160 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



two, three, and even four folci, and for several years 

 after good crops ol grass have been obtained. 



I have never used ashes on wet land, nor with any 

 other manure, with the exception of plaster. 



I. Eandall. 



Masonville, Delaware Co., J\t. Y. 



OH THE USE OF SALT AS A MANURE 



Salt has been used as a manure for grass lands, 

 meadows, «fec., in all parts of the world, with varying 

 success. It is said to sweeten the herbage, and it is 

 •well known that when salt is sprinkled over a portion 

 of a pasture, cattle, sheep, and horses will immedi- 

 ately repair to the salted part in preference to any 

 other portion of the field. It evidently renders grass 

 more palatable to live stock. Upon consulting the 

 old treatises on agriculture we find that salt has been 

 used in various agricultural operations from a very 

 early period. Salt renders the earth capable of ab- 

 sorbing the moisture of the atmosphere, a property 

 of the first importance, since those soils whicli absorb 

 the greatest proportion of the moisture of the atmos- 

 phere, are always the most productive. Salt v,'hen 

 applied to land in small quantities promotes the de- 

 compositions of animal and vegetable substance; and 

 it destroys vermin and kills weeds, which are thus 

 converted into manure. It is a direct constituent or 

 food of some plants, and it has been clearly ascer- 

 tained that if salt is applied to a soil the vegetables 

 afterwards growing thereon are found to contain it 

 in increased proi^ortions. It acts upon vegetables as 

 a stimulant and preserves them from injury by sud- 

 den transitions in the temperature of the atmo?*phere. 

 That soils do not freeze so readily as usual when salt 

 is applied to them is well known. Salt also pre- 

 serves crops of turnips, cabbage, &c., from injury by 

 frost. Joseph Lee. — C. IF. 



ON THE RELATIVE ADYAKTAGES CF EMPLOYING 

 H0aSE3 OR CATTLE IN FARM LABOR. 



Although I am decidedly of the opinion that cat- 

 tle are the cheapest animals of the two, yet horses can- 

 not be dispensed with; and the farmer should em- 

 ploy both. Horses are quicker and will get over 

 more ground in a day than cattle, and this may be 

 considered one advantage in employing them. But 

 if cattle are slow, they are sure, and they have many 

 great advantages over horses for farm labor. They 

 can be kept at a much less expense; are not as liable 

 to accidents as horses; will not run avray if you can- 

 not be close to them all the time ; can be taken 

 through the woods, swamps and other places where 

 horses would be almost sure to get injured in some 

 ■way. As a general thing they are truer at a heavy 

 load, and are much more easily managed than horses. 

 Suppose a farmer has a span of fine, well- trained horses 

 which he uses in his farm labor, and changes drivers, 

 or in other words, employs new hands, ten chances to 

 one, they will soon be ruined by the awkwardness 

 or ignorance of their new masters, for no two men 

 manage horses just alike; and there are compara- 

 tively speaking, very few who know how to "pull" 

 liorses properly. I have seen steady, valuable ani- 

 mals almost ruiued by the ignorance of new drivers 

 who would balk and overload them. To "start" a 

 pair of horses with a heavy load, especially if one is 

 a little the " quickest," requires an amount of judg- 



ment which many hired men will not exercise. In- 

 stead of having the dull, sleepy drones which farmers 

 generally have, when they do use horses, they should 

 have the best kind, strong, active and spirited; but 

 it muRt also be remembered that every ignoramus 

 who hires himself to the farmer at ten or fifteen dol- 

 lars a month, cannot work them, and the farmer must 

 either employ dull horses, or always drive them him- 

 self. 



These difiBculties are in a very great measure ob- 

 viated by using cattle. An ignorant hand can be 

 taught to work them easier than he can horses. They 

 are not half so liable to be injured under his manage- 

 ment, and there is not so much difi'eience between 

 men in working them, so that they soon understand 

 a new hand. They are so slow and steady that they 

 are not worried with a heavy load like horses, and 

 consequently do not need so much attention. HorLes 

 are also liable to a great variety of diseases, from 

 which cattle are entirely free. David Street. 



Salem, Ohio. 



— ' -i^* ■■ ■ 



ON CUTTING HAY, COPN-STALKS AND OTHER FOD- 

 DER FOR HORSES AND CATTLE. 



The general way of feeding hay, straw, corn-stalks, 

 &e.,is very waste fid, and far from economical. Hay and 

 straw are geneially fed by the fork-full, and the stocit 

 are left to eat what they choose and trample the rest 

 under their feet. But if all their feed is cut and mix- 

 ed with a little meal, they will eat it up clean; and 

 the amount thus saved would appear almost incredi- 

 ble. Even though a farmer raise the most abundant 

 crops, he cannot expect to " get rich " if he wastes 

 them ; and there is a vast of amount of money thrown 

 away every year by careless feeding. Cattle will not 

 eat corn-stalks up clean in their whole state, but when 

 cut into pieces an inch or two in length and mixed 

 with shorts or corn meal, they are eaten very readily. 

 " A penny saved is two pennies earned," and I know 

 from experience that cutting "long feed " for stock 

 is an excellent way of saving pennies. It also pre- 

 pares the food better for the stock, as it requires 

 much less mastication. 



Unless a horse-power cutting-box is used, the old 

 fashioned long-knife box is tue best I have ever met 

 with, and I think I can cut as much with one of them 

 in good order, as can be done with any patent, high- 

 priced machine. David Street. 



Salem, Ohio. 



ON THE BEST SYSTEM OF ROTATION. 



It is useless at this day to adduce any arguments 

 to prove the propriety, economy or necessity of a 

 rotation of crops, this being, I believe, universally 

 conceded, except, perhaps, by the possessors of the 

 rich prairies or allutial bottoms of the West. 



The subject, then, comprises only the best rotation 

 of crop.s ; and this will vary according to the pro- 

 ducts cultivated in different sections of the country. 

 Where Indian corn, oats, wheat and hay are the sta- 

 ple productions, and where grazing is practiced or 

 cows kept for dairy purposes, the best rotation un- 

 doubtedly is the cultivation of those products in the 

 order they are named, it being undei stood that the 

 farmer depends on his own barn-yard manure as ft 

 fertilizer. 



The first crop, then, should be Indian corn, planted 



