282 



FARMERS' REG] Si E R. 



[No. 5. 



unil down through the country, broken and hilly us 

 it is in many parts. The consequence is, that you 

 see beautiful farms not only in hollow land.-', but 

 in situations where you never would look for them, 

 on the tops of the mountains as well as on their 

 declivities. Wheat however is not the only sta- 

 ple article; we produce a great quantity of rye for 

 sale and home consumption, for man and beast; 

 tor be it remembered that we eat rye bread in pre- 

 ference, even when we have both sorts on the ta- 

 ble. The effect of lime upon rye land is quick 

 and immediate, hence whoever is improving his 

 land begins with rye. On the Lehigh land quar- 

 ried limestones are sold at the quarries for 25 cents 

 per ton. In other section. 1 , the common way is 

 for farmers to do all the labor themselves and pay 

 to the owner of the quarry 6 cents for every ten 

 bushels of quicklime they di;i\v from the kiln, or 

 they engage bands paying to them from 1 to li 

 cents per bushel of quicklime, the hands to find 

 their own tools and powder where necessary — 

 this is in addition to the fees of the owner of the 

 quarry. The work at the kiln to be done by the 

 farmers. If you wish to buy quicklime you can 

 have it deposited on the fields at ten cents per bush- 

 el and upwards, according to distances. We pui 

 from 40 to 60 bushels on the acre, repealing the 

 operation every five yeas. From the time that 

 stone coal from Munch ("hunk has been furnished 

 in abundance along the Lehigh canal, and that its 

 use in burning lime has been understood, agricul- 

 ture has received a new start. Previously, the 

 scarcity of fuel — though rather prospective than ac- 

 tual, operated as a check upon the universal use of 

 lime. Now the coal is mixed with the lime stones, 

 and no more, wood is required but what is necessa- 

 ry to ignite the coal, which may be done with 1 

 or 13, cords, thus not only a mass of fuel is saved, 

 but. a great deal of hard labor-r-the coal when 

 once fairly burning requiring no farther atten- 

 dance. 



Timothy is not much raised on dry land, as its 

 effect upon the land is not so beneficial as that of 

 clover. Common rotation, 1st. clover, "2d Indian 

 corn, 3d oats or flax; and potatoes, manure, 4th 

 wheat, 5th and 0th clover, 7th wheat, without 

 manure; 20 bushels of wheat — 50 bushels of In- 

 dian corn, 2 tons of clover per acre, are good crops, 

 though there are many instances of more having 

 been produced. Average somewhat below this. 



For the benefit of such as wish to sprout a few 

 seeds of gama grass, let me add my recipe. Split 

 the seed with a small chisel, put the kernel in a 

 tumbler with sand, keep it moist, and in 3 days, if 

 the sce.ds are not covered too deeply, die grass ap- 

 pears. The splitting is easily done. The seed of 

 gama grass is in the shape of a cylinder, on the 

 surface of which you will observe a spheric trian- 

 gle, two sides being formed by seams, and the 

 third by the base of the seed, but the two sides or 

 scams, one not quite connected with the base, 

 make the connection with the chisel or knife, and 

 the triangle, will tail out like a trap door, the; ker- 

 nel adhering to it; take care not to separate it fur- 

 ther, or injarc it, which is very easy to avoid. 



From tlic Tennessee Farmer. 

 TO DESTROY BRIERS. 



We are assured by a respectable and intelligent 

 farmer, that from the repeated experiments of 



himself and his neighbors, he is able to state with 

 confidence that briers, both the blackberry and 

 dewberry, will be effectually destroyed by cutting 



them down or ploughing them up when they are 

 in toll bloom, which is ordinarily in the month of 

 May. 



From the Tennessee Fsrmci 

 SAVING CLOVER SEED. 



Answer to Queries vf a subscriber published in 

 the Farmer No. G page 91. 



The two great objects to he attended to, in rais- 

 ing clover seed with profit, are — first, to secure the 

 production of as large a crop to the acre us prac- 

 ticable — and secondly, to harvest the crop in such 

 a manner, as to bring as large a portion of the 

 seed into the barn mid to leave as small a portion 

 of it as possible in the field. 



To attain the first object, thai of securing a large 

 product, we have in our preceding numbers, in ob- 

 servations on the culture of clover, given the ne- 

 cessary directions; wc will now only repeat, thai 

 the main things to be attended to are the following 

 —1st. That the land be fertile. 2d. That it be well 

 prepared before sowing the seed, as heretofore di- 

 rected. 3d. That a sufficient quantity of seed b< 

 sown to the acre. lib. Thai it fie evenly distrib- 

 uted over the ground. 5th. That, whenever the 

 land requires its aid, gypsum or plaster be sown 

 on the clover— ami till.. That it be not injured by 

 injudicious or excessive grazing. If these purlieu 

 lars be well attended to, an acre of ordinary land 

 will produce three bushels of seed in a common 

 season, often more. 



We come now to speak of the more difficult 

 and laborious operation of safely and economical 

 ly harvesting and seeming it. This requires care 

 and attention. The great objects to be aimed at 

 are, to cut the seed at the period when there is the 

 largest portion of the ripe seed on the ground, in 

 that stage of maturity, which will admit of its be- 

 ing collected into the bain, and so to handle it, as 

 to prevent the seed from being shattered oil and 

 left on the field, while the straw or haulm only is 

 collected in the barn. It is, we believe to the impro- 

 vident and ruinous neglect of strict attention to 

 these two latter objects, that most farmers may at- 

 tribute their iailure in making clover seed. Wc will 

 lay before our readers the results of our own ob- 

 servation and experience, on these important 

 points, hoping that those of our patrons, who may 

 have discovered a better mode of effecting these 

 objects, than the one recommended, will yet com 

 municale lo us their practice in time to enable us 

 to lay it before the public in our next number. 



Time of culling. 



As the clover seed, from the time the lirsl head. 

 ripen, until the close of the season, are daily ar- 

 riving at maturity, the great, desideratum is, to as- 

 certain the precise period when there is on the 

 ground the greatest portion of ripe seed, in a state 

 which will admit of its being collected and brought 

 into the barn. If the clover be cut before this pe- 

 riod, there must evidently be a loss sustained, from 

 the immaturity ol too large a portion of the seed. 

 If the. cutting be deferred beyond this period, an 

 equal, and perhaps a greater loss will be sustained, 



