440 



NEW ENGLAND' FARMER. 



Sept. 



ally known as it ought to be. She remarked 

 that her family were quite fond of it, and 

 would be very unwilling to do without it, when 

 fresh vegetable food is as scarce as it gener- 

 ally is during our long winter season. Late 

 in the season when sweet corn becomes plenty, 

 she boils a kettle full at once, cooking it jusi 

 as for table use. The kernels are then cut 

 from the cob, placed on tins, and dried by the 

 stove. It might be dried in the sun, but as 

 her cooking stove furnishes good convenien- 

 ces, she has never tried that plan. When 

 sufficiently dry it is tied up in cloth bags, to 

 keep out insects, &c., and kept in a dry place. 

 To prepare it for breakfast, if she has plenty 

 of milk and thinks there is no danger of its 

 souring, the corn is soaked over night in cold 

 milk. But if there is danger of the milk sour- 

 ing it may be heated before being pouring upon 

 the corn. If milk is scarce, the corn may be 

 soaked in milk and water, or even in clear 

 water. Milk, however, adds much to its pal- 

 atableness. In the morning,' it is put upon 

 the stove and warmed and then buttered and 

 salted to taste. In her family, she says it is 

 as much the standard dish for Sunday break- 

 fast, as pork and beans ever were for dinner. 

 It is also often called for, and always welcomed 

 as a luxury, at other meals. , 



For the Xew England Fanner. 

 FALL PLOUGHING. 



Without elaborating the many strong points 

 in favor of Fall Ploughing, a few of the more 

 prominent benefits may be briefly stated as 

 follows : — 



1. August and September is a good time to 

 turn over bound-out sod land and manure and 

 re-seed it at once to grass, obtaining a crop of 

 hay the following year. 



2. October and November is an excellent 

 time to break up sod land for planting the fol- 

 lowing spring. 



3. The weather is then cool and bracing and 

 the team strong and hearty for the work ; 

 while the weather in the spring is more relax- 

 ing and team less able ; and spring work being 

 always hurrying, it saves time to despatch as 

 much of the ploughing as possible during the 

 previous autumn. 



4. Sod land broken up late in autumn will 

 be quite free from growing grass the follow- 

 ing spring ; the roots of the late overturned 

 sward being so generally killed by the immedi- 

 ately succeeding winter that not much grass 

 will readily start in spring. 



5. The frosts of winter disintegrate the 

 ploughecj land, so that it readily crumbles in 

 line particles in spring, and a deep, mellow 



seed-bed is easily made. The chemical 

 changes and modifications resulting from at-- 

 mospheric action during the winter, develop 

 latent fertility in the upturned furrows, which, 

 together with the mellowing influences, mate- 

 rially increase the crop. 



6. Most kinds of insects are either wholly 

 destroyed, or their depredations materially 

 checked, by late fall ploughing, especially the 

 common white grub and the cut worm. 



7. Corn stubble land may be ploughed late 

 in the fall, and thus be all ready for very early 

 sowing in spring, thereby going far to insure a ■ 

 good catch of grass ; the roots of the new 

 seeding getting bold well, or being well estab- 

 lished, before the droughts of summer come on. 



8. Most land in New England needs deeper 

 ploughing than has generally been practiced. 

 Where the subsoil is tine grained, and unctuous, 

 and close, or where there is a hard pan of 

 good quality, deep ploughing may be at once 

 resorted to, with decided advantage. Where 

 the subsoil is poorer, the ploughing may still 

 be advantageously deepened by degrees, say 

 an inch at each new breaking up. But in by 

 far a majority of cases, deep ploughing may 

 be practiced at once — indeed it may be the 

 rule, with safety, while shallow ploughing may 

 be the exception. Plough say nine, ten, eleven 

 or twelve inches in November. The subsoil 

 turned up will grow several shades darker by 

 spring. The frosts and atmospheric influences 

 of winter will mellow the soil. The inorganic 

 elements and all latent fertility will be made 

 more active for benefiting the crop. In spring 

 spread the manure and plough it in or other- 

 wise work it in or mingle it with the soil to the 

 depth, say of four inches, or a little more or 

 less, and you have the very best attainable 

 conditions for realizing good crops. Deeper 

 ploughing may thus be practiced than would 

 at all times be safe or expedient, if the plough- 

 ing is delayed till spring. H. F. 



August, 1868. 



Trotting Horses in Michigan. — The 

 President of the Michigan State Board of Ag- 

 riculture, in his Address to the members of the 

 executive committee at their annual meeting 

 in Detroit, makes the following remarks on 

 this subject : — 



"The desire to breed fast running, and 

 fancy trotting horses, without regard to other 

 qualities, has had the effect of lessening the 

 value, and lowering the standard of horses in 

 this State. In my opinion, we should encour- 

 age the introduction of horses of fair size, 

 weight and action that are so desirable in the 

 first class carriaere horse." 



— The Marshall, Iowa, Times, speaks of one far- 

 mer in that section wtio has 120 acres, and of an- 

 other who has 40 acres in white beans. 





