isa FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



The bins must be made tight, of hard plank, sufficiently 

 thick to prevent the rats from gnawing through them ; and 

 the lid to each may be fastened down by a clasp secured by 

 a padlock. This plan is equally good for keeping wheat 

 and other grain. If the gram which is put into these 

 should heat, it can be shoveled out upon the floor, and there 

 stired about until it is sufficiently dry to be returned into 

 the bins. The method of ascertaining, whether grain has 

 become heated in the bin, is to run a stick to the bottom; 

 let it remain there for a quarter of an hour; and in that 

 time, if there be any heat in the grain, it will be communi- 

 cated to the stick. 



It grain be kept long in sacks, its heating may be pre- 

 vented by frequently turning them, first on one end, and 

 then on the other. 



GRASSES. Some of these are best calculated for moist 

 or wet soils, some tor dry, and some for the different 

 climates in which grass is cultivated. Some again are best 

 for pastures, and some for mowing. The different kinds 

 which are most valuable are here noted, together with their 

 proper soils, &c. 



MEADOW'CATSTAIL Timothy grass or Herdsgrass (Phleuni 

 Fratensis) is the grass most used for hay in the Northern 

 States. \\ is also erroneously called Foxtail; but this is 

 another grass. The catstail has a long head, somewhat re- 

 sembling the tail of a cat, with very fine seeds ; the foxtail 

 has a short bushy head, more like the tail of a fox, with 

 coarser seeds, In other respects, they have considerable 

 resemblance. 



Catstail grows best in a rich moist soil ; but it will grow 

 well, for a few years, in a rich wet or in a rich arable soil. 

 In the rich wet soil, it gradually lessens in product; while, 

 at the same time, it gives way to wild grasses. In the rich 

 arable soil, it gradually fails, by reason of the ground be- 

 coming bound and the sward thickened with other grasses. 

 Probably, if it were well torn with the harrow every 

 Spring, and not too closely pastured in the Fall, and none 

 in the Spring, it would grow well for many years in such 

 soil. By close pasturing in the Full, it is apt to be torn 

 out by the roots, and by croping it again in the Spring, 

 it suffers greatly. 



It will yield one-half more hay, when not pastured at all, 

 than when pastured closely in the Fall, and again in the 

 Spring. In the richest soils, and when not pastured, up- 

 wards of four tons may be had from the acre, in a season, 

 at two mowings^ Cattle are not quite so fond of it in 

 pastures, as they are of clover; but, when made into hay, 

 they eat it very readily. It is not BO mucl| a fertilizer of 



