278 



THE GENESEE FAKMER. 



two-thirds of the year, the time "P. B." would 

 spend in feeding his stock would be the most valu- 

 able part of the day to labor, both for himself and 

 his teams. I have reference to the cool bracing 

 air at morn and toward the close of the day. 



"P. B." is right when he says the manure is left 

 where it can be more readily jjrocured where stock 

 is yarded or stabled ; but it will be remembered 

 that if the yard is not right in its construction, 

 much of the manure is lost by draining, leaching, 

 evaporation, etc. 



"P. B." says one-third the ground will furnish 

 green food for the stock, where tbe other two- 

 thirds would be required if left to pasture. One- 

 third of a field, if prepared and managed correctly, 

 would produce green food that would last as long 

 as the other two-thirds in pasture ; and these are 

 the reasons : The stock, if turned into thick-grow- 

 ing food, would tread under foot lull one-half that 

 is growing on the ground, where it is not lost, by 

 any means, or the held robbed of its fertility. 



I am satisfied that the time spent in preparing 

 the ground for a piece of corn, either by planting 

 or sowing, and the cutting and feeding out, togeth- 

 er with the loss by sickness or disease of stock, 

 would amount to more tban would be gained by 

 stabling or yarding on three-fourths of the farms 

 iu this State. a. l. smith. 



1 inis Dtate. 

 Jilchols, Tioga Co., A^. Y., Augmf, 1S5S. 



"WE PLOW TOO MUCH." 



"The true maxim is not to ' culHvate one acre 

 more,' but enrich one acre more, so that it will pro- 

 dace the crop given by two acres heretofore." So 

 says your monthly "Itemizer," speaking of perma- 

 nent grass land. It is true of most soil culture, at 

 least in this section of the country. 



In regard to "Grass Culture," the necessity for 

 plowing and re-seeding every few years need not 

 occur under proper management. Especially is 

 t'ais the case with rather moist lands, naturally 

 suited to grass. Upland, suitable for grain, would, 

 of course, be seeded in h proper rotation or succes- 

 sion of crops, to be plowed up again in a few years. 



In New England, the practice is rapidly gaining 

 ground, of keeping moist lands constantly iu grass, 

 and sustaining tliem in a productive state by fre- 

 quent (triennial, at least,) top-dressings of manure. 

 A correspondent of the A'etw England Farmer says, 

 "I know of fields of twenty acres or more, that 

 can be relied upon for two tons to the acre at the 

 first cutting, and one at the second, the sod of 

 which has not been started for the last twenvy 

 years." It is hardly probable that meadows would 

 ever run out, if judiciously top-dressed after mow- 

 ing, and occasionally allowed to ripen seed, or re- 

 nown at times witli the manure, even in hundreds 

 of years Manure for this purpose should be com- 

 posted, and the best time of applying it is undoubt- 

 edly iu autumn. 



*■' We plow too much" when we attempt the cul- 

 tivation of larger fields than we can properly fertil- 

 ize. It is poor policy to plow and plant five acres 

 for half a crop, when the same labor and expense 

 applied to two acres would produce as much grain. 

 Let us, as "B." says, "grow more grass, keep more 

 stock, and plow less but more thoroughly," and we 

 shall soon be able to plow larger fields, grow larger 



crops, and bring our whole farms into a more pro- 

 ductive state. 



One great reason of the failure of the wheat 

 crop, was, in our opinion, the passion for much 

 plowing among farmers. A "great summer-fallow" 

 showed well for enterprise — much more than a 

 great many acres of late, rusty, midge-eaten wheat 

 did — a folly we have been f&\v\j scourged out of 

 the last few years. b. f. 



TO PREVENT A DITCH CAVnTQ IN SANDY LAND. 



Editors Genesee Faemee : — In reply to the in- 

 quiries of Mr. J. R. Dill, of Eastern Shore, Mary- 

 land, in the June number. Let him put in the 

 bottom of his ditch triangles made of good heart 

 of oak, formed by notching together piecps of two 

 inch stuft" a foot or more long, and six inches wide. 

 Set these in the ditch six or eight feet a])art, with 

 the apex of the triangle up; then cover with good 

 heart stuli" boards, twelve, sixteen, six or eight feet 

 long, as is convenient. This makes a trunk that 

 can not cave. Then put in large, long brush, filling 

 with these two or tlu-ee feet, more or less ; lastly, 

 cover with reversed sods, straw or hay, and then 

 fill in with soil. Or, lay rails in the bottom of the 

 ditch, as far apart as necessary to carry all th3 

 water. Split pieces of stuif from oak blocks sawed 

 two feet long; put one of these pieces under the 

 ends of the rails or pieces you lay in the bottom, 

 then cover with the split pieces, lapping the lower 

 edge over the upper edge of each piece, and cover 

 as deep as you please with sod and soil over all. 

 Either of these ways will make a good durable un- 

 derdrain, and the deeper it is laid the better, to a 

 reasonable depth. 



nocheder, IncL, July, 185S. CHAS. BEACKETT. 



a\feioan Cattle. — The Rev. Mr. Adamson, Sec- 

 retary of the Geographical Society, recently gave 

 the New York Farmers' Club a discourse u[)on the 

 oxen of Southern Africa. A marked feature of 

 them is large horns, heavy fore quarters, with a 

 hump on the shoulders. They are generally used 

 fourteen oxen in a team, hitched to ])onderou3 

 wagons. The general extent of a farm is five or 

 six thousand acres, and the people don't think a 

 family can be supported very well upon less land 

 than that. Tlie grain raised is wheat of a good 

 quality, and it is common to sow twenty or thirty 

 acres, and to use that soil until it fails, and then 

 ])low up a new spot. The same practice is a little 

 too common in this country. The cattle are gen- 

 erally ver}' stubborn and hard to train. They are 

 tall and big boned, and travel with great speed. 

 The sheep kept there are of the broad-tailed sort, 

 the tail sometimes growing to a mass of fat of ten 

 or twelve pounds, which is in some measure a sub- 

 stitute lor butter with the people. 



Four Calves in Eleven Months. — As evidence 

 to your readers that the cows of this section are 

 doing what they can to obey the injunction, " mul- 

 tiply and replenish the eartlj," I need only to give 

 you the following instance of a neighbor's cow that 

 has brought four calves in eleven months, that is, 

 two in the spring of 1857 and two in the spring of 

 1858, but all within eleven months. R. 11. — Ma- 

 honing^ Pa.^ 1858. 



