PRACTICAL FARMER. 



85 



BRIGF HINTS FOR AUTUMN W^ORK. 



Select seed wheat from that which grew in 

 the most prorluctive parts of the field — endeavor 

 to oblaiu the largest seed, and sow none other' — 

 this, if practised in yearly succession, will greatly 

 improve the varietyc 



Sow none but clean seed — for farmers may 

 as well raise vviieat as to raise weeds. 



Chess may be separated from seed wheat by a 

 good fanning mill. It may also by using brine — ^ 

 if the brine is too strong, so that good plump 

 wheat will not sink in it, dilute it with water 

 until it will ; and the chess and light i'nperfect 

 grains will float, atid may be skimmed off. Then 

 empty the wheat into a basket set on a tub or 

 barrel, and the brine will run through into it for 

 fiH'ther use. Both these methods of cleansing 

 wheat may be combined to advantage. 



Picking the largest heads by hand is a slow 

 but very thorough way, and more particularly 

 beneficial where crops ai-e sown expressly for 

 seed. 



Smut in wheat crops is perpetuated by the 

 dust of the smut adhering to the seed. It may 

 be prevented by steeping the seed twenty-four 

 hours in ley, or a mixture of fresh lime and water 

 made of half a pound of the former to one gallon 

 cf the latter. This is certain prevention. Care 

 should be taken that seed is not rendered foul by 

 putting it in smutty bags, or those where smutty 

 wheat has been kept. 



The quantity of wheat sown to the acre should 

 be from five pecks to two bushels, varying with 

 the time of sowing, and with the size of the 

 grains of seed. Early sown wheat should be in 

 less quantity than late: and vvh;at with small 

 grains should be in less quantity than large, be- 

 cause there are more of them to a bushel. 



Furrow drains should be cut by passing the 

 plough three or four times through the same fur- 

 row, and they should be made through all low 

 parts of the field. They should be well cleared 

 or loose earth by means of a shovel or boe, so as 

 to admit the surface water in wet seasons to pass 

 freely off. 



Corn, should always be cut up, that is, cut off 

 near the surface of the ground, and not topped^ or 

 cut off above the ears. The former is more ex- 

 y)editious, it saves twice as much fodder, and is 

 attended with a better crop of corn, as it is al- 

 ways diminished considerably by topping. This 

 has been proved by repeated experiments, where 

 the crop was measured. 



Seed corn should be always selected in autumn 

 — take such for this purpose as have the greatest 

 number of ears to the stalk. 



Hogs to be fattened may be turned into afiple 

 orchards to pick uj) falling apples. They will 



fatten on them as well as on corn if they have a 

 plenty of them. 



Grian fed tohogs should always if possible, be 

 first ground to meal. 



Considerable advantage is derived from feeding 

 cooked food, (steamed or boiled) to hogs, and it 

 should always be practised when the number ia 

 nufiicient to v/arrant the erection of proper appa- 

 ratus for it. 



Cooked food for fattening cattle is of little ad- 

 vantage, and not worth the trouble. 



Advantage is generally derived from using mixed 

 food for domestic animals. 



Straw may always be of great use to the far- 

 mer in many ways, and is well worth preserving. 

 The following method of securing it is given by 

 a correspondent of the Genesee Farmer in a f«r- 

 mer volume: "Previous to thrashing, I go to a 

 hay stack and twist a quantity of bands from six 

 to ten feet long, which are placed at the barndoor, 

 and when the straw is raked to the doors two men 

 take a band and stretch it over the bundle of 

 straw, then run each a hand under it, and turn it 

 over endwise, when one of them fastens the band, 

 and the other prepares another band. In that 

 manner two men will bind as fast as the swiftest 

 machine can thrash, and the straw is stacked as 

 securely as wheat, and in a fourth of the time re- 

 quired when not hound." When wanted it may 

 be afterwards removed with far less labor than 

 when stacked without binding. 



Strawbkrries may be transplanted with ad- 

 vantage, in the early part of autumn. 



Fruit Trkes may be removed and transplant- 

 ed after the first of October. Most farmers who 

 transplant fruit trees, suflTer a great loss by not 

 doing the work well. The principal care needed 

 is, first, to dig the holes large, say six feet across, 

 and fifteen or eighteen inches deep ; secondly, to 

 preserve carefidly, the roots as entire and unin- 

 jured as possible, and not to suffer them to become 

 dry out of the ground ; and thirdly, to fill the 

 hole with finely pulverised, rich earth, (not ma- 

 nure) shaking it in small quantities, and pack- 

 ing it closely but gently about the roots, so as to 

 leave them in their natural position in the soil. — 

 The whole expense of this would not be more 

 than half the price of the tree, and in five years 

 it would be three times the size which it would 

 be if transplanted by the common way of digging 

 small holes and doing the work hastily and im- 

 perfectly. — Gen. Farmer. 



CUTTING UP CORN BY THE ROOTS. 



BT J. S. P. 



There has been much said this season about 

 the corn crop, and it must be confessed that, ow- 

 ing to the coldness of the season, the corn harvest 



