5*8 



FARM, ORCHARD, DAIRY AND GARDEN. 



the amount in the stock makes no differ- 

 ence. If there is much in the scion, it is 

 liable to rot before the union takes place. 

 If scions are taken from healthy trees, 

 and are kept from drying, sprouting, or 

 other injuries, grafting may go on from 

 early in the spring till midsummer. 



GRAFTING, (Root), Apple Trees.— 

 This kind of grafting is performed as 

 follows : Take seedling stocks one or two 

 years old, cut off the stock at the collar of 

 the plant, and remove the top root and 

 all unnecessary fibrous roots, leaving only 

 a few of them four or five inches long. 

 Wash the stocks, and make a very smooth 

 cut sloping upward an inch or so across 

 the collar. In the centre of this cut 

 make a slit or tongue to receive the scion. 

 The scion, three or four inches long, 

 should be made to fit the tongue exactly, 

 both the woody part and the inner bark. 

 On this close fitting depends the success 

 of the operation. This done, cover the 

 entire graft with the wax, or with pre- 

 pared wax cloth, which is nothing more 

 than cotton cloth spread thinly with 

 grafting composition while it is hot. This 

 work is commonly done in the leisure of 

 winter. After the required number of 

 stocks have been grafted, they are packed 

 away in sand in a cool cellar to be 

 planted in the spring. 



HAY, Cutting and Curing. — i. Get 

 ready for haying — that is, put your mow- 

 ing machine, etc., in good order, so as to 

 have no delay when you begin the work. 



2. If you have a good deal of grass to 

 cut, some of it should be cut a few days 

 before it is actually mature, or you will 

 be compelled to cut other fields so much 

 later than it ought to be cut, that you 

 would lose more by waiting till your 

 earliest grass is fully ripe, than you would 

 gain by waiting till it is mature ; besides, 

 grass cut a few days before it is strictly 

 ready for the mower makes excellent 

 hay, but not quite so much of it as when 

 cut later. 



3. When the time comes to commence 

 mowing — which should be when there is 

 a prospect ot fair weather, go ahead and 

 do not wait until the dew is off, on 

 account of any injury the hay may sus- 

 tain, as you will never be able to see any 

 difference in value between hay, from 

 grass cut with or without the dews upon 

 it. 



4. Just as soon as the sun has dried the- 

 upper surface of the grass, the spreading 

 operation may commence; and yoa 

 should have help enough to do the work 

 well. No grass cut during the previous 

 afternoon, and up to ten o'clock that day, 

 should remain unspread at dinner-time, 

 unless it be such as is light, and is left in 

 good shape to dry by the machine, as is 

 often the case. Keep the grass moving 

 as long as possible before you begin to 

 protect it for the night; and here we will 

 say that we never would allow a load of 

 hay to be put into our barns that was cut 

 the same day, except when the grass had 

 been delayed to be cut till it was past its. 

 prime and partially dry, so that a few 

 hours of sun and wind sufficed to cure 

 it. 



5. After drying the hay as much as 

 possible up to 3 or 4 o'clock p. m., accord- 

 ing to the quantity of it, and hands to* 

 take of it, the question comes up : Is it 

 best to cock it, or to rake it into win- 

 drows, and so leave it till the succeeding 

 day, when, if the weather be fair, it may 

 be put into the barn or stack ? If left in 

 windrows a great deal of labor is saved,, 

 and if the next day is fair, the hay is in 

 a better condition to be spread than if in 

 cocks; but if a storm ensues, the hay is 

 in a bad w shape, and will suffer injury, 

 according to the length of unfair weather 

 that takes place. No farmer should leave 

 his hay over night in windrows, unless 

 he shall have the very best of reasons for 

 believing that the next day will be fair. 



6. Hay may be injured by drying too 

 much; but the wide-awake farmer will 

 avoid that, and either get his hay .into 

 windrows or cocks before it is thus dam- 

 aged. 



HAY STACKS, To Ventilate.— Stacks; 

 of hay, corn-stalks, etc., may be venti- 

 lated by making a hole perpendicularly 

 through the centre, with apertures through 

 the base and top of sides of the stack to 

 admit a current of air. The orifice 

 should be constructed when the stack is 

 being built, which can easily be done by 

 filling a bag of the requisite size with hay 

 or straw, placing it upright in the centre 

 of the stack, drawing it upward accord- 

 ing as the stack rises. In this way a 

 chimney will be formed in the centre of 

 the stack, which will carry off the steam, 

 if the hay or corn-stalk should ferment,. 



