298 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



of tlu-ee or four days' duration, the saving of la- 

 bor and of injury to the hay, would nearly or 

 quite pay for the caps. 



"But," says my old neighbor, "all this is mighty 

 expensive business. We used to get along very 

 well without all this outlay for mowing machines 

 and hay caps, and all this new fangled machinery." 

 True, we did, neighbor, and when we were boys, 

 we paid seventy-five cents a day for labor, and 

 cut one ton or less to the acre, and fed it out to 

 cows worth from eighteen to twenty-five dollars. 

 Now we have to pay two dollars to mowers, and 

 cut frequently two to three tons to the acre, and 

 feed it to cows worth from forty to eighty dollars 

 each. We must have our hay got in the right 

 time, and well got, for such cows, and is it not 

 cheaper to save labor by machinery, than to pay 

 for it, at such prices as we now have to pay ? 

 We must keep up with the times, and make our 

 arrangements to suit changing circumstances, or 

 we cannot get along. 



We said July is the Haymaker's month ; but 

 it is not wholly thus. The reapers must have 

 their share of it. The grain as well as the grass 

 must be cut in season. Do not let it stand till 

 the kernel will shell out in handling the sheaves. 

 When grain is ripe, it is liable to be injured by 

 rains and wind. There is risk in letting it re- 

 main longer than is absolutely necessary, and 

 when properly dried, the sooner it is housed the 

 better. On the immense grain fields of the West 

 they cannot, and do not attempt, to house their 

 grain, but cure It in the shocks and stacks, and 

 much of it is injured by the M'eather or destroyed 

 by the birds and squirrels and mice. 



With our small fields, this is not necessary, and 

 would be for us a wasteful and slovenly way of 

 doing business. 



The cornfields and the garden must not be 

 neglected in July. Weeds will grow in July 

 as well as in June. The corn must have its last 

 hoeing in this month. See that it is well done. 

 Leave no weeds to bear a crop of seed for next 

 year. Your root crops want frequent visits from 

 the wheel hoe, to keep the ground light and mel- 

 low. The old saw says — 



The twentieth of July- 

 Sow turnips, wet or dry. 



But for winter turnips, any time before the tenth of 

 August will do, though that period is rather late. 

 It is very convenient to sow turnips among corn, 

 at the time of the last hoeing. Turnip seed costs 

 but little. Scatter it broadcast among the corn 

 and potatoes, and It will well repay for the labor. 

 The turnip takes but little from the soil, feed- 

 ing chiefly upon the atmosphere, by means of Its 

 broad, pulpy leaves. If time can be found to 

 plow up a piece of old pasture land, fence it, 



harrow in a good dressing of ashes or superphos- 

 phate of lime, and sow with turnips and grass 

 seed ; you will be quite likely to get a good crop 

 of turnips if the autumn should prove favorable, 

 and the land will be doubled in value for pasture 

 afterwards. 



We now begin to enjoy the fruit of our labor 

 in the garden. Peas and string beans, and new 

 potatoes and turnips, strawberries, currants and 

 cucumbers are charming additions to our daily 

 food, and if we are fortunate enough to have a 

 few apples ripe in July, we shall know how to 

 prize them, and to be tliankfulfor them too. 



COOKEKT. 



A writer in the New York Spirit of the Times 

 says : The refinement of a family is nowhere so 

 quickly seen as at a table, and nowhere do men's 

 sensual, selfish Instincts become more prominent. 

 There is the centre of the family after the day's 

 wandering ; there Its first meeting after a night 

 of forgetfulness ; there we give hospitality to the 

 stranger, there the tongue Is loosened, the wan- 

 dering thoughts called back, and the heart Is 

 warmed Into expression under generous fare. 

 "He has eaten with me," is the Arabian talisman 

 to protection, and the Christian has made a sup- 

 per the emblem of his religion. 



Then what constitutes a supper? Even the 

 simpler half of a meal, being the food and its 

 preparation, apart from its physiological bear- 

 ings. Is worthy of thoughtful study. As to that 

 other half of a dinner, the people that are to sit 

 around It, they being chosen only on festive oc- 

 casions, to them I do not allude. 



E<iually important to a man's physical being, 

 as to his moral health. Is the character of the 

 food on the table. It may be Insufficiently cooked, 

 crude, and Indigestible ; It may be overdone, 

 sodden and heavy ; It may be dried to a chip, un- 

 til the nutriclous juices are evaporated, or it may 

 be fried to an oily mass that requires the strong- 

 est stomach to analyze. Then, again, the food 

 that was originally ample and rich, may be so 

 wasted by the culinary process, that what was 

 once abundant is prodigally reduced. 



One or the other of these faults universally af- 

 fects nearly every dish that is placed on the 

 American tables. 



To avoid such evils, and cook sufliciently with- 

 out wasting, and In the most economical quanti- 

 ties. Is a high art of life, and one of the simplest 

 and most overlooked. It is slighted by the intel- 

 ligent and left in the hands of the ignorant ; and 

 those whose duty It Is to govern, are punished in 

 health and property for their neglect. 



E. Foster, of Salem, Wis., writes us:— ■*I 

 raised a quarter of an acre of sugar 3ane the past 

 season, from which I made fifty gallons of very 

 good molasses. I think I shall i)lant two acres 

 another season." This is a substantial argument 

 why sugar should be cheaper — and abundant rea- 

 son why the Journal of Commerce and kindred 

 sheets should caution (!) farmers against too 

 great risk in its culture. 



