THE GENESEE FARMER. 



75 



and in tlio long run on a soil, and with a crop aclaptod 

 to the usr of any ivirticular fcrtillizor, it will agree 

 periVct'v with practical ivsnlts. In fact, niidor any 

 circumstances wliich would give any value to practical 

 results, chemical analysis will pjve the same in a Jhc days 

 time.'' 



ITEMS SUGGESTED BY THE FEBRUARY NUMBER. 



Ijast month's Fanner seems to me one of the 

 most valuable uuuibers yet issued. Most of the ar- 

 ticles are of a practical eliaracter, and not the least 

 in importauce is the leader ou the question of aban- 

 doning 



Whbat Growing in Western New York. — Very 

 nearly hud I come to the conclusion that "it did not 

 pay" to grow wheat, but another year's experience 

 convinces me that it will prove prolitable under cer- 

 tain circumstances. What these circumstances are, 

 your article well indicates. It is a fact which every 

 farmer should -take to heart," that rich, well drained 

 soils hasten the mnturity of crops. In corn, this is 

 often oltserved, but it is no less true of other grains. 

 Sow only those lands best adapted to wheat, putting 

 them at first in the best condition lor the crop, and 

 selet;tiiig eaily maturing v<hieties, and the general 

 product will be such, in. spite of the midge, as to pay 

 M-ell for the outlay. We must have wheat, and good 

 wheat, in Western New York, and I believe that it 

 can yet be grown profitably. I^ast season, our crop 

 averaged fifteen l>ashels; the midge injuring it pioba- 

 bly about five bushels per acre. Let every farmer 

 study your article, and sow just as much wheat as he 

 can on right soil — As to fertility, character and drain- 

 age-— in season, and in good order, and no more. 



A Marsh and its Products. — This calls for no 

 special comments at my hands, only I would suggest 

 to "B. F." that the mud thrown from the bottom of 

 the ditches is one of the most valuable "products" 

 of his marsh. If he will take pains to spread it 

 around — not leave it, as is too often the case, on the 

 banks of the ditch — he will find it of the very high- 

 €8t value for any crop, and there will be a marked 

 diff>!rence in the \ield of the ground to which it is 

 applied, if well mixed with it, for several years. 



Potatoes, Etc. — Here are three good bits of ex- 

 perience in raising potatoes — dull indeed must the 

 reailer be, if he cannot profit from them all. I pre- 

 fer growing "potatoes on clover sod," for I oaa do 

 so with the least expense and trouble. 



Agricultoral Reading. — An interested- reader of 

 agricultural papers is always getting ahead of his 

 neighbors who do not read. But it is a fact, not to 

 be disputed, that some who read make a very poor 

 use of their learning. Their practice lacks common 

 •sense, and so results in a failure many times, while 

 the man of practical gense succeeds with only obser- 

 vation to guide him. How much t^etter might he do 

 ■with the added observation of hundreds as sensible 

 as he, which a good paper would bring before him? 



Docking Horses — "A barbarous practice," surely, 

 and one which ought to be reformed altogether. 

 Thaf, and the tight check-rein, are unnecessary inflic- 

 tions on this valuable animal. 



Ki: Graktixg Old Apple Trees — It is too often 

 thought that all one has to do to renovR,te and renew 

 in olii apple orchard, is to cut backhand re-graft it to 

 new varieties. But this' is not so. Well does " H. 

 6. H." remark: "The result is ginply to cause what 



life there is in llie whole tree to be expended in a 

 'course of sprouts,' which in another year become 

 more feeble than the old limbs were, and the tree, 

 galvanized into life for a time, falls into incurable de- 

 cline." Manuring and cultivation are retpiired ; 

 plenty of the one, and the other of a thorough chur- 

 ucter. 



IjIma Beans. — One of your Rochester correspond- 

 ents says: "Lima beans are good, but unless started 

 in a hot-bed very unceilain." I never had much dif- 

 ficulty m growing Lima beans in my garden, since 

 the first few years. But I save my own seed, and 

 carefully save the earliest ripe for planting. Three 

 years since, I started some early on pieces of inverted 

 sod, and when warm weather came the third and 

 fourth leaves started. They were planted out, and 

 at the same time a few additional hills of dry beans, 

 and the one I'ipened beans as soon as the other. As 

 to the Horticultural bean, I never tried it. For a 

 dwarf bean, the China Red-eye is excellent and early. 



The Premidm Ess.ays. — The March number prom- 

 ises to be one filled with articles from new pens, called 

 out by your liberal offer. I anticipate a rare treat 

 from their perusal, and will not e^itend my "Items" 

 farther, that you may have the room for better mat- 

 ter. B. 



JYiagara Co., JV. Y. 



NOTES FOR THE MONTH BY S. W. 



Blood Horses. — It would seem that there is much 

 diversity of opinion among the magnates at the An- 

 nual Meeting of our Slate Agricultural Society at 

 Albany, where, just now, the breeders of bovine ani- 

 mals are death upon the trial of fast horses at ouf 

 County Fai?s! Verily, they contrive to manage these 

 things more profitably, if not better, in Vermont, 

 where fast, blood horses are the great paying staple 

 that puts millions in the pockets of Vermont fai'mers, 

 while our New York fanners, vulgarly speaking, have 

 to 'dance in the hog-trough." Since the advent of 

 railroads, fast horses have been growing more and 

 more into favor, at enormously increased prices, and 

 the canny Vermont Yankees have not been slow ia 

 reapipg the golden harvest. It is w^ell known that 

 fat, sleek horses and serious coachmen are no longer 

 tolerated in the thorough- bred city of Boston, and 

 that even quiet families there, must now have fast 

 horse.s, even at exhorbitant prices; and why should 

 our New York farmers be discouraged from com- 

 peting vvith Vermont for the trade ? 



Chinese Sugar Cane — The New York Tribune 

 recommends the South African variety of the Sor- 

 ghum as better for syrup or sugar than that from 

 North China. So far from this, the Cafraiian plant 

 is earlier than the variety contributed by M. Mar- 

 riGNY from China, and it is said to be better for its 

 cereal and forage product, but les? rich in .^nceliarine 

 than the Chinese. See BuUeiin d'Jlcclimatalion of 

 the 9th of September, page 4.t1. 



A Question for Horticulturists —Your Roch- 

 ester correspondent plowed a piece of virgin soil that 

 had lain twenty years a village common; the escu- 

 lents he got from it the first year astounded him by 

 their rapid growth. His mistake the second year 

 was in applying that crude hor.sc manure; this friable 

 loam did iiot need its mechanical efTects, as it might, 

 had it been tenacious clay; and its chemical effects 

 were injurious to all delicate plants, from their very 



