174 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



" Thovfjhts ly the Wayside,'" of the character 

 ]iere indicated, are too often called out when travel- 

 in.fr, and sometimes even at home. Let us look into 

 the "holes and corners" of our practice, and see 

 "vvhere we can amend, 



'■'■Sowing Grass Seed in the Fall,'''' if done early — 

 as soon as the first of September — will succeed first 

 rate. The young grass must have time to get rooted 

 before winter. This we have tried to our satisfac- 

 tion, and would prefer September seeding in all 

 cases, were not other work then so hurrj-ing, and a 

 drouth often to be feared. We shall seed some 15 

 acres on oats, this spring — and in the fall, also, if 

 it does not prove successful. 



^'Reaping and Moioing Machines^'' will in a few 

 years hang up the scythes and cradles on most 

 farms, because they not only do the work quicker, 

 but tetter, and cheaper, — and, prove a thing eco- 

 nomical to a Yankee, and it is bound to go. 



'•'• Horticultural Hints.'''' Give us more of them. 

 Thej' are of the practical kind, such as will be of 

 use in farmers' gardens. I trust every reader will 

 have something to do with gardening, if it is no 

 more than to raise a few flowers in the window. 



Those who have room, should not neglect the 

 vegetable garden, as directed last month. b. 



Niagara Co., N. Y., 3fay, 1S58. 



NOTES FOE THE MONTH. -BY S. W. 



Those Corn'-Geowixg Experiments. — I had be- 

 fore read this truly important prize essay in the 

 State Journal, and could but regret that so paltry a 

 sum should be awarded for so much costly, pains- 

 taking labor, when so much money is yearly squan- 

 dered by our Patent Oftice Department in worse 

 than useless seed importations, etc. 



One fact is established by these experiments, to 

 wit : that our Western New Y(jrk soils are not yet 

 exhausted of their potash, like the eastern soils, as 

 400 lbs. of unleached maple ashes gave no more 

 crop than 100 lbs. of gypsum, even on sandy land. 

 On Long Island or in Rhode Island the result would 

 have been very difierent. The largest yield — 125 

 bushels of ears — was undoubtedly due to the double 

 dose of Peruvian guano ; but it should be remem- 

 bered that guano is not a permanent stimulus, like 

 stall manure, which is also rich in ammonia both 

 actual and potential. 



But the most note-worthy and singular result, as 

 well as the most important to agriculture, is the 

 effect of superphosphate of lime (soluble bone earth) 

 on the early growth of Indian corn, and on the per- 

 manent growth of the Chinese sugar cane, whose 

 stalks were increased one-half by its application ; 

 yet, however strange, to the cereal yield of corn it 

 added nothing! 



The result of these experiments with lime phos- 

 phates must give an increased reputation to the 

 Mexican and inferior guanos, poor in ammonia salts, 

 but rich in phosphate of lime, as manure for herba- 

 ceous plants, sugar cane, etc. 



Ameeican Institute — New York Farmers' 

 Club. — There has of late been an issue joined at 

 the Farmers' Club in Gotham, between Wm. Law- 

 ton and others in favor, and H. Greeley against, 

 plowing in green clover for manuring. As some 

 dogmatism and very little argument has transpired 

 to enlightea outsiders in the premises, it may be 



well to remark, that under certain conditions and 

 circumstances, soiling cattle in the stalls and com- 

 posting their droppings would be the most econom- 

 ical, beside giving the most manure to the soil for 

 the crops grown. But on the large, all-arable farms 

 of Western New York, where help is capricious and 

 dear, with no swamps or marsh from which to 

 quarry peat or muck, the plowing in of green clover 

 or stiff pasture sod as an amendment to the soil, is 

 undoubtedly the most feasible and economical. R. 

 G. Pardee asserted, at the club, that "crops are 

 not improved for manure by passing through ani- 

 mals;" yet he failed to say that animals are not 

 sustained and improved by such a process I Anal- 

 ogous to this assertion is that of Solon Robinson, 

 that " a ton of wheat bran is worth as much for 

 manure as a ton of guano." But methinks there is 

 more pith, point, and practical instruction, in 

 Solon's late grind-stone story. 



Those cheap Table Lands of Long Island. — 

 On reading Dr. Peck's very descriptive advertise- 

 ment of those peculiar scrub oak and pine plains, I 

 could not but feel that the compact sea-washed 

 sand and gravel of the antedeluvian ocean came 

 nearer than eighteen inches of the surface in many 

 places, or these lands, forty miles from New York, 

 would not have remained thus long unimproved 

 when otfered at fifteen dollars an acre. Methinks 

 apple trees, that send their roots many feet deep, 

 and even red clover, with its long roots, could 

 hardly llourish with such a detritus subsoil. 



The Value of Oilcake Meal. — A neophyte in 

 chemistry, who says he got his first and best lesson 

 in agricultural chemistry from your last Rural 

 Annual, having read your notice, in the last Farm- 

 er, of Mr. Swan's cheap oilcake, came to-day in 

 hot haste to advise Knox that his oilcake was 

 worth at least three dollars extra per ton, solely 

 for the manure it made. Happening to be present, 

 I told him that Emery's Journal said that the 

 American double hydraulic presses rendered the 

 cake as innutritions as dry chips. "A Daniel come 

 to judgment," Avas his rej^ly; "the pressing only 

 condenses the manurial value by taking ofl:" the oil, 

 which is worth no more than dry chips for ma- 

 nure." But Emery evidently considered the value 

 of the cake in reference to its fat-forming elements 

 only. Thei-e can be no doubt but that the manure 

 from the animal fed on the pressed cake, is worth 

 much more than it would be if the same weight of 

 flax seed was substituted for the ground cake. 



The Rhode Island Long White French Turnip. 

 — This is probably of the ruta baga family, as it 

 requires the same soil and treatment; but its flesh 

 is very white and delicate, and free from the strong 

 flavor of the baga. It does not yield as well by 

 one-third, but it is a delicious winter and spring 

 turnip for the table. There is another variety here 

 of a rounder form, called Sweet Turnip, but not as 

 good as the white. 



Waterloo, N. Y., May, 1S58. 



Wakefield's Hand Corn Planter, mentioned 

 in answer to "R. S." in the May No., is a good 

 implement and works well. A little more strength 

 in the working parts, would increase its value. — 

 We have improved ours by riviting to the wood 

 the part which is pressed into the ground, the 

 small screws used at first will not last. j. n, b. 



