AGRICULTURAL. 775 



begin to get dry it is thought to be the best time to cut it, the juices then being 

 just fully matured, the fodder gives the greatest amount of animal heat when 

 fed. If drilled, cut with a common corn-cutter; if broadcast, cut with a cradle 

 or self -raking reaper. Let lay until wilted and a little dry; then bind into 

 moderate sized bundles and put about a dozen into a "stock" or "'shock," 

 binding the top securely to shed the rain and to keep standing until perfectly 

 dry And if drawn in at all, unless it is perfectly dry. it must not be stored 

 too thick, as it gathers dampness and molds without these precautions, except 

 in cold winter weather. The soil for this purpose, if not rich in itself, ought 

 to be made so, as well as for rye. 



3. Com Cut in the Blossom Better than Hay for Milch 

 Cowa. — An Illinois dairyman, name not given, claims that " corn cut when 

 in blossom, bound and set up till cured, is better for milch cows than the best 

 hay." Certainly several tons of it can be raised where one of hay can be — 

 then "go for it." 



4. Rye— Its Value for Fall and Spring— Green Feeding.— 

 Those who need fall and spring green feed for stock should not fail to take a 

 piece of their best land, and if not naturally rich, make it so with barn-yard 

 manure or good fertilizers, then plow and make fine with the harrow, and 

 have it ready by the last of August or early in September, and sow to rye. 

 This will give fall feed ; and what is not cut till spring will grow up again, and 

 give two or three more cuttings, according to the season. It is strange that 

 more rye is not sown for this purpose, for it is wonderful what an amount of 

 feed it will furnish upon good, rich soil. 



L S-w^eet Potatoes, Fruits, Seed Com, Etc., to Keep for 

 Months. Even in the South.— A correspondent of the So^itliem CuUivator 

 writes thai after testing every plan given for preventing decay in fruits with- 

 out success, had adopted the following with entire success He says: 



"Take good, perfect sand, free it from trash, etc., by sieving it. Put it 

 in a large metallic vessel— I use large syrup boilers — mixing flour of sulphur 

 through the whole, enough to fumigate it well, then heat to a temperature 

 that will volatilize the sulphur. After maintaining this heat till the sand is 

 dry, let the mass cool to a moderate warmth, and putting your sweet corn — or 

 other grain difficult to keep — into barrels or boxes, pour the sand in, filling the 

 same well, and packing down closely. In heating the sand, the vessel should 

 be covered to retain as much as possible the sulphurous fumes. I put in the 

 corn, stripped of the shuck, and thus the sand sieves well through the barrel. 

 This certainly balks the wevils, and even rats do not burrow in it. It is appli- 

 cable to any grain — even seed wheat, so difficult to preserve in this latitude. 

 This sand keeps perfectly all such fruits as oranges, apples and lemons, putting 

 them away in shallow boxes in a cool place. I've kept these fruits for months, 

 perfect and plump, when if exposed to atmospheric beat and moisture they 

 would have decayed in a few days." 



Remarks. — This gentleman does not speak of sweet potatoes, but I know 

 the dry sulphurous sand will do it, as well as other kinds of fruit, hence I have 

 named them in my heading. I think, however, that apples should pass 

 through what iscallfi " a sweating," by laying two or three weeks <ibout thr^ 



