178 



THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



EXTRACTS FROM OUR CORRESPONDENCE. 



Sometime ago we were talking with one of the 

 editors of the New York Tribune. He had just 

 finished a letter to his paper, sealed it up and di- 

 rected it. "Tiiere," said he, "that is done. Per- 

 haps it will get in, and perhaps it won't!" On ex- 

 pressing some surprise at the remark, he said: 

 •'Oh I we are never sure that an article will get 

 in. It is 'set up,' and put in the paper if there is 

 room for it. Even Greeley's articles are fre- 

 quently left out. Every day, enough type is 'set 

 up' to make two Tribune's: half of it goes in, and 

 the other half is distributed. I never feel sure 

 that an article of mine will get into the paper till I 

 gee it there." 



Many of our most esteemed correspondents have 

 doubtless come to the same conclusion in regard to 

 the Genesee Far7ner. Ve have now on hand, 

 labelled and pigeon-lioled, communications from 

 some of the best farmers and horticulturists in the 

 United States and Canada tluxt would fill more 

 tb.'xii half a dozen numbers of the paper. Ve 

 would gladly publish them if we could. Many of 

 them have been examined and placed in our "Pre- 

 pared Copy" box, and loe thought they would ap- 

 pear in the next month's issue of the paper. Even 

 those marked "must go in " are frequently left out, 

 for the simple reason that there is not room for 

 them. 



We have just been examining some of these 

 communications, and make a few extracts that we 

 are sure will be read with interest: 



BED ROOT. 



Tliis is a great pest when once it gets a firm 

 foothdld on a wheat farn). "We know farms in tliis 

 vicinity where the wlieat is half smotliered witli 

 it. A correspondent at Port Stanley, C. W., gives 

 the following directions for destroying it: 



"On a farm th.at is not thoroughly "seeded 

 down" with it. a little weeding in tlie spring on the 

 clover and wlieat fields will keep it under; but be 

 sure not to throw tlie plant away after you liave 

 pulled it up : let it be carried out of the field and 

 burnt up, root and l>ranch. On a farm where it is 

 thoroughly estal)lished, it is better to give up 

 raising winter grain for a few years, as in that case 

 it is almost useless to try to get it out by weeding. 

 Grow spring grain, ami as soon as the crop is otf 

 plow the land in the fall and harrow it down, when 

 the seeds of the red root will start and grow, and 

 thi'U plow the land airain before winter sets in, 

 wliich will be sure to kill all that has come up. 

 The land may now be put under green crops in 

 the spring, which prevents the accunmhition of 

 seed in the soil. By |)nrsuing this course for a few 

 years your land will bo free from it." 



Another correspondent writes : " The only way 



to destroy red root is to pull up the plants by hand 

 before they go to seed." Those who have but 

 little of it should resort to this remedy — and the 

 work should be done thoroughly. Not a plant 

 should be left to go to seed. 



FARMING IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 



A correspondent in Perry county. 111., says agri- 

 culture in that section of the State "is carried on 

 in a very primitive manner — manuring, underdrain- 

 ing and subsoiling are improvements scarcely ever 

 heard of, although no soil would better repay 

 thorough cultivation." He says : 



" It is, when the season is favorable, very pro- 

 ductive ; but tlie face of the country being rather 

 level for good natural surface-drainage, and the 

 climate being subject to almost the extremes of the 

 tropics in heat and drouth in summer and rain in 

 winter, the soil remains too wet to work until late 

 in the spring, and the heat and drouth coming on, 

 the ground becomes too hard to work to advantage, 

 and the crops are necessarily greatly curtailed 

 thereby. 



" Fruit, especially the more tender and luscious 

 varieties, thrive well here, the soil and climate 

 seeming to be peculiarly adapted to the perfection 

 of the peach, jiear, quince, &c. ; and tlie northern 

 part of the State — the severity of the climate cut- 

 ting off all the delicate fruits of the transitive 

 climate — is comiieiled to look to "Egypt" for 

 its supply of peaches, &c. Thousands — I may 

 say huiitlreds of thousands — of peach trees are 

 being set out into orchards in Southern Hlinois for 

 miles on eitlier side of the Illinois Central Rail- 

 road, whieli furnishes a ready means of immediate 

 transportation to the markets of tiie north. Some 

 far-seeing orchardists who, when the railroad was 

 first projected, located upon the most convenient 

 and favorable situations, have already realized for- 

 tunes from their peaches. Tlieir success is what 

 has stimulated everybodj- along the line into such 

 a mania for raising peaches. But the high prices 

 obtained lieretofore can not be expected to jirevail 

 when the thousands of new orchards come into 

 bearing. There is one circumstance, however, 

 which may prevent the excessive iiroduction of the 

 peach here: that is, the warm weather of winter 

 frequently developes the bud to such an extent that 

 suhsecjuent cold snows cut oft' tiie Iruit, ex(;ept on 

 the most favored situations — the very highest 

 ridges. The present crop will be confined, for the 

 reason noticed, to the highest elevations." 



WILL IT PAT TO BUILD BARNS FOR SHEEP ? 



;Mr. II. Cakiungton, of Charleston, Oliio, asks, 

 ""What is the best grain to feed to sheep?" and 

 says : 



"I was calculating to buy some three hundred 

 bushels of good hard sound corn to feed six hun- 

 dred sheep next winter. Now I want to know if 

 it will pay me to build barns so that I can feed 

 I them hay and grain in the dry, and have room 

 enough for them to lie in, and keep them well littered 

 with straw or old hay? I have wintered two 

 Spanish Merino bucks in this way; fed them hay 

 and grain regularly twice a day and water once a 



