THE GENESEE FARJiIER. 



243 



There may be othei* advantnges derived in tak- 

 ing away weeds, but tliese three are sufficient to 

 move everyjndicious farmer to exterminate tliem 

 as fast as they ap|)ear. 



There are other, however, important reasons 

 why crops should be hoed once or twice more 

 tlian they usually are. In hoeing, we mean to in- 

 clude what generally precedes it, working the soil 

 to some depth either with plow or cultivator. 

 These o[)erations give some valuable results. 



1. If the soil is too wet, they loosen it and let in 

 the sun and air to dry it and make it more ligiit 

 and porous. 



2. If too dry, loosening the soil admits the most 

 air, and renders it capable of receiving and retain- 

 ing any drop of dew tiiat falls upon it. When a 

 slight rain-fall comes, being light and open, it 

 catches and lu)lds every di'oj) that falls, while on a 

 hard surface it ra[>idly flows (,)ff. 



8. Every drop of water that goes into the soil, 

 carries a certain amount of heat with it. This is 

 left in the soil, warms the tender roots and gives 

 them a ra[jid growth. 



4. Kaiii water is charged with ammonia and 

 other properties, which tlie plant greatly needs. 

 When the surface is in a suitable condition to re- 

 ceive what falls, and jiass it aloug down the sub- 

 soil, every rain is equal to a slight manuring of tlie 

 plant, so tliat thefarmer who hoes and cultivates 

 thoioughly finds his crops dressed from the 

 bounties of the skies, wliile neglected fields, 

 of hard surfaces, find few blessings in the 

 shower. 



Two rules should always be observed in regard 

 to lioeing, viz: 



1. Hoe whenever there are weeds, whether in 

 June or October. 



2. Iloe whenever the surface is compact and dry, 

 whether in June or September. 



AGRICULTURAL NOTES FROM THE WEST. 



Sanford Howard, Esq., editor of the Boston 

 Cultivator^ has recently been west, and as he is a 

 gentleman of great experience and extensive obser- 

 vation, the following extracts from his letters will 

 be read with mucli interest. 



From Princeton, Bureau Co., 111., under date of 

 July 2, he Avrites : 



" This place is on the Cliicago, Quincy and Bur- 

 lington raih'oad, 110 miles southwest of Chicago. 

 The county com])rises some of tlie best land in the 

 State. Indian corn is tlie leading product, but 

 large quantities of wheat and oats are produced, as 

 "well as much grass ; and great quantities of beef 

 and pork are annually turned off. ***** 



" Winter wheat is not so much grown in this 

 part of the State as spring wheat. What there is 

 of the former is ripe for the harvest. It is a a fair 

 crop as to yield, and of good quality. In the more 

 southern portion of the State, the crop has been 

 gathered, and a portion of it forwarded to market 

 The spring wheat generally looks well, and will 

 turn out a large yield if the weather is favorable. 



********* 



"Nearly seven years have elapsed since I was 

 in this neighborhood. The progress of agricultural 



impi-ovement during this period, has been rapid. 

 The small, rude huts, .whicli, in many ii. stances, 

 constituted tlie dwellings of the farmers, liave gen- 

 erally given place to commodious and well tinished 

 houses of wood, brick, or stone. On many farms, 

 the stock is no longer forced to bide the merciless 

 pelting of the storm. Spacious barns, with long 

 lines of slieds attached in such a manner as to form 

 large and good yards for feeding and sheltering 

 animals, are frequently to be seen. I remembt^- 

 hearing the question discussed in Iowa, whether it 

 was not cheaper to keep cattle warm bv feeding 

 them with corn, than to shelter them with boards" 

 Judging from what I have seen in Illinois during 

 my present visit, experience has turned in favor of 

 the boards. The fact undoubtedly is, that under 

 the severe weather which stock unsheltered n)ust 

 sometimes endure here, no amount of corn or other, 

 food can save them from injury, and, in some cases, 

 from death. ******* 



" Our New England farmers would be surprised 

 at the cheapness with which Indian corn is culti- 

 vated here. A farmer, with whom I have just been 

 conversing, told me that he tlionght corn in this 

 vicinity would pay, fairly, delivered at the railroad 

 station, here, at twenty cents a bushel. It is now 

 much higher than usual, bringing thirty-six cents a 

 bushel. 



"The rich nature of the soil, and the ease with 

 which it can be cultivated, gives great facilities for 

 growing this crop at a cheap rate. Various im- 

 provements have lately been made in certain im- 

 plements used in planting and cultivating this crop. 

 Mr.^ John H. Bkyant has shown me a corn planter 

 which has advantages over any other I have seen. 

 The field where it is to be used is first marked or 

 furrowed out with a "marker," whiclj makes three 

 furrows at a time. It is tlien ready for the plant- 

 er, which is drawn by horses across the furrows, 

 and drops two rows at a time. A man or boy sits 

 on the machine and regulates the dropping of the 

 corn by means of a lever which moves" a slide 

 under the hoppers. The operator is to keej) his 

 eyes on the ground, and when the hoppers are 

 perpendicularly above the furrow, the lever is to 

 be moved, and the corn ir>stantly dropped— that is, 

 the corn is dropped in every fiiri'ow. To insure 

 the_ regularity of the dropping, and to have the 

 grains within a small space, the proper quantity 

 for each hill is conducted through a tube, which 

 reaches down to within two inches of the bottom 

 of the furrow, and a charge sufiicient for a hill is 

 kept always in the tube, very near the bottom, so 

 that as soon as the slide is moved, it drops in a 

 second just where it is wanted. Mr. B. states that 

 in large fields, with the ground properly prepared 

 twenty acres in a day can be well planted with 

 this machine. In smaller fields, requiring more 

 turnings, the amount planted in a day varies from 

 twelve to fifteen acres. The finest field of corn I 

 have seen this year, and perhajis the finest I ever 

 saw at this time of the year, is one planted by a 

 son of Mr. Oykds Bryant with this machine." 



Dr. VoEOKLER has resigned his Professorship in 

 the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester,. 

 and indeed there has been a general breaking up, anc*- 

 the whole staff of former Professors have left. 



