No. 9. 



Work for xfftpril and early part of May. 



289 



object of creaming milk is to save trouble in 

 churning, by concentrating and reducing the 

 cream to a much smaller compass. Sour 

 cream yields butter much easier than sweet, 

 the whey having passed the acetous fer- 

 mentation and produced a coagulum of tliu 

 curd. The properties of the other two con- 

 stituents of the cream having been subjected 

 to a change, thereby lessening the affinity 

 that formerly existed between the particles 

 of this cream, the oily particles are sooner 

 brought into contact by agitation, and butter 

 obtained. 



Work for April and early part of Muy on 

 the Farm* 



This month, which seems to have been conse- 

 crated by Providence, if we are to judge from 

 the offerings of the earth, to the beginning of 

 the toils of spring, must be improved by all who 

 expect toderive their support from agricultural 

 pursuits. For, in farming and planting, as in 

 every thing else, delays are not only dangerous, 

 but absolutely destructive. Nothing which 

 can be performed on the farm one day should 

 be delayed to the next; for that next, come 

 when it may, will bring something with it 

 meriting attention ; and therefore the provi- 

 dent husbandman should enter upon each day's 

 labors with a firm and unblenching determi- 

 nation of doing that which is most proper to 

 be done. By doing things in detail, as they 

 respectively occur, is the wey not only to get 

 over the greatest amount of work, but of do- 

 ing every description of it in the best time. 



With these preliminary remarks, let us see 

 what should first arrest our attention. 



CORN. 



As the time has arrived in many parts of 

 our country for planting, and is fast approach- 

 ing in many others, let all seriously set them- 

 selves to work in order that they may get in 

 this first in importance of all the grain crops, 

 in due season. It is time that the manure 

 was in place, whether you plant this month 

 or the next, and as we advised you last month, 

 so let us do now — if you have not completed 

 hauling it out, go to work without a day's 

 delay, and put it in a position for convenient 

 use when it may be required. Your manure 

 once in, or near the field, much of the labor 

 consequent upon putting in your corn will 

 have been overcome. 



One more word of advice with respect to 

 your corn. Unless your ground be strong, 

 put none in without manuring, either broad- 

 cast, or in the hill. This brings us to the 

 subject of the 



PREPARATIO.N OF THE GROUND. 



If you have plenty of manure, and three to 

 put it in place, broadcast manuring is as- 



suredly best; but if you arc scant in either 

 one or the other, manuring in the hill will 

 necessarily present itself to you as the most 

 economical and prudent way of enriching your 

 ground for your corn crop. If the ground on 

 which you contemplate to grow your corn wag 

 in clover last year, and ploughed last fall, let 

 your harrows and drags be lilx^rally employed 

 in pulverizing, so as to make the earth as fine 

 ns it is susceptible of being made. But in 

 effectuating this desirable object, a.< well as 

 in laying oil' your furrows, and listing for 

 planting, be sure to take especial pains not to 

 di.sturb the sod, as th-it, if left to repose in its 

 rightful position, will prove a mine of great 

 value to you, from which in a few weeks your 

 corn will derive a large portion of its most 

 healthful nourishment, fiir each acre of clover- 

 ley or grass-sward ploughed under, will afford 

 from 12 to 14 tonsof excellent vegetable ma- 

 nure, the which when added to that which 

 you may apply, wiU make your corn crack 

 again in its growth, and ensure you a good 

 crop. 



If your corn ground has not been limed, let 

 me impress it upon you that your interest will 

 be greatly promoted by strewing only a few 

 bushels to the acre, if it only be^ue. But if 

 you cannot conveniently do this, make a mix- 

 ture of ashes and plaster, in the proportion of 

 five bushels of the former and one of the lat- 

 ter, and sprinkle a small portion on each hill 

 as the corn comes up. Bear in mind that no 

 matter what other manure you may use, your 

 corn will be benefited by a small portion of 

 lime, plaster, or ashes. As to distances it is 

 useless to speak, as in matters of this nature, 

 corn-planters will exercise their own notions 

 and views ; but it may not be amiss to observe, 

 that nearly all the large products were ob- 

 tained from grounds closely planted. 



CULTURE. 



The plough should, after the corn assumes 

 a tolerable height, be supplanted by the har- 

 row, or cultivator, as it is impossible to plough 

 after the roots become developed and spread, 

 without cutting them, causing them to bleed, 

 and, consequently, doing mischief to the crop. 

 All that is necessary to ensure a good yield, 

 after the corn is well up, is to keep the weeds 

 and grass under, and the soil open and well 

 stirred, and these objects can be attained by 

 the judicious use of the implements we have 

 named, together with the hoe. 



OATS. 



The sooner you get in this crop the i^reater 

 will be the yield, as it is a grain that delights 

 in early planting. And if you wish a good 

 crop, prepare your ground well, for the slo- 

 venly manner in which it is often put in, tends 

 to lessen its productiveness. If your ground 

 be poor, apply a bushel of plaster to the acre, 



