1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



91 



Interesting Items from S. W., of Seneca. 



FARM LABOR. 



Mr. Editor : — A correspondent of the last 

 Feirmer asks how many hands he must employ to 

 work his 1.50 acre farm. I like such questions; 

 they are redolent cf that early hope which prac- 

 tice and disappointment has not yet disabused. 

 I once saw a Captain turn a man on shore, say- 

 ing, "it is worth more to get the work out of you, 

 than your work is worth." Should your corres- 

 pondent be so unfortunate as to engage such help^ 

 it is hard telling what his farming would bring 

 forth, let him have never so much of it. 



The secret why a premium crop affords more 

 profit to the acre, than is given by any other 

 part of the farm, is, that the land is prepared, 

 planted, and tended, con amore. The boss now 

 works himself, with a will and an enthusiasm, the 

 spirit of which infuses into his hired man an un- 

 wonted industry, turning toil into pleasure. The 

 corn leaves never curl, or turn yellow, on a field 

 thus done and cared for; hence the prize is 



certain. 



INDIAN CORN PLA;NTE1) FOR FODDER. 



Malcom Little, Jr., of Tyre, planted a sin- 

 gle acre of corn in drills, two and a half feet by 

 eight inches apart. All the labor he bestowed on 

 the growing corn was to plow between the rows 

 with a shovel plow, twice, before the corn had 

 attained the height of six inches. He cut and 

 cured, in August, six tons of small edible stalks, 

 encumbered with many small nubbins of corn. 

 He values the fodder more than hay. It was 

 bound in bundles, and stood in the field until late 

 in the fall. Now let every farmer plant an acre 

 or two of corn for fodder, as soon as his spring 

 work is over, as we may with good reason anti- 

 cipate a dry season and a short crop of hay. — 

 The unusual quantity of rain that has fallen the 

 past year, presupposes a coming year of drouth. 

 If the drouth is trying to the plants, work among 

 them the more, and if possible while the dew is on. 



HOP GROWING. 



In the south part of Oneida and Madison coun- 

 ties, hop growing is very successfully pursued ; 

 but, as in corn growing, it is found that the max- 

 imum yield depends on the manuring and culture. 

 Fifty cents the two horse load is paid at VVater- 

 ville for still manure, to apply to the hop fields, 

 already rich by nature and good farming. It did 

 me good to see the Oneida farmers employed 

 daily this winter, hauling still manure two or 

 three miles to their hop fields. Such a sight I 

 never saw in Seneca county, although thousands 

 of loads of still manure may be had gratis, and 

 the soil needs it quite as much as the soil of 

 Oneida. Our farmers, blessed with a warmer 

 climate, neglect their crops with more impunity 

 than they can do it east. But we have yet to 

 learn the waste of capital and labor in growing 

 diminished and diminishing crops. 



MATCHED HORSEf^. 



Joseph Wright, o'i this village, has a beauti- 

 ful pair of sorrel horses, fast trotters, so exactly 

 alike in size, color, motion, and conformation of 

 limb and muscle, that they out Dromio all the 

 Dromio's. The owner himself cannot tell one 

 from the other. The tails of each have been set 

 up in the highest civilized mode. Amateurs 

 come from a distance to see the matchless pair. 

 They are valued at one thoueand dollars. 



Waterloo, March, 1847. S. W. 



i Plaster on New Land. 



j Mr. Editor. — I wish to inquire, through the 

 j Farmer, what the effect of plaster will be on a 

 ! crop of wheat now growing on a piece of land 

 that one year ago was a dense forest ? The tim- 

 ber was cut into wood for your city, and the land 

 well burned off; wheat harrowed in, in the best 

 manner. The soil is a sandy loam, naturally dry. 

 Now I know just enough of chemistry, and its 

 application to agriculture, to expect that plaster 

 thrown upon a soil so recently covered with ashes 

 might produce some effect upon the crops. But 

 would not salt, lime, charcoal, or some other ar- 

 ticle, be preferable ? A Subscriber. 

 Adams Basin, March, 1647. 

 Remarks. — If you are anxious to make your 

 soil very good for wheat, scatter over it as many 

 bushels of good ashes as the wood made that was 

 taken fron? it, and sent to this city. A mixture 

 of ashes, and bones boiled therein to powder, will 

 be better still. Plaster, lime, and charcoal will 

 do no harm, and may be used, in moderate quan- 

 titles, at a profit. 



Ignorana*? or Prejudice? or Both? 



Ln a recent conversation with a gentleman on 



the subject of farming, I enquired of him wheth- 

 !er he took any Agricultural paper. Answering 

 I in the negative he remarked, substantially, that 

 I practical farmers would hardly be willing, or 

 I could hardly be expected to abandon a system of 

 i farming whi'^h they had found to be successful 

 j and profitable, tor the theories or speculations of 



a body of men whose knowledge on the subject 

 lof farming was acquired in the study. Having 

 Iset him right on this point, he remarked, that if 

 ibis land should fail to produce good crops, he 

 j would observe, investigate, «&c. When cornered 



here likewise, and made acquainted with the dif- 

 ! ficulties in his way, I found him still attached to 



his old opinions, and endeavoring to fortify him- 

 I self in his old practices. This man, like many 

 i others, will have to learn wisdom by experience ; 

 land will find when too late, that even practical 

 \ farmers may learn something fron) books ; J. e* 



from the experience of others. H. 



The love of nature is sure to expand itself 



into the love of God. 



