303 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



putting the sticks tolerably close, say six inches 

 apart. When the barn is filled much depends upon 

 the state of the atmosphere; if warm and clear, it 

 ia not so difficult as when rainy, or even damp and 

 cloudy. In a day or two, if the weather is fine, the 

 tobacco will be considerably yellowed. Small fires 

 should be built all over the barn, under the tobacco. 

 This hastens the colouring. When the ends of the 

 leaf begin to curl, the heat must be increased grad- 

 ually. It is impossible to give a certain time in 

 which to increase the heat, as all depends upon the 

 colour of the tobacco. Experience is necessary 

 here, for if the heat is raised too soon the tobacco 

 will be of a greenish colour; if too late it will be 

 red. Mottled or yellow stlls best. But after hot 

 fires are under it, keep the house as near one heat as 

 possible until the ribs and stems are dried; you may 

 then slacken the fires, for now there is danger of 

 burning it up; but do not take the fire entirely away 

 until the stalk is dried; if you do, the leaf will change 

 colour and become red. 



Now, whenever there comes a damp spell of wea- 

 ther through the winter or spring, the tobacco will 

 become soft and may be stripped from the stalk, 

 and about ten leavds tied together, by wrapping 

 them tightly around the butt end with another leaf. 

 This is tying them in hands. These hands should be 

 kept smooth and straight. While stripping it should 

 be the business of one man to sort or separate the 

 tobacco, making first, second and lugs. The tobacco 

 should now be hung up again, unless it is required 

 to be taken away soon, in which ease it should be 

 put in bulk, and should be bulked at least a foot 

 above the ground, and in a part of the barn where 

 it cannot get wet. When the stems will break one 

 half way up the leaf, it is in good order to bulk 

 down, provided the weather is not too cold. If it 

 has to stay in this condition long it must be noticed 

 often, for it may get too high in case, and spoil di- 

 rectly. It is now ready for the manufacturer, and 

 the quicker you get the money for it the better for 

 all concerned. W. D. M. 



Pinoak, Warren Co., Mo. 



ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESCAPINO INJUKY FROM 

 DKCUTfl. 



Drain your land of all surface water; keep it in a 

 high state of fertility; work it only when it is dry; plow 

 your manure under, on heavy soils, in an unfermented 

 state; but on lihgt sand when it is well rotted; 

 plough as early in the spring as the land is dry 

 enough. If you have a green sod to turn under, ail 

 the better. Keep all hoed crops and fallows free 

 from weeds, by destroying them as soon as they are 

 visible; stir the surfixce of the soil frequently during 

 a drouth, whether there any weeds or not. On all 

 high land apply plaster early in the spring to clover, 

 peas and barley, and to buckwheat, and all hoed 

 crops as soon as the plants are up. 



In order to have a second crop of grass on mead- 

 ows, either for seed or pasture, the first crop should 

 be mowed early, as the ripening of grass seeds draws 

 from the earth a great amount of moisture, and it is 

 admitted by chemisits that after grass has attained its 

 size it loses by delay in cutting, and makes hay of 

 poorer quality as it grows riper, and the injury done 

 to the soil for the time being is easily shown by the 

 following experiment; Mow one part of a field of 



clover as soon as the first blossoms begin to turn, 

 and let the remainder stand until most of the heads 

 are black; then mow it, and note the growth that 

 each will make in a certain time after it is mowed; 

 and if showers and other circumstances are alike fa- 

 vorable, the part mowed first will have as good an 

 after growth in two weeks as the last part will in 

 four. ,W. S. 



Canada West, A-ug. 25 th, 1857. 



ON THE BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM COMPE- 

 TITION FOR THE PREMIUMS OFFERED FOB 

 SHORT ESSAYS BY THE GENESEE FARMER. 



It bnngs out much valuable information which 

 might otherwise remain unknown, and scatters it 

 broadcast over the land. It enables us to profit by 

 the experience of those who have established facte, 

 by actual experiment. For instance, there is a pointt 

 in dispute between two farmers in regard to manur- 

 ing corn. One contends that it is much the better 

 way to manure it in the hill, while the other declares, 

 that it is not as good nor as expeditious a method, 

 as it is to spread the manure on the land and then 

 plow it under. But neither of them knows to a cer- 

 tainty, as they have not experimented carefully, and 

 then as carefully compared results. Both being 

 slightly prejudiced, each recommends his own meth- 

 od. In the meantime, some more enterprising far- 

 mer, and one who does not do business by guess, 

 has experimented, for his own satisfaction, upon the 

 subject in dispute. He has weighed and measured 

 accurately; kept debt and credit carefully, and as 

 there was a premium offered for an essay on that 

 very subject, he has given us the whole modus ope- 

 randi, with its result. Thus the theory of one or 

 the other of the disputants is forever exploded ; the 

 facts in the case established, and placed at the dispo- 

 sal of thousands of other agriculturists. 



Competition for premiums bring out Essays which 

 aSord us ample evidence that although agricultural 

 science has for ages been wrapped in the serpent- 

 like coils of Ignorance and prejudice, it has at length 

 burst its bonds assunder, and is traversing our fair 

 domain with giant strides, to the joy and admiration 

 of those who appreciate its value, but to the terror 

 and dismay of old fogyism and all its votaries. Not- 

 withstanding the clamorous outcry made by some 

 farmers against science, in its application to agricul- 

 ture, or " book farming," as they term it, the Essays 

 with which we are favored through the medium 

 of the Genesee Farmer, prove beyond all reasonable 

 doubt, that it is possible to establish a rule of action 

 which would apply generally to every branch of ag- 

 riculture. And that it is in fact a science to properly 

 cultivate a field of wheat, or to rear a domestic ani- 

 mal, as well as it is to measure the distances to the 

 planets, or to calculate the period when eclipses will 

 occur. Agricultural science has indeed enabled us 

 to unlock the earth as it were, and thereby placed 

 within our reach priceless and inexhaustable treasures. 



Competition for premiums tend to increase confi- 

 dence in agricultural literature, and thereby to pro- 

 mote the circulation of agricultural journals. Much 

 of the agricultural matter in circulation has emana- 

 ted f(om the pens of men who possessed unlimited 

 means; men who could build upon an extensive- 

 scale; lay out and adorn pleasure grounds; plant 

 and train ornamental trees; cultivate a great variety 



