farmers' miscellany. 117 



pass off. This is as necessary as guano, or any other nitrogenized 

 substance. A wet soil is cold from the evaporation constantly 

 going on at the surface. The moisture which passes into the at- 

 mosphere is immediately replaced from the water below rising by 

 capillary attraction to suppfy its place, and constant circulation is 

 thus preserved from below upwards ; even an upward current of 

 moisture goes on in the coldest weather in the winter. Let a pit 

 with water be covered with boards, and the under surface of these 

 boards will be covered with frost during the most severe weather 

 of winter. How much more rapid is the escape of water in warm 

 summer weather than the winter ? As the evaporation in one case 

 exceeds the other, so in the same proportion with the temperature. 



MEANS FOR IMPROVEMENT. 



Could our farmers be induced once a year to visit their brother 

 farmers in their vicinity, it would promote very materially their 

 interests. There are many farmers who sincerely believe that they 

 know quite as much as their neighbors ; this, to be sure, may be 

 true, but after all, it is very likely that they are not so well ac- 

 quainted with some kinds of rural economy as others. Then, 

 again, intercourse with their distant neighbors, for the special pur- 

 pose of being benefited, will serve more than one purpose — it will 

 benefit both parties, the visiting and the visited. Emulation, which 

 is often the spring of business, will be excited. We do not care 

 who the individual is, or what business he is in, without emulation, 

 without ambition to excel, very little, comparatively, will be done. 

 Farmers, then, visit your neighbors to see how they manage their 

 farms and their stock, and when you have done this, go home and 

 improve upon their modes of management. Beat them, if you 

 can. 



OVER RIPENED SEED. 



There are many instances where seed for culture, or sowing, is 

 cut before it can be said to be.fully ripened. Wheat cut while it is 

 in the milk — maize, too, which from an early frost has not certainly 

 ripened — will grow if cut up immediately and properly dried. In 

 some instances, too, it has been found that unripe potatoes are bet- 

 ter for seed, produce a better crop, and more certain, than those 

 which were not raised or dug till they were perfectly ripe. Thus 



