THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



ur 



If the land is rich and clean, wheat may follow 

 the barley crop, especially if a light dressing of 

 manure can be applied either at the time of sowing 

 or on the surface after the wheat is sown ; other- 

 wise wheat after barley is not a desirable rotation. 

 It would be better to seed the land with clover and 

 pasture it a year before sowing the wheat. 



HOW TAR IS MADE. 



Tae is derived principally from the pine forests 

 of the Southern States, and since the breaking out 

 of the rebellion has doubled and trebled in price. 

 The question has been asked how it is made. 

 Solon Robinson, who has traveled much in the 

 South, and who doubtless speaks from actual ob- 

 servation, says : 



"They process is very simple. Tar-producing 

 pine wood is cut and set up just as it is for making 

 charcoal, in a conical pile, about the size of a low, 

 round-top hay-stack, of two tuns, covered with 

 fine straw, or leaves, or with old hay or straw, or 

 reversed grass- sods, over which earth to the depth 

 of a foot is placed and well beaten down. Tlie 

 pile is fired and burned just as it would be for 

 charcoal, and will make coal and tar by the same 

 process; tliat is, by a slow combustion, with only 

 jnst air enough to keep the fire alive. In building 

 the pile, a well-hole is left in the center, into which 

 burning brands are thrown and the hole filled with 

 small dry wood, which is alloweU to kindle and is 

 then covered over, tlie combustion and ignition of 

 the pile being kept up by means of vent-holes on 

 tiie sides. Tlie spot selected for the ])ile should be 

 upon a hill-side, and all the loose earth removed, 

 so as to have a ijard smooth bottom, with a de- 

 scent of one foot in ten, or greater, with a channel 

 on the lower side to convey the tar into a trougli, 

 leading it direct to the btirrels. Practice alone can 

 regulate the proper degree of heat at the right 

 time to ])roduce the greatest result, and at the best 

 the result is not such as would satisfy a Yankee 

 farmer of any enterprise, at any but a time like 

 the present when the natural course of trade is inter- 

 rupted, and the jtrice of tar much liigher than usual." 



Plowing — Loss of Time in Turning. — In some 

 Bxperiments made by the Earl of Mar, it appears 

 bhat the loss of time, in a day of ten hours, in 

 plowing a field 274 yards long, with a furrow 10 

 inches wide, was 1 hour and 22 minutes ; in plow- 

 :ng a field 200 yards long, a loss of 2 hours and 1 

 ninute; in a field 149 yards long, a loss of 2- hours 

 md 44 minutes; and in a field 78 yards long, a 

 OSS of 5 hours and 11 minutes. In other words 

 n plowing a field only 78 yards long 5 hours and 

 [1 minutes are occupied in turning, and only 4 

 lours and 49 minutes in actual plowing— a loss of 

 nore than half. Of course, the loss of time would 

 lepend very much on the activity and skill of the 

 ilowman in turning, but even if the horses never 

 top at all in turning the loss is greater than is 

 ;enerally imagined. 



INDIAN CORN. 

 The Indian legend of the gift of corn to the 

 world, as told by Longfellow in The Song of 

 Hiawatha, is exquisitely beautiful. The red men 

 believed that this great American cereal was 

 a miraculous gift from Heaven, Three times there 

 appeared to Hiawatha, the Indian saint and hero 

 a youth from the skies 



I)ressed in gpirnients green and yellow, 

 Sinking thrcutrh the purple twilight, 

 Through tba splendor of the sunset; 

 Plumes of green bent o'er his forehead, 

 And his hftir was soft and golden. 



This celestLftl visitor, calling himself " Monda- 

 min, invited Kiawatha to wrestle with him, and 

 charged him, if victorious, to strip the gay gar- 

 ments from hiB body, and bury him where the rain 

 and sun might fall upon liis grave. Three times 

 they wrestled : 



When the sun through heaven descending, 



Like a red and burning cinder 



From the hearth of the Great Spirit, 



Fell into the western waters, 



Clime Moudaniin for the trial, 



For the strife with Hiawatha; 



Catne as silent as the dew comes, 



From the empty air ajjjiearing, 



Into empty air returning, 



Taking shape when earth it touches, 



But invisible to all men 



In its coming and its going. 



The third time Hiawatha was victorious. He 

 stripped the gay garments from his celestial adver- 

 sary, buried him as he Was directed t: do, and 

 watched patiently by his grave. 



Till at ieniith a small green feather 

 From the earth shot slowly upward. 

 Then another and another. 

 And befoi'e the summer ended 

 Stood the maize in all its beauty, 

 With its shininn; robes about it, 

 And its long, soft, yellow tresses: 

 And in rapture tiiawalha 

 Cried ?loud, " It is Mondamin ! 

 Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin!" 



And st'U later, when the autumn 

 Changed the long green leaf to yellow, 

 And the «oft and juicy kernels 

 Grew like wampum, hard and yellow, 

 Then the ripened eara he gathered, 

 Stripped the withered husks from off them, 

 As he once had stripped the wrestler, 

 Gave the first feast of Mcmdatnin, 

 And made known unto the people 

 This new gift of the Great Spirit. 



A Peolifio Sheep. — The Wicklow (Ireland) 

 Newsletter says : 



"Mr. John Chapman, of Wicklow, is the fortu- 

 nate possessor of an ewe that on Monday last 

 yeaned the extraordinary number of four lambs; 

 on each of the three preceding years she had three 

 lambs ; and two lambs each for the three years 

 preceding those ; the ewe having in all nineteen 

 lambs, slie not being yet seven years old. It is re- 

 markable that some of her lambs are equally pro- 

 lific, having three lambs at a time." 



