16 



THE' OENIF^R FAi^MER 



ITEMS SUGGESTED BY THE DECEMBER NUMBER. 



Though curtailed of " its tV.ir proportions'' by title- 

 page and index, the Farmer for December contains 

 a good many short, suggestive articles. I shall be 

 able to itemize only a few of them. 



" Make a Note of it." — Farmers find in their ex- 

 perience many things worth " making a note of" for 

 iheir agricultural papers. And they like to read 

 such notes, (at least I do,) from the pens of others. 

 The short items about Corn, Potatoes, &c., in this 

 and recent numbers, will, I hope, be followed by 

 others from ditl'erent pens, and uny fact of interest 

 to the farmer himself, should be noted and sent to 

 tte editor, whose position qualifies him to judge of 

 its general interest, and hence, its fitness for publi- 

 sation. 



Seed Corn. — I never knew our seed corn to fail 

 before last year, nor do 1 remember ever before our 

 oeing so careless as not to save any. We hired our 

 Dusking done by a family of Prussians, and in the 

 Spring selected our seed from the crib. It was 

 ousked late, and did not dry perfectly before freezing 

 weather, and hence, some of it failed to vegetate. 

 This agrees with the remarks of your New Uaven 

 eorrespondent, and with vvi'at I can learn of the seed 

 corn which failed among tuy neighbors. It should 

 oe saved early and dried ptrfecUy, and then there 

 will be no mistake. 



Fall Flowing for Corn. — With Mr. Johnston, 

 [ agree in not recommending fall plowing for corn. 

 The crop succeeds best when the ground is plowed 

 im-mediate'y before planting, and the manure well 

 buried un'ler the soil. Only for early-sown crops 

 would I 7>low in autumn, and in no case would 1 

 plow befo»e seeding. 



Articf-.kes as a Field crop. — The letter of Mr. 

 Gallowa , on this subject, is an interesting one. 

 I'hat thiv yield well, there appears to be no ques 

 Lion;, b'7. is opinion of their value, both for hogs 

 ,&ad CCV'' 3 at direct contradiction with that of the 

 'Sout'ir ( ' Planter, quoted on another page. Let us 

 .laave -J r iq facts on the quest ion. 



Tek"! Furrows and Headlands — The "manner 

 of r.lowing" is an important subject, on-e part of 

 whirik Mr. Adams writes well upon There are gen- 

 erally a great many more dead furrows than are 

 cecdedl, out the headlands have never seemed so ob- 

 jectioiiible to me. T have often wondered why more 

 instead of less grain, grew where the ground was 

 (ramped so hard. That Ittle grows in a dead fur- 

 row, I ha>,^ often noticed, and as often that head- 

 lands produced better than the rest of the field, ex- 

 cept sometimes in hoed crops. 



Brkaking up PpAiRihS — Id your interesling 

 extracts from Mr. Howard's western letters, I notice 

 the remark that the breaking up " is done whenever 

 it is convenient to do it" This may be so, but we 

 did not so learn from prairie farmers during our trip 

 last sea.Hon. They told us that the first plowing of 

 the prairie sod should be done between the first of 

 May and the last of June, while the grass and weeds 

 were in their most active stage of growth, and that 

 the sod will rot much better, and the after-crops, for 

 several years, be more successful than if broken up 

 at any other time. 



Baked Swret Apples. — How seldom do we see 

 ithese brougtit on to the table bj our country friends. 

 .For us, thare can be no better sauce, and we would 



not care if we had them twiee a diiy the year ro>.Bf 

 Raw sweet apples are good, and so are sour onw — 

 they should form a part of our daily food nine 

 mouths in the year. "Bring on the appfef,!" 



" Farmer Si^apdash." — Many an orchard is matv»- 

 ged on the Slapdash system — planted in a post-holE, 

 pruned by unruly cattle, barked ami broken by the 

 plow — no wonder such fruit-culture is thought a 

 humbug. Look at the pictures, and ^yoa will Lara 

 a lepson worth heeding — if not from Slapdamh, from 

 Fore(;ast and his management. B. — A'iagara Ca, 

 Dec, 1«56, 



FALL Mil) SPSmG PLOWING. 



John Johnston, of Fayette, says, never plow even 

 heavy land, 11 the fall, for corn in the spring; the 

 opinion of a man whose superior farming has done 

 so much to set farmers to thiiik'ng, who never before 

 dared to think outside of hereditary prescription, 

 ought to have much weight ; yet there is no doubt 

 but that, under certain conditions of soil, that fall 

 plowing may be practiced to advantage. 



Joseph Weight got a large crop of corn this sea- 

 son, from a field of three years' clover sod, plowed 

 nine inches deep, last fall, harrowed and planted late 

 in May; no manure. Geo .Allerman, on like soil, 

 with the same surface draining, next field, plowed 

 and planted in the spring, at the same time. Wright 

 harrowed his, using the sume kind of seed. The 

 corn both can>e up at the same lime, but Wright's 

 looked best, and gained on Allerman's until har- 

 vest, when it was acknowledged that Wright "had 

 onc-thinl more in ears and stalks th&n Allekman. 

 He attributed Wrighi's success entirely to the fall 

 plowing, which, he said, enabled the sod to rot better 

 vhan his had done, but that if the season had been 

 wet, this sod would have rotted better, and his crop 

 would have been as large as Wright's. But, on the 

 other hand, Wright attributes his success, in part, 

 to his mode of plowing; Allerman plowed a wide, 

 shallow furrow, turning the sward flat, as if for sum- 

 'gier fallow. Wright plowed a narrow but deep fur>- 

 row, t,urning the sward edgewise, and leaving a very 

 rough, jagged surface for the spring harrow. 



To test the disputed point better, WpiciiT haa 

 followed Mr. John.ston's advice by beginning an e\- 

 periment of fall and s-pring plowing, in his own field, 

 for corn in the spring. 1 went wiih him on the 2(1 

 inst. to see the end of his fall plovsihg; it was a 

 three years clover sod on a gently-rolling stuneJe^'s 

 field of friable clay loam, of a dark color, except 

 where the plow now and then turned up streaks ot 

 yellow, clayij-.h subsoil. Three yoke of heavy cattle 

 were plowing a narrow furrow ten inches deep^ — the 

 plowman said eleven. When the rough surface is 

 frozen, it is to be treated with a thin coat of dis- 

 tillery manure; at the same time a like quantity is 

 to be spread on that part of the field which is to be 

 plowed in the spring; then the plowing is to be done 

 as on the other plot, in the fall; both pieces to be 

 harrowed and planted at the same time and teisded 

 alike. The result will be published. S. W. — Wa- 

 terloo, Bee. 7, 185G. 



Quality of Soil. — Sands are seldom so rich bnt 

 it may be a matter of gain to increase their fertility; 

 and few tracts are so poor butthat with proper till- 

 age and manuring they may be made t-e abede of 

 1 plea 



