6S 



TUB farmers' cabinet. 



VOL. I. 



topped, or cut above the ears. The former 

 is more expeditions, it saves twice as much 

 fodder, and is attended with a better crop 

 of corn, and it is always diminished con- 

 siderably by topping, [See Cabinet, page .3.] 

 This has been proved by repeated experi- 

 ments where the crop was measured. 



Seed corn should l)e always selected in 

 autumn — take such for this purpose as have 

 the greatest number of ears to a stalk. 



Hogs to be fattened may be turned into 

 apple orchards to pick up falling apples. 

 They will fatten on them as well as on corn, 

 if they have a plenty of them. 



Grain fed to hogs should always, if pos- 

 sible, be first ground to meal. 



Considerable advantage is derived from 

 feeding cooked food (steamed or boiled) to 

 hogs, and it should always be practised 

 when the number is sufficient to warrant the 

 erection of proper apparatus for it. 



Cooked food for fattening cattle is of little 

 advantage, and commonly not worth the 

 trouble. 



Advantage is generally derived from using 

 mixed food for domestic animals. 



Straw may always be of great use to the 

 farmer in many ways, and is well worth 

 preserving. The following method of se- 

 curing it is given by a correspondent of the 

 Genesee Farmer. " Previous to thrashing, 1 

 go to a hay-stack, and twist a quantity of 

 bands, from six to ten feet long, which are 

 placed at the barn door, and when the straw 

 is raked to the door, two men take a band and 

 stretch it over the bundle of straw, then run 

 each a hand under it, and turn it over end- 

 wise, when one of them fastens the band, 

 and the other prepares another band. In that 

 manner two men will bind as fast as the 

 swiftest machine will thrash, and the straw 

 is stacked as securely as wheat, and in one 

 fourth of the time required when not bound." 

 When wanted it may be afterwards removed 

 with far less labor than when stacked with- 

 out binding. 



Strawberries may be transplanted with ad- 

 vantage, in the early part of autumn. 



Fruit trees may be removed and trans- 

 planted after the first of October. Most 

 farmers who transplant fruit trees, suffer a 

 great loss by not doing the work well. The 

 principal care needed is, Jirst, to dig the 

 holes large, say six feet across, and fifteen 

 or eighteen inches deep ; secondly, to pre- 

 serve, carefully, the roots as entire and unin- 

 jured as possible, and not to suffer them to 

 become dry on the ground ; and thirdly, to 

 fill the hole with finely pulverized, rich earth, 

 (not manure,) shaking it in, in small quanti- 

 ties, and packing it closely but gently about 

 the roots, so as to leave them in their natural 



this, would not be more than half the price 

 of the tree, and in five years it would be 



i three times the size which it would be if 

 transplanted by the common way of digging 

 small holes and doing the work hastily and 



[imperfectly. 



Mctliod of Harvcjitiug ludian 

 Corn. 



If your hay is short, or you wish to sow 

 winter grain after you Indian corn, or secure 

 your corn against the effects of early frosts, 

 you may cut up your corn-hills close to the 

 ground, in fair weather, with a sharp knif-e or 

 sickle, and lay two rows into one, in small 

 bundles, as when you top and secure your 

 'stalks; bind your bundles above the ears, 

 ! and stack the same day in small stacks, either 

 Upon the borders of your field, or upon an 

 j adjoining field ; you may then plough and 

 sow as upon fallow grounds; secure your 

 stacks by doubling down the tops, and bind- 

 : ing the heads with a pliable stalk ; this will 

 ! exclude the rains, which otherwise would 

 damage your corn. This corn will be ripe 

 at the usual time, without the least diminu- 

 tion in its color, weight or value ; but in the 

 opinion of some of the best farmers, (who 

 are in the steady practice of this mode from 

 choice) with an increased value to the grain. 

 The increased quantity and value of your 

 stalks will richly pay the expense; you may, 

 in this way, bring forward the sowing of your 

 winter grain, two, three, or four weeks, which 

 will again at harvest repay the expense of 

 clearing your corn-fields. If you house your 

 corn-stacks before you husk your corn, ihe 

 pitching will be heavy, and your bundles 

 often break, and your places for housing be 

 difficult and inconvenient, andof ten exposed 

 to your cattle; therefore, husk your corn on 

 the field, and empty your baskets into your 

 cart as you husk, always remembering to 

 leave the husk upon the stalk, by breaking 

 off the cob ; these will again repay your ex- 

 pense in feeding. The difference in the 

 mode of husking, will at first be considera- 

 ble ; but a little practice will soon remove 

 this, and render them equal. It is of high 

 importance for every farmer to know every 

 mode of culture, that will afford him suc- 

 cessful advantage in managing his farm, and 

 in this point of view, this does not rank as 

 one of the least. 



I>rcs$ing^, 



The application of dung, or other manures, 

 to soils, to increase their truitfulness. Dress- 

 ing differs from manuring in general, only 

 as it is chiefly intended for the increasing 

 Not only are dressings 



of one single crop 



necessary for poor and weak soils; but they 

 position in the soil. The whole expense of [are profitably applied to those which are rich 



