THE GENESEE FAKMER. 



171 



care of before harvest, as they need to be hoed twice; 

 the fiist time wiieii they are in the first leaf, thinning 

 them out to nine inches, the second time to clear them 

 of any weeds that may be among them. A narrow 

 cultivator or s-hovel plow can be run thro igh the 

 rows, which, if straight, allow you to go very near the 

 plauts, thereby leaving little ior the hoe to do. A 

 man can hoe cue-third of an acre the first, and one 

 acre the second hoeing." 



A Canadian correspondent who cultivated twenty 

 acres of ruta bagas last year, and who intends sowing 

 thirty acres this year adopts the following method : 

 " I plow the land in the fall very deep, thinking it 

 important to stir some of the subsoil. During the 

 winter draw manure into the field and put it in a round 

 heap, with a flat surface to catch all the rain. As 

 soon as the ground is in working condition in the 

 spring, plow again; work down fine with cultivator 

 and harrow, and about the first week of June com- 

 mence ridging twenty-eight inches apart ; fill the 

 ridges with good rotten dung; then split your rows 

 to cover the dung; roll down with a light roller, and 

 from the lOth to the 20th of June drill in about a 

 pound of seed per acre. Skirving's or Laing's improved 

 are excellent varieties. Last year I tried a new kind 

 called Marshalls, which is very good. 



" When the plants are nicely in rough leaf go 

 through them with scuffler or horse hoe; then hand 

 hoe, leaving the plants twelve inches distant from each 

 other — if the ground is very rich a little more. When 

 the plants have got a little hold of the ground scuf- 

 fle again, and go over them with the hand hoe, cut- 

 ting out all weeds and double turnips. I consider 

 turnips and ruta bagas the most profitable crop the 

 farmer can raise." 



Mr. Mtron E. Tanner, of Clarkstown, Rockland 

 Co., N. Y., says: "For laising ruta bagas, after 

 breaking up your land, ridge it and let it lie so for a 

 while; then run a deep furrow through the center of 

 each ridge and fill it with fine manure, after which 

 cover it slightly with earth and sow your seed. Keep 

 your land well worked between the rows, and when 

 the tops are large enough so that they are out of the 

 way of the flies, thin them out to about eight or ten 

 inches in the rows." 



ITEMS SUGGESTED BY THE MAY NTJMBEE. 



Mat-day is here, but the Farmer was one day in 

 advance, ready for the leisure given by a stormy af- 

 ternoon for its perusal And it has been some com- 

 pensation for the delay in the work, to see the grass 

 grow greener beneath the rain, and to get some sug- 

 gestive ideas from our worthy farmer's club — for 

 your journal, with its host of practical farmer cor- 

 respondents, is better than any farmer's club ever 

 yet organized. 



Rotation of Crops. — Some ideas contained in the 

 leader are new to me. I accept them, thankfully. 

 Circumstances must guide the thinking farmer in the 

 course to be pursued; and if he has a clear idea of 

 the principles on which crops should rotate, he can 

 act intelligently in the matter, and give that rotation 

 best and most convenient. Now, I meant to have 

 grown clover after wheat, but the seeding failed fiom 

 eitreme drouth, so I shall apply barn-yard manure 

 and plant corn and potatoes, and seed again to clo- 

 Ter on barley nest spring. This "leaves over" a 



green sward one year longer than intended, and I 

 sliall try, if possible, fall manuring, to bo plowed 

 under for corn next season, as recommended by Mr. 

 Johnston and I'rof. Voecklkr. 



CRow-srAREKS. — The application of sulphur to the 

 hills of corn is a nev/ notion — we find coating the 

 seed with tar efl'ectual. Place your seed in some 

 convenient vessel — we use an old half bushel — put 

 in good tar, enough, when stirred with the corn, to 

 coat thinly each kernel, then add a handful of plaster, 

 stirring again until the corn does not stick together. 

 I am sorry to say, that last year it did not keep red 

 squirrels from digging up out corn. 



Bean Fodder. — Perhaps, if cured in the way Mr. 

 Sampson recommends, bean straw would not be worth 

 over $2 per acre, but good bean fodder is worth 

 three times that sum. I value it equal to common 

 hay for sheep, and other stock can be learned to eat 

 it readily. 



Paesneps as a Field Crop. — I join in Mr. Hay- 

 ward's recommendation of this root for stock. It 

 can be raised with as little trouble as any other, and 

 the keeping in winter is much easier and safer. 



Management of Manure. — To keep the strength 

 of the manure, as Mr. Houghton says, is the great 

 object with the farmer, and to prevent fermentation 

 aioye ^rown(/ will accomplish this. This "prize es- 

 say" is worth a dollar to any farmer who will put its 

 recommendations into practice. 



Ashes as a Manure, — The yalue of ashes for ap- 

 plying to all crops on dry land, is not overstated by 

 Mr. Randall. Selling ashes for ten cents or less a 

 bushel, is getting a very little money for what, ap- 

 plied to the crops, would bring a much larger return. 

 Mr. E. got eight bushels of potatoes, extra, from the 

 use of one bushel of ashes. I have done as well — 

 and have found them of much benefit to corn, grasSi 

 and grain crops. 



Subsoil Plowing. — Ought not draining to pre- 

 cede subsoil plowing on such clay and hard-pan 

 lands as the writer of the prize essay on this s ibject 

 describes ? The suosoil, when loosened up, would 

 soon become saturated with water, which, without 

 drainage, would find no better outlet than before, 

 and hence pass off' by evaporation. First drain, and 

 then deepen, and the character of the soil will be 

 changed from compact and retentive to friable and 

 quickly drying, and yet keeping Bufficient moisture 

 for the uses of the crop. 



A Farmer's Garden. — ^Every farmer should have 

 a garden — one receiving, and therefore worth, some 

 attention. They are too often neglected, to the 

 great loss of the family — for garden vegetables are 

 necessary to perfect health in summer, and a great 

 luxury besides. 



Plums and the Curculio. — Dare we hope to eat 

 our plums again ? Xot many yetrs since we raised 

 fine ones, by the bushel; but first eame the curculio, 

 and then the black knot, and not a tree is left alive. 

 N. D. C. encourages us to try again, and we will 

 do so. 



My First Dahlia. — This was growm some sii er 

 eight years since, from a root transplanted the 4:!h 

 of July, and I thought it a fine one. My last dah- 

 lias were only buds, and for three years 1 have had 

 them cut off by early frosta. So I gayed no roota 

 last year. B. 



Niagara Co., N. Y. 



