54 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Feb. 



SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 



In furtherance of our desire to make the pre- 

 sent volume of the Farmer more valuable than 

 any of its predecessors, we introduce a new fea- 

 ture in this number. Under the heading of 

 Spirit of the Agricultural Press, we hope to 

 give, with the aid ot pen and scissors, much 

 valuable and important matter, in a condensed 

 form and brief space. We shall endeavor to 

 present, in one or two pages of each number, 

 (by judicious selection and the use of small type,) 

 the substance of articles which would occupy 

 much more space if given in the usual detailed 

 manner. Proper credit will be given when we 

 condense or extract from original articles ; but 

 we frequently find extracts in our exchanges, 

 having no evidence whereby their paternity may 

 be ascertained — and in such cases we cannot, of 

 course, add the authority. 



Preventing the Potato Rot.— Early Ptantmg.—We 

 liave heretofore mentioned the importance of early planting 

 as a preventive of the potato malady, (see page 63 and 84 of 

 our preceding volume,) and we now give some additional 

 evidence on the same subject. The Cultimtor says ; ''An 

 intelligent farmer oni a small scale, has tried a remedy for 

 several years, which though not new, has been attended 

 with such uniform success, as to deserve mentioning. He 

 cultivates the Mercer, a variety well known to be unusually 

 liable to the rot. The crop is planted very early, almost as 

 soon as llie snow disappears in spring, so that the potatoes 

 are fully matured by the end of summer. In the latter 

 part of the eighth month, (Aug.) the potatoes are dug, and 

 immediately housed in as cool and dry a place as possible. 

 By this means he has never lost a bushel, although his 

 neighbors who live close at hand on either side, and who 

 plant and harvest their crops later, have suffered abun- 

 dantly." 



On the same subject, a Norfolk paper remarks ; "A gen- 

 tleman farmer of our acquaintance tells us, for three years 

 he has planted potatoes at three different periods, viz., early 

 in April, late in April, and in May. — b:very year the early 

 potatoes have been sound and firm, the middle part unsound, 

 and the late ruined. He says it is early planting which 

 protects the potato against the epidemic. Wo recollect in 

 a great many accounts of the rot that the early potatoes 

 were sound." 



The editor of the Fanner's Monthly Visitor, (Ex-Gov. 

 Hill, ) copies the latter extract, and adds his testimony as 

 follows : "Our own experience for the three last years con- 

 firms the above statements : in none of the potatoes planted 

 previous to the tenth of May, have we found any difficulty 

 frora the rot." 



Mental Improvement of Farmers.— Professor Meach- 

 AM, in his address before the Addison County (Vt.) Ag. 

 Society observes : "In making provision for your family, 

 you should provide something to read, as well as something 

 to eat. — You have little reason for congratulation in im- 

 proving land and stock, if the mind about you is going to 

 waste. Every farmer has more lime in the year for gain- 

 ing general knowledge than any professional man in the 

 active pursuit of his profession. But it does not depend on 

 time so much as on inclination. Webster says that ' even 

 in matters of taste and literature, the advantages of a man 

 of leisure are apt to be over-rated. If there exists adequate 

 means of education, and the love of learning be excited, 

 that love will find the way to the object of desire through 

 the crowd and pressure of the most busy society.' " 



Watering Cattle.— Many farmers suffer a loss by not 

 providing good and sufficient water for cattle. An animal 

 that is compelled to go half a mile over a slippery road, 

 and chased perhaps by dogs, cannot gain in flesh by the 

 operation. If a cow has to travel twice a day half a mile 

 to water, and return, she travels two miles a day ; or ten 



Fall and Winter Plowing.— Plowing late in the fall 

 and during winter, may, in some instances, be beneficial ; 

 in others, injurious. As a general rule, the principal rea- 

 son that can be given in favor of the practice, is that the 

 work can be performed at a time of leisure, and the farmer 

 is relieved from the pressure and hurry which would attend 

 the crowding of all his plowing into a few days of spring. 

 Loose sandy and gravelly lands are not, probably, injured 

 by late plowing ; but compact soils, if plowed in fall, are 

 sometimes so beaten down by the heavy rains of winter 

 and spring, that more labor is actually required to bring 

 them into suitable condition for crops than if they had not 

 been touched till near the time of sowing or planting. 



Ti,„ jjjg^ jjjjji jj^y tjjifjg jg gained by the decomposition 



of sward by late fall plowing, is, we are convinced, a mis- 

 take. On the contrary, every one who has had the oppor- 

 tunity of observing may have seen that sward, which is 

 broken up after the weather has become warm, and the 

 grass somewhat started in spring, rots much sooner than 

 that which was plowed in fall or winter. 



Clayey soils, which have been well drained, may be 

 greatly improved by fall plowing, if it is done in the right 

 way. The ground should be thrown into narrow ridges, 

 which should run in such a direction as will most readily 

 turn off the water from the field. Let two furrows, as deep 

 as can well be pbwed, be turned together in the form of 

 what are called " back- furrows," and the whole field be 

 plowed in this way. This will expose a large portion of 

 the soil to the action of the frost and air. The ridges will 

 be dry, and the soil being frozen and thawed while in this 

 state, it will become loose and friable, and on cross-plowing 

 the ridges, when the proper time arrives for seeding, the 

 soil will be mellow and in excellent condition for a crop. 

 This course has produced good crop^ of grain and vegeta- 

 bles on land which would yield little or nothing in any 

 other way. — Alb. Cultivator. 



Keeping Farm Accounts. — Let any farmer make the 

 experiment, and he *vill find it as interesting as it is useful 

 to know from year to year the actual produce of his farm. 

 Let every thing, therefore, which can, be measured and 

 weighed ; and let that which cannot be brought to an exact 

 standard, be estimated as if he himself were about to pur- 

 chase or sell it. Let him likewise, as near as possible, 

 measure the ground which he uses, and the manner in 

 which he applies it. The labor of doing this is nothing, 

 compared with the satisfaction of having done it, and the 

 benefits which must arise from it. Conjecture, in these 

 cases is perfectly wild and uncertain, varying often with 

 several different individuals almost a hundred per cent. 

 Exactness enables a man to form conclusions, which may 

 most essentially, and in innumerable ways, avail to his ad- 

 vantage. It is that alone which can give any value to his 

 experience. It is that which will malie his experience the 

 sure basis of improvement ; it will put it in his power to 

 give safe counsel to his friends, and it is the only ground 

 on which he can securely place confidence in himself. — 

 Norristown Herald. 



Improved Horse Collar. — The Providence Journal 

 describes a horse collar which has been invented in Eng- 

 land which must be regarded as a very great improvement. 

 It consists of a tube of India rubber or other suitable sub- 

 stance, inflated with air like a life preserver. Its advan- 

 tage is that it fits the horse exactly, easily, and without un- 

 due pressure upon any part, and leaves the Lreast and the 

 joints of the fore legs free from galling and sudden pressure 

 to which the common collar subjects them. "The merciful 

 man is merciful to his beast," and we hope that this im- 

 provement will be generally adopted. — W. Y. Farmer. 



CoMPOSiTioM FOR Shoes. — Two parts of tar, two of 

 beefs tallow, and one of bees-wax, make a good compo- 

 sition for boots and shoes. Apply it quite warm, and warm 

 tlie leather that it may penetrate. As farmers are frequently 

 exposed to wet, they should be careful to keep their feet 

 dry and warm, for on this their health and comfort in a 

 great measure depend. There are various compositions 

 that are good to resist water and preserve leather, and the 

 proportion of the above may be varied. Tar and tallow 

 will answer alone , so will tallow and bees-wax. 



Useful Table. — An acre of ground will contain 160 

 fruit trees, 16.^ feet apart each way, 4,843 hills of corn 

 3 feet apart each way. 174,240 stalks of wheat six inches 



cows perform twenty miles of traveling per day, and two apart each away, 6J272,540 blades of grass one inch apart 

 thousand miles each winter. each way. 



