THE GENESEE FARMER. 



46 



same purpose as the teetli of quadrupeds. To assist 

 tliis eifect, fowls pick up and swallow many small 

 j-febbles and stones; and it is proper to lay some of 

 these about in the place where they are kept. Pure 

 water only should be given Ihem, for foul or bad 

 water is certain to cause disease. 



The fault's of modern feeding, are feeding out of 

 v^sels ot any description, — throwing down large 

 heaps of food, — irregularity, — and too often the s (b- 

 gtitution of anything cheap, for thr.t which is whole- 

 some. 



Fowls are early risers. In a state of nature, all 

 Birds, at break of day are in search of food, and they 

 find it. What^ an evil it L-^, then, fur them to be fed 

 one day at seven, next day at nine, and sometimes not 

 till mid-day. A still greater evil is, to endeavor to 

 make up for previous neglect by an extra quantity. 

 If whole grain is fed, it is better to throw it far and 

 wide, and scatter it as much as possible — among 

 Straw or grass, spread over the ground, making them 

 work for a living, and you will see the fowls scatter 

 about in a natural way, seeking the stray grains, and 

 there will none be lost. It will cost no more than 

 feeding in troughs, and the condition of the fowls will 

 amply compensate for the little extra trouble. 



Bkment. 



^»...^ 



PLOWING LAND FOR CORN. 



Messrs. Editors. — Would you please tell S. W. 

 to tell his friend Mr. Joseph Wright not to plow his 

 sod land too deep in the Spring for corn. I never 

 ^t a good crop of corn when I turned up subsoil. 

 Uis distillery manure was put on far too late. Had it 

 been put on the sod about the 1st of October, it 

 would have told with good effect. He had better, 

 Eow wait until the land is plowed, and then mix the 

 manure with the soil by the harrow. Sod rots much 

 sooner when the furrows are not laid flat, — it is bad 

 policy to lay furrows flat for any crop. 



You know I advocate rest for land. I will tell 

 VDu how I have managed a 17 acre field, to which 

 I never apj^lied manure, except saU and plaster, and 

 I do not know that they can be called manure. I 

 have taken a crop of wheat from the 17 acres, every 

 third or fourth year; seeded with clover and timothy, 

 and pastured it with either sheep or cattle. The in- 

 tervening years under this treatment the crops of 

 both grass and wheat have been improving. 1 plas- 

 ter it every seventh year and some years sow a barrel 

 of salt to the acre on the wheat. It is wonderful 

 the amount of pasture it affords. I have sometimes 

 fatted 17 large three and four year old steers 

 thoroughly fat, and those wintered with hay only; and 

 some years I have known it make ] 2o wethers very 

 fat. It would not have fatted half the stock at one 

 t«ne. 



My last crop of wheat on this field was 31 bushels 

 to the acre, notwithstanding the weevil. Considera- 

 bly more than half the field was more or less injured 

 by water, according to the season. It is thoroughly 

 drained now, and sown with wheat. If you will visit 

 me before harvest, I believe you will see a great crop 

 of wheat. It is on the extreme east of my fai-m, and 

 the highway passing along side, so that all who go 

 along the road can see for themselves. I never had a 

 filing crop on underdrained land, and I have no fear 

 Qf tiiis unless too heavy straw. John Johnston. 

 ."^ Near Geneva, N. T., Dec. 14, 1856. 



A BIAR5H AND ITS PRODUCTS. 



Ens. Farmer: — About one-half of my farm was 

 originally a marsh, its product dwarf bushes and 

 cianbcrry vines in the centre, and a border of alder, 

 willow, and ])uplar, next the highland. 'J'l.e muck 

 covering it varied in depth from a few inches to several 

 feet — the suljsoil in most cases is a tenacious clay, 

 though there are spots underlaid with light-colored 

 sand, full of small sized cobble-stones. It was nearly 

 cleared and partially drained when it came into my 

 possession, but required still more labor to fit it for 

 profitable tillage. 



Some attempts were made at draining and cleaning 

 portions of this marsh, nearly forty years ago, by one 

 who still owns the largest share of it, but the want of 

 descent and depth of outlet for ditches, hindered its 

 full success. When the drains were first cut, they 

 carried off the surface water, and fine crops of oats 

 and hay were grown in favorable seasons. But the 

 surface seemed to settle year by year, and the ditches 

 soon became clogged, and the water remained on late 

 iQ the spring, which killed out the cultivated grass, so 

 that the meadows proved of little value after three 

 or four years' cropping. Favorable results, however, 

 always followed the clearing and deepening of the 

 ditches, and the plowing and re-seeding of the grass 

 lands, but it was not until nearly twenty years ago 

 that any part of the marsh was brought into cultiva- 

 tion. 



The season to which I refer was a very dry one- 

 there was no water on any part of the marbh — and, 

 late in summer, a fire caught there, burning over a 

 great portion of the same; taking out bogs, bushes, 

 and muck from ten to fifteen inches in depth, and 

 leaving the brush, well seasoned, resting on a bed of 

 ashes from four to six inches in thickness. Living 

 near by, many an evening did I spend with " the 

 boys," raking these bushes into heaps and burning 

 them, with the logs which had lain in the muck, 

 roasting green corn by way of interlude. In course 

 of the fall, some thirty or forty acres were cleared, 

 and all that part I now own was thus burned over. — 

 During the winter it filled up with water and formed 

 a grand skating pond, attracting from miles around 

 those fond of that exciting exercise. In the spring, 

 we found the ashes well leached, as the stream into 

 which the water drained showed for miles, and, as I 

 then thought and think still, to the great loss of the 

 land and its owner. Better far had the ashes been 

 gathered ■end applied to the adjacent upland. 



When the marsh became sufficiently dry (the 

 ditches had been cleared and deepened but a year or 

 two before) the land was plowed and sown to oat*, 

 barley, and some portion planted to potatoep, All 

 gave a bountiful yield, though I noticed that the 

 straw became more and more liable to fall or lodge, 

 and the grain lighter at each successive crop. Grass 

 succeeded well, but corn and wheat gave no product 

 worth mention. But I shall make far too long a 

 story if I dwell on this past history. 



My first seeding was to oats, but the wet summei 

 of 1855 drowned out the greater share, so I did not 

 get enough to replace the seed. Oats were again 

 sown the next year, and the drouth burned them up, 

 or, at least presented any decent growth, so that 1 

 was facetiously advised to pull them by a neighbor. 

 The ditches had become filled up, and the water hin- 

 dered plowing ajid sowing until very late, aud the 



