66 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Inquiries and Answers. 



A Worn Opt Wiikat Farm— Fbedino Poor Hay, Ac— 

 What is the best couise to adopt to ruiicw a natui-iiUy 

 good wheat soil, but which has been cropped almost to 

 death, (a). 



1 have but a small quantity of good bay which I wish 

 to keep tor spring and early summer. I have plenty of 

 .each kind of strsiw, of fair quality, and some >*econd 

 crop hiiv ofiF an old meadow, but which got considerable 

 rain. l' would be glad to know bow I can best feed it 

 (cut and mixed with chopped peas and oats) to my 

 horses, which are drawing wood and manure. I have 

 good wheat chaB', but no roots (b). 



Should stable manure be hauled to a heap in a field as 

 made? The Held is intended for roots, (c). 



Can you inform me of the best soil and mode of culti- 

 vation "for rape (d). — A Four Years Reader, Davenport, 

 Canada IVe^t. 



(o) Sow less wheat and other grain crops, and more 

 peas, beans, clover and root crops. Keep as much stock 

 on the farm as possible, feed it well, and save and apply the 

 manure. Cultivate as thoroughly as possible. Apply 

 gypsum to the clover and peas, one or t\vo bushels per 

 acre. We think, too, it would pay you to use superphos- 

 phate of lime for your turnip crop, say 300 pounds per 

 acre, drilled in with the seed. There is no manure so 

 good for turnips. If you get good crops of turnips, 

 clover and peas you can make good manure, and this 

 will soon, with good culture, bring up the land. 



(b) We cannot satisfactorily answer this question. If 

 vou had a steaming apparatus we should advise the 

 steaming of the chaff, hay, straw, &c. The next best way, 

 perhaps, would be to moisten it with water and a little salt, 

 and then mix some corn meal, shorts, &c., with it. 



(c) It may either be drawn to a heap in the field, or 

 thrown into a heap in the yard, and turned once or twice 

 to aid fermentiitiou and rot it sufficiently for the roots. 

 Or it mav be left in the yard till spring, and then thrown 

 into a he:ip. 



{d) We should be glad if some of our readers who 

 have bad experience with rape would answer this 

 question. 



OiLCAKB— (T. H.) Oi'cake in New York sells at $45 to 

 $50 per tun by the quantity to export. We think you 

 had better feed your cattle corn-meal at present rates. 

 Corn-meal cos'sless than half what you would have to 

 pay tor oilcake, and it certainly is not twice ns nutritiou.s. 

 Corn-meal and pea-meal, half and half, is no bad substi- 

 tute for oilcake. We do not say it is quite as good, but 

 rt is certainly better for the price. No one thinks more of 

 oilcake than we do, when it can be purchased cheap 

 enough ; but, like every thing else which can be export- 

 ed, it is now unusually high on account of the premium 

 on exchange. 



" Aeb Horse Chbsnots good for Food?"— (J. P.) They 

 are used to a considerable extent in Europe, and especially 

 in the Rhine dislricfsi, for fattening cattle and for feeding 

 milch cows. Herm.stadt gives an aiialy.sis of a sample 

 dried in the air, and with 2.81 per cent, of the shell re- 

 moved. The analysis stands thus : 



Perrt'nf. 



BUirch *«« 



Flour flbr.- 1 9 T8 



AlhuoiJ-n 7 19 



Btller extract 1 '.■*S 



Oil 121 



«iim 13.M 



Vrom this it would seem that they are highly nutritious. 



Skvkral iNQniRiEs. — Could you or some of your read- 

 ers, furnish me through the cohimos of the Genesee Far- 

 f«-er the bust method of making apple buttery Also to 

 m;ike plain and mixed pickles. When we find them in 

 market, bottled, are they not ^enerallv put up in the acid 

 vinegar we have so much of in market? What is the 

 best mode of making whisky vinegar, and wonid that 

 not be best (or pickles, where they are to be kept for a 

 time ? In canning fruit, is it not best to fill the cans with 

 the fruit in an uncooked state, cooking them in the cans? 

 — Geo. W. B., Alexandria, Ky. 



CoLTORE OF Beans. — The cultivation of beans is at- 

 tracting much attention in this neiiihhorhood, and we 

 should be glad to hear from those who have had experi- 

 ence as to the best method of cultivation and the best 

 varieties to plant. We have heard of the Pea bean as a 

 great yielder, and would like to know more about it, espe- 

 cially as to the yield, the method of culture, the time of 

 ripening, and where seed can be obtained. — S. D. Rkdmak, 

 Newfane, Niagara County, N. Y. 



Fattening Cattle in Winter.— Will some of your ex- 

 perienced correspondents give us through the Farmer, an 

 article on the best manner of winter fattening cattle, 

 including the amount of feed per day, and the length of 

 time to feed. 



Also, what is the best time to sell such animals, so as 

 to secure the highest market price, Ac. — A. McDoucall, 

 Addison, Mich. 



I should be glad to know how to make water crackers. 

 We try to make them by simply mixing flour and water, 

 and working and pounding the dough, but they get so 

 hard in baking that it is impossible to eat them — H. S. 

 Kin DIG, Crabtree, Pa. 



I should like to hear through the Farmer from some 

 one who has had experience in growing dwarf broom 

 corn. Is it as good as it is recommended, and what soil 

 suits it best. — Frbe.man Powers, Clarke, C. W. 



Will some of your correspondents give us an article 



Oil the method of curing tobacco. — B. Armstbono, Dwi- 



zts, Canada West. 



»«.. 



Agricultural Items. 



PBKPABED KXPRESSLY FOB THE OKNESEE FARHXB. 



Thb London Agricultural Gazette says that "the e^ 

 periments on wheat top-dressings this year at the Agri- 

 cultural College confirm fully the beneficial eflfects of 

 small applications of nitrate of soda and salt. In one 

 singular case, salt alone, at the rate of three cwts. per 

 acre, applied in the middle of April, gave a considerable 

 increase on the portion of land top-dressed with nitrate 

 of soda, and gave ten bushels more per acre than the un- 

 manured portions of the field." 



I.v the report of the experiments on sheep feeding, 

 made by the Partington Tenants' Club, the table shows 

 that out of the four breeds chosen the Shropshire Downs 

 made the greatest increase in weight. The Leicester 

 came next. In May the twelve Shropshire Downs which 

 were selected for the experiment weighed 108 stone t 

 pounds, and in October 157 stone 11 pounds. The North 

 sheep made the least increase, and the Lincolns stood 

 third on the list. 



Thb Marquis de Fournes, in a letter to the MonUevr, 

 gives an account of bis experiments on cotton, which 

 were successful, but he adds this warning to those who 

 intend to make its culture profitable : " It is both delicatt 

 and expensive. The choice of seed is difficiilt, and it 

 quickly exhausts the land. In order to assure the cottoa 

 crop much m jot yet be learned." 



