THE GENESEE FAKMER.' 



239 



swamp, or a waste, inarable, or rocky acre, both 

 welJ^ imderdrained and well watered, and with a 

 quick, easy, grateful and generous soil, to tit it to 

 become in these last days the great fruit and vege- 

 table garden of these great and growing cities ; and 

 while Its soil supplies them with vegetable luxuries 

 pigs and poultry, milk and honey, it is also to re- 

 ceive from the great Babylon those organic wast- 

 ings now festering there in every street, yard and 

 corner, in spite of all present scavenger etibrts, to 

 the deterioration of all adult health and daily nip- 

 ping infant life in the bud and blossom. 



Creek Side, Buffalo — Ekuits and Vegeta- 

 bles.— This creek intervale overflows in high fresh- 

 ets about seventy rods from the creek, but such is 

 the rare formation of the subsoil for this distance, 

 that the water from the tiles above sinks here from 

 the mam tile drain, without passing through it to 

 its mouth at the creek. Here, with creek water 

 supplied by horse power, is a cold grapery 670 feet 

 long, containing 600 vines, with 175 already in 

 bearing. One year ago not a vine had been plant- 

 ed; but by great attention, judicious cutting in 

 ventilating, watering, &c., many of the vines have 

 now attained three-fourths of an inch in thickness 

 It is supposed that the yield of grapes this season, 

 only about fifteen months after the vines were set 

 out, connot be less than three hundred pounds — 

 Here are 1500 pear trees, principally dwarfs, two 

 years planted ; the frost about the lo'th of May de- 

 stroyed the blossoms of the few earlier planted, so 

 that very tew pears have grown; thus far they 

 have no enemies but the leaf slug, which is readily 

 destroyed by a dusting of lime or ashes; the trees 

 are mulched with tan bark and well cut in, which 

 adds to the root and trunk both. Here also is a 

 new orchard of one and a quarter acres of the Law- 

 on blackberry, half an acre of raspberries, one 

 thousand gooseberry bushes, one thousand bushes 



animal manure. Next year cabbages will be grown 

 on o d soil, and treated for the tirst time with su- 

 perphosphate of lime. Turnips rarely amount to 

 any thing on these alluvial bottoms. 



Oree/c Side, July 10, 1S58. g yf 



_ Postscript.- Grass is the great staple of this re- 

 gion, as It ought to be, for the hard blue clay soon 

 comes to a plowed surface, making underdrains 

 necessary. But such weeds as grow here the 

 tropics cannot rival; and to cap all, there is a run- 

 ning vme, with the tiowers of a morning glory 

 that creeps over all and crowns aU. The wild 

 parsnep, artichoke, elder, &c., &c., grow like Jo- 

 nah s gourd in the night; and what is strange 

 newly broken up old sod is free from these weeds 

 the hrst year. g_ ^ 



FEEDING OUT CORN-STALKS. 



of the large white and red cherry currants; two 

 acres of strawberries, from which $200 worth has 

 been sold this season. But although cold graperies 

 promise well liere, the Isabella grape complains of 

 the climate, and does not flourish here as it does in 

 :he region of the Cayuga and Seneca Lake ; hence 

 or outside culture, the small but very early Dela- 

 mre, the Rebecca and Concord, are now substituted 

 lere, and they grow rapidly on this strong alluvial 

 'Oil. The season for strawberries, late here, was 

 !ut shor t by the dry, hot weather. 



Pie plant and asparagus are here also in large 

 Jreadth, and have yielded well this season. Owiu"- 

 the wet, backward spring, which is ten davl 

 ater here than at many localities east, kitchen 

 vegetables are late ; but here are four acres of Mes- 

 can potatoes, and the same number in pop corn 

 hat promise well; in tact, the season is rarely if 

 ;ver too hot or dry for corn here, as the cool lake 

 i^uouco is ever present. There is a large breadth 

 »t ghiss here for hot-beds, from which cucumbers 

 tave been sold since 10th May. Tomato plants and 

 aelons are all brought forward with great j)ains 

 loder glass ; but it would be bootless to attempt to 

 •et a remunerating crop, by planting early in the 

 pen air. , Celery flourishes here without "an ene- 

 ay ; but a small white maggot, resembling a cheese 

 -dipper, has this season nearly destroyed the early 

 aboages, by eating them off under the surface of 

 he ground; it is supposed to be brought in by the 



_ What is the best time, place, and way, of feed- 

 ing corn-stalks to farm stock," is a question upon 

 which we have received some information,— a prize 

 essay having been published in the July No. there- 

 on. We have a few notions of our own, which you 

 ™a7 Ji yo" please lay before your readers. 



Many farmers, uow-a-days, raise corn-stalks 

 enough, if_ they were properly cured and saved, 

 and then fed out without waste, to winter all their 

 cattle, or at least to make their main food, save 

 what meal or roots may be supplied. And milch 

 cows give more and better milk on corn fodder 

 than on the common run of hay, — at least in our 

 experience. 



As to the tivie. place, and wai/, briefly. Stalks 

 can be fed out with perfect economy upon hard 

 frozen ground — there is ever loss and waste in 

 warm or wet weather, however well the yard mav 

 be littered. But if one has to feed them, whether 

 the ground is frozen or not, the next best place is u 

 rack or manger to which the cattle are fastened by 

 stanchions, so that they cannot step back and droi. 

 under their feet every stalk they take hold of, be- 

 fore It IS one quarter eaten. They should be fed 

 either here or in the yard — the refuse stalks beino- 

 removed from the manger each day after feeding 

 It IS the poorest policy in the world, to scatter 

 corn-stalks over the fields and lands, for consump- 

 tion by cattle and when fed in the yard it wiU lAr 

 to see that they are well distributed through the 

 manure. 



The chief advantage of cutting corn-stalks i« 

 that a very little more is consumed, and there are 

 no long stalks to interfere with getting out manure 

 ihis might pay some farmers, but it would not re- 

 munerate us for the extra labor. 



Sheep will thrive well on corn fodder a portion 

 of the time, but they do not eat them as cleanly as 

 cattle, and hence we would not give them to sheep 

 alone. We have sometimes allowed a small flock 

 of sheep to have the run of the barn-yard in freez- 

 ing weather, while corn-stalks were beino- fed ^^ 

 cattle — not regularly, but occasionally — that they 

 might have the change of food with which they are 

 so well suited at all seasons. jj_ 



Cement for Stopping Leaks.— A composition 

 of tour pou.Kls of rosin, one pint of linseed oil and 

 one ounce of red lead, applied hot with a brush, 

 will stop leaks in roofs, water casks, etc.— ^. 



