276 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



yards; more or less of it gets mixed with the manure, 

 and is drawn out upon the land, thus seeding and re- 

 seeding their fields with cockle and chess. 



I have two screens to my farmiug-raiU, one coarse 

 for cleaning wheat for seed, which takes out all the 

 cockle and small shrunken grains, the other finer for 

 cleaning for market. I do not, nor never have be- 

 lieved, that wheat turns to chess; and by sowing 

 clean seed, and not feeding my screenings unless 

 ground, I have raised but very little, yet T have seen 

 some examples of raising chess that almost staggered 

 my belief. I have seen fields that would produce 

 twenty bushels of chess and not more than three of 

 wheat to the acre. " But," you will say, " this was 

 upon some old pastured field, and the chess had been 

 sown there from the droppings of hogs and cattle." 

 But that could not have been the case, for it was in 

 Michigan, upon timbered land, in a newly settled 

 neighborhood, and there had been but one crop rais- 

 ed on the land previously; and I found there were 

 intelligent farmers in that vicinity who are firm believ- 

 ers that wheat turns to chess. I would like to have 

 you, or some of your numerous correspondents, tell 

 how so much chess came in that soil. 



C. C. Wilson. 

 JVewfane, JViagara Co., JV. Y. 



ONE WOED MORE ON THE MILKING QITESTION. 



Messrs. Editors : — There has been much written 

 for the Genesee Fabmer on both sides of the milk- 

 ing question; yet, perhaps the better way lies be- 

 tween the two extremes. Whoever in the family has 

 most leisure ought to do the milking. Yet I have 

 often seen that it is not so. Mr. A. has a family of 

 nearly a dozen children — their ages varying from six 

 months to twenty years; yet the wife milks five or six 

 cows, while the husband and sons sit in the porch 

 smoking, or are lounging in the tavern or shops. 



Mr. B. has several daughters, but they are too 

 delicate to soil their hands; so their feeble, worn 

 mother must bear the burden of the work in the 

 house, and their aged father must do the milking. 

 These young ladies say they do not know how many 

 cows their father milks, but they believe their mother 

 makes cheese ! 



But not like either of these is the family of Mr. 



C. He has three highly educated and lady -like 



daughters; but their mother has long been at rest. 



Sometimes when they have company, Mr. C. says : 



•' Girls, I'll milk to night." But the girls say, " No, 



father, you'll not milk when we are all at home." 



These young ladies will be prizes to those who can 



win them. Education makes ladies better daughters, 



wives, and mothers, and fits them for their duties in 



any station. But if we see a young person lacking 



in kindness to parents, even in household labors, we 



may be sure the head, or heart, or both, are not well 



educated. A. M. 

 — »^» ■ 



Breaking the Prairie. — I noticed in the January 

 number of the Farmer an article on breaking the 

 jirairie, and I can say, from an experience of eighteen 

 years, that your correspondent is somewhat mistaken 

 in the time thereof, as I have never yet known any 

 prairie breaking done before the middle of May, or 

 later than the first of August, with the exception of 

 some hazle rufl'. L. C. S. 



Flint, loiva. 



SOUND COKN, AGAIN. 



Messrs. Editors : — I notice in the August number 

 of the Farmer an article written on this subject by 

 your correspondent " W. H. M.," of Indiana, Penn., in 

 which he writes down his plan of securing corn and 

 cornstalks in autumn, which will, no doubt, set to 

 rights any or all " mistaken views" thrown out by me 

 in an aaticle on the same subject, found in volume 

 17, page 116, of the Genesee Farmer, to which he 

 takes the trouble to allude. In the article referred 

 to will be found : " When the corn is well glazed, I 

 cut ofi" the stalks close to the ear, bind and shock 

 them in the field for winter use. I consider corn left 

 to ripen in this way (on the hill) will yield better, and 

 be much sweeter and heavier, than when cut up by 

 the roots." He " thinks" 1 must be " mistaken," for he 

 says: " It has been pr ved by actual experiment that 

 corn cut up by the roots and cured in shocks, is 

 about four pounds per bushel heavier than the same 

 variety, on the same kind of ground, left to ripen in 

 the hill." I will inform " W. H. M." and others con- 

 cerned how I came to be " mistaken," if mistaken I 

 am. I find by referring to my diary that I have en- 

 deavored to till the soil eleven years " on my own 

 hook," (the present year included,) and that I have 

 planted more or less ground to corn every year. Of 

 six of the best crops, three were treated precisely as 

 stated in " W. H. M.'s," plan and three left to ripen on 

 the hill. The soft corn at husking time wa?, cut up by 

 the roots, 9 to 30 of sound; on the hill, 1 to 30 of sound. 

 Weight of corn when ready for market averaged, 

 cut lip by the roots, 55 pounds per bushel; on the 

 hill, 59 pounds per bushel strict measure — one year 

 weighing CO^ pounds. Now, if Mr. " W. H. M." has 

 a kind of corn that will weigh G4 pounds per bushel, 

 cured in the shock, I should be glad to get seed of 

 him for another year. 



One thing more. I have found by " actual experi- 

 ment," that corn shelled immediately before grinding 

 is one third sweeter than when shelled a long time. 

 I practice putting away in tight boxes corn in the 

 ear, for family use. J. C. AoAiis. 



Seymour, JV. Y. 



^ I w • 



FARMER'S CLUES. 



Messrs. Editors: — There is a vast amount of in- 

 formation to be obtained by farmers forming them- 

 selves into Clubs. Let all the farmers within five 

 miles (or more or less, as the place is inhabited,) 

 form themselves into a Club. Let one and all join; 

 those who cannot give advice to others, can there get 

 information which will prove most valuable to them; 

 but every man can learn, for there is no such thing 

 as perfection in farming. We are always improving 

 by the experience of others. The practical man's 

 views and experiments are what we require the 

 most. 



The Club-room presents a good place to discuss 

 subjects upon the different and best ways of culti- 

 vating the various kinds of grain and other crops^ 

 and the different varieties of seed which will be the 

 most profitable to raise and least injurious to the 

 land. Where there is a change of seed required, let 

 the Secretary, or some member, get all that is re- 

 quired in a lot; it can then be obtained much cheaper 

 than if each person sent for his own. Farmers can^ 

 there ditcuss upon the diSerent kinds of stock — the^ 



