparation for the wheat crop; but notwithstanding all these allowances raising tobacco is a poor business, and it is not at all astonishing that the tobacco planters are adding every year to the poor list of that country. XX.-Mode of feeding Cattle and Horses, at Alcsúth. The order of feeding cattle observed at Alcsúth, is as follows: on the Mari enthal farm the cows receive from 1st November to the last of March, every morning early, eight pounds of steamed chaff mixed with potatoes, at 7 drink |