THE GENESEE FARMER. 



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MuLCinNG Potatoes. — Last spring I tried a small experiment on potatoes, and am bo -well satisfied 

 with the result that I shall try it on a larger scale next year. I planted and coyered my potatoes as 

 usual, but on one part of the field I covered the land with straw about six inches deep. We dug 

 the potatoes last week ; those on the covered land were much larger and yielded better than those 

 not covered. One of the potatoes on the covered part weighed 2 lbs. 5 oz. The covered ones were 

 much easier dug, and we save the labor of hoeing. I used wheat and oat straw, but suppose any 

 refuse straw will answer. L. Morris. — Windsor, Asht. Co., Ohio. 



A Singular Fact. — In the spring or summer of , a neighbor of mine put into his pen a very 



large hog, desiring to feed him until the following January. He was fed on corn meal aud the refuse 

 of the kitchen, from a common large trough in which, after eating, he would lie. In the mouth of 

 August his appetite failed him and his growth seemed arrested. He was, however, carefully fed until 

 the last of September, when finding he was not improving he was slaughtered, and on examining his 

 stomach it was found to contain a large ball of hair resembling in size, and somewhat in shape, a 

 goose egg, and so tightly knit together as to be separated only by application of the axe. C. P. 

 Ramsdell. — Venango Co., Fa. 



Oregon Peas, Ac. — Enclosed please find a small package of the Oregon Pea, lately brought from 

 that country. It is remarkable for its productiveness of both vine and pea, is said to make the best 

 of hay in large quantity on poor land, bears till frost, will lie on the ground all winter without rot- 

 ting, and is excellent for table use. It is small, but grows in bunches so that you can gather them 

 very fast, say from ten to twelve pods at a grasp. It is not a climbing pea, and has a stalk greatly 

 resembling our cotton. For pasturing, it would be very fine ; also for manuring land by plowing 

 under. It should be planted early. 



I huve raised the China corn this year. I got it from Kentucky. It produces a great deal of grain 

 and fodder. I think it is the same as the Doura corn. It brings from ten to eighteen heads to the 

 hill ; the first heads were ripe the second woek in August It is still bearing, and I think will not 

 stop until cold weather. I will send you a package, if you want it, without charge. A. 11. Brad- 

 ford. — Brownsville, Tenn. 



We will plant the peas early next spring and report the result. Shall be pleased to 



receive a few grains of the corn. 



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Woolen Rags as Manure. — As a fitting return for your trouble in answering my inquiry in the 

 May number, in regard to the application of Woolen Rags as a Manure, I now send you the result of 

 my so doing. In my former letter I said nothing about the quality of the land I intended planting. 

 It was a light yellow sand, and had been cropped with wheat the year previous and sowed with 

 clover, which had not, however, taken well. I planted the piece, just one-third of an acre, part on 

 the 10th of May, and the other part about the 20th, in rows three feet apart, putting the sets one foot 

 apart. They would, I think, have produced more if only eight or nine inches apart. I first drew 

 the rows, and then, after cutting them up, scatterred tlie rags, at the rate of one ton to the acre, dry, 

 in just the state I saved them, in the rows and dropped my sets on the rags, covering tliem uji in tlic 

 usual manner. I Iwed them three times, and the product is just 75^ bush, of the largest and lust 

 Pink-Eye potatoes I ever saw. The rags now appear but little decomposed. I purposely left two 

 rows without rags; the difference in the appearance of the potatoes during their growth, and in tlie 

 quality and quantity of the product, was very striking. I have just formed a manure heap, as follows : 

 first, a layer of horse dung and litter ; then a layer of woolen rags ; then a layer of spent lime ; then 

 another layer of rags; continuing thus to the top, on which I put a heavy coat of the same as at the 

 bottom. AVith it I intend dressing my garden in the spring. The piece on which I used the rags tlie 

 present year, I intend again to plant with potatoes next year. J. C. — Toronto, C. W. 



Such a heap needs a covering of loam or garden mould to retain the ammonia liber- 

 ated by the lime from the decaying rags and dung. 



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