THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



147 



thing we sow too little grass seed. Tiie conse- 

 quence is, a poor liiih is left nal<ed, and ilie growth 

 on a rich one is so ranli as to lose much of its 

 value. Some use a brush harrow lo smooth iheir 

 ground and cover grass seed. This may do on 

 ground loo wet to admit the roller, but is liable lu 

 drag the seed and leave ii uneven. I would al- 

 ways sow chati \n prelierence to clear seed ; but it 

 requires observation and judgment ; (or a bushel 

 ol chattj which will contain two pounds of'seed one 

 year, may not afford hall" that quantity another. 



Every farmer ought to grow his own seed ; a is 

 always a ca~h article, and ifhe buys he has to pay 

 for cleansing, which is useless, unless it contains 

 foul seed. If leached ashes are used on wheat, 

 they should be spread before cultivating: If un- 

 leached, they may be sowed any time belbre the 

 plants are lour inches high. Were it not lor press- 

 ing the earth around the seed, ! should prefer not 

 to roll my grain of any kind, till it was three or 

 four inches high. It will then destroy myriads of 

 insecis, and cause the grain to branch more. 



If this mode will not break the eggs of the 

 Hessian fly, I know no means of doing it. All 

 that has been said or written on sowing quick lime, 

 ashes, or impregnating fields with the fumes olto- 

 bacco, sulphur, or essences of pole-cat, to destroy 

 the fly, in July or any other month, has never de- 

 stroyed enough of them to pay a man for a week s 

 work. Some wise man in our state, has advised to 

 starve them out of the country by ceasing to sow. 

 1 should not like to see it tried, as I lear the expe- 

 rimenters would starve first. Although women and 

 children are not employed here as in Europe, to 

 weed and glean grain fields, and field labor is ex- 

 pensive, still 1 am saiisfiexl from personal observa- 

 tion, that many fields of wheat will well reward an 

 outlay of one to three, or even four days expended 

 in weeding an acre. By thorough weeding once, 

 the Canada thistle may be prevented Irom going to 

 seed before harvest. Every farmer should have a 

 pair or more of weeding tongs. Tfiey may be 

 made of wood, exactly in the shape of a pair of 

 blacksmith's tongs, — the handle about lour (eet 

 long, and spread so as to permit the operator to 

 stand between them. Mine have the jaws and 

 joint made of iron, with teeth on the inside, a turn- 

 ed hoe-handle screwed on each shank, like a goose 

 neck hoe. I have also a sharp gouge, one and 

 one fourth inch wide, handle lour feet long : with 

 these an immense number of weeds can be de- 

 stroyed in a day. 



The advantages of early cutting are so nume- 

 rous that I must dwell a little on them. As soon 

 as the upper part of the stock is turned yellow and 

 the kernel is fairly in ihe paste state, put in the cra- 

 dle the first fair day~I say the cradle, for belore 

 the grain is crippled by long standing, this useful 

 instrument can be used. If you neglect to cut 

 then, you may have rains, and winds to ripen, 

 break down and shell out the grain— if rusty, the 

 quality grows poorer— you must cut with a sickle 

 — the straw is loo brittle for bands — you can only 

 handle it when the dew is on, &c. 



Unless you led able to purchase the little ma- 

 chine, with fingers pushed belbre a pair of little 

 wheels, for taking up cradled grain, which is a 

 great saver of time and back-ache, you may follow 

 the cradle with a rake made as follows : head 2 It. 

 long, 1| inch square, 6 teeth half inch in diame- 

 ter, 10 inches clear of head— handle seven feet 



long— a dry fir is the right shape and light— on 

 the back of head and handle, instead ofbowe, nail 

 a triangular piece of half inch board, with which to 

 even the butts of the grain. If your grain is (rood, 

 you may stand in your place and gather a sheaf. 

 T'"hose who understand it, can make five bands 

 sooner than I could describe the process, iiy the 

 way, I know men who can make a band and bind 

 a sheaf quicker than others can do the former. 

 There is a cleverness in handling grain, which few 

 men have arrived at in this section. I have had 

 men in my employ who could not average half an 

 acre in a day. 



It is safest 10 stook the same day you cut. I 

 prefer twenty bundles to a stook, on account of 

 the power to stand against (he wind. It is made 

 as follows : Set up (our pairs and one at each end : 

 one pair and one, on each side of the centre; — 

 place (bur c ap-shea ves on each of these points, and 

 fasten together in the usual way. 



Cradled grain is much less liable to hurt in (he 

 stook or barn, than that which is reaped, on account 

 of its looseness. Much grain is injured by mow- 

 ing down too soon. In fact it would be better 

 never to put it in close mows. I saw a grain barn 

 at Guilford, owned by Hon. Joseph Kelsey, in 

 which he had one scaffolding above another, so 

 that the wheat all stood on the butts. It could 

 not hurt in this way. I cannot doubt the 

 flour would be much sweeter preserved in this 

 way. 



As (0 the mode of thrashing grain, it has come 

 to be more expensive than belbre any horse power 

 machine was in operation. It is my deliberate 

 opinion that the man who has grain enough to 

 make it an object to (eed cattle "on it, will save 

 lime and money l)y using the flail in pselerence to 

 any machine ; unless he can have one in his barn 

 to use as he pleases. Few farmers will aflbrd 

 this. The time lost in tumbling straw out doors 

 and pitching it back again, with the hazard of inju- 

 ry from stones are serious evils, all of which are 

 avoided by thrashing and feeding from the floor. 



Of barley and oats next lime. Yours, &c. 



James Bates. 



PROTECTION OF CORN AGAINST CROWS. 



From tlie Americnn Farmer. 



Mr. O. M. Whipple, of Lowell, Mass., sa3's, 

 in his statement to the Agricultural Commissioner 

 of Massachusetts, that for 15 years he has pre- 

 served his corn from the depredations of crows, 

 by sowing on his field a quart of corn soaked in a 

 strong solution of saltpetre. We can believe this, 

 as no crow which might have eaten half a dozen 

 grains of corn well saturated with saltpetre, would 

 live long enough to bequeath his estate to his in- 

 teresting progeny, though a scrivener were at 

 hand, at the time of his making his meal, to draw 

 his will. Saltpetrejudiciously used, possesses me- 

 dicinal virtues, but when taken in excess, is de- 

 structive of life, and hence the protection ii affords 

 to seed corn soaked in a solution of it, against 

 worms as well as crows. 



The best scare-crows we have ever used were 

 bright sheets of tin suspended from poles, by 

 wires ; the poles of sufficient height, and in suffi- 

 cient numbers, to be seen ail over ihe field. Four 



