362 



THE FARMERS' CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



own, whicli I shall endeavor to improve for 

 myself, and hope every brother farmer will 

 do so likewise. 



" f often say to myself, wliat a pity it is our 

 farmers do not work it right. When I see 

 a man turn his cattle into the road to run at 

 large, and waste their manure during a win- 

 ter's day, 1 say this man does not loorlc it 

 right. Ten loads of good manure, at least, is 

 lost in a season by this slovenly practice — 

 and all for what? For nothing, indeed, but 

 to ruin his farm. 



So, when I see cattle late in the fall or 

 early in the spring, rambling in a meadow or 

 mowing field, pounding the soil and breaking 

 the grass roots, 1 say to myself this man does 

 not work it right. 



So when I see a barn yard with a drain to 

 it, I say the owner does not work it right, for 

 how easy it is to make a yard hollow, or low- 

 est in the middle, to receive the moisture and 

 all the wash of the sides, which will thus be 

 kept dry for the cattle. The wash and moist- 

 ure of the yard mixed with any kind of earth 

 or putrid straw, is excellent manure ; yet how 

 much do our farmers lose by neglecting these 

 things; in fact they do not work it right. 



When I see a farmer, often going to the 

 retailer's store, with a bottle or jug, lounging 

 about a tavern, or wrangling about politics, 

 or quarrelling with, and defaming his neigh- 

 bors' good name, I am certain such a man 

 does not work it right.'''' 



An Old Farmer. 



Matters in GeMeral. 



ROLL YOUR GARDEN BEDS. 



Seeds will come up much better on ground 

 rendered fine, and then rolled or pressed 

 smooth. The reason is, the earth is brought in 

 contact with the seeds, and a chance given to 

 vegetate. There are fewer places for insects 

 to skulk and hide in, and of course less dan- 

 ger of the plants suffering from their depre- 

 dations. 



KEEP YOUR HOES SHARP. 



Very likely your grandfather, and perhaps 

 your father never heard of such a thing as 

 grinding a hoe ; but no matter, try it for 

 yourself, and see if a sharp hoe does not work 

 as much easier as a sharp axe. You would 

 think yourself poorly provided for mowing, 

 without rubstonc or rifle ; and a file for sharp- 

 ening a hoe, is as necessary, where facility 

 of labor is consulted, in the field of corn, as 

 the former implements are in the meadow. 



GOING TO GRASS. 



Don't be in a hurry to turn your animals to 

 grass, if you have any thing in your barn to 



feed them on. Horses or cattle turned out 

 early, trample your land, destroy the roots of 

 the grass, refuse good hay afterwards, and in 

 all probability fall away rapidly for some time. 

 Pastures should not be turned into until the 

 grass will aflbrd a good bite, this gnawing 

 for a living is hard work for an animal. If 

 necessity compels you to let out your cattle, 

 always use your driest pastures first as they 

 will poach least. If you are a farmer you 

 will have your pasture divided into several 

 fields, and turn into them in succession. — 

 Milch cows pay best for good feed, horses 

 next, and sheep will do well where the others 

 would starve. 



KILL THE WORMS ON YOUR FRUIT TREES. 



With the leaves and the blossoms will 

 come the worms, and the earlier the attack 

 is made upon them the better will it be for 

 your fruit trees, and the easier the labor of 

 destroying them. When the sun first warms 

 them into existence, and they leave their 

 honeycomb nest at the extremity of the twigs, 

 the slightest touch is sufficient to destroy 

 them, but when they have lived to spin their 

 web, have jrrown on the destruction of the 

 young buds and leaves, and been mured to 

 the weather, they are a formidable pest to the 

 farmer and proportionably difficult to subdue. 

 A small swab or brush on the end of a long 

 rod, dipped in a lye made of wood ashes, or 

 pretty strong soap suds, applied to these 

 young colonies of worms is efiectual to their 

 demolition. If the operation has been de- 

 layed, and the web is thick, it must be broken 

 up by winding on the pole or rod, or the li- 

 quid will not touch them. The morning is 

 the best time to apply the lye, or suds, as the 

 worms are then in the nest. When the sun 

 is up, they leave the nest, mostly, and dis- 

 perse over the trees for feeding. 



SWEET ELDER. 



This is a bad shrub where it gets foot-hold, 

 and is one of the most difficult to exterminate. 

 It is besides good for nothing, and so com- 

 pletely occupies the ground as to exclude all 

 other vegetation. Cutting seems rather to 

 benefit it than otherwise, certainly such as it 

 gets in mowing, as in meadows it always 

 spreads more rapidly than elsewhere. We 

 have seen it stated that while the plants are 

 young and vigorous beating them to the 

 ground with a pole so as to bruise and strip 

 the wliolo, will effectually destroy them. It 

 is possible that the bruised juices, from their 

 changed nature, may operate on the plant 

 like those from a gangrened wound on the 

 animal system and cause their death. There 

 can at any rate be no harm in trying the ex- 

 periment. 



