118 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



May 



^nstucra to Inquinea. 



HORIZONTAL PLOWING. 



Ir your your editorial duties, and those connected with the 

 Patent Office, would allow you time to give us. during the 

 year, full and practical information relative to " horizontal ' 

 plotting, ns now practiced at the far South, or any other 

 method which will better prevent the " wasliings" during 

 our heavy summer showers, the information will be gladly 

 and thankfully received by us in this neighborhood. J. B. 

 Owens.— H'm( River, A. A. Co.. Mil. 



Horizontal plowing means, to keep the furrow so 

 near on a level along a side hill, that the water shall 

 not run in it and wash off the fine particles of light 

 mold, loam, clay, and sand. It is mainly from these 

 that the solvent elements of crops, both organic and 

 inorganic, are derived. If the minute atoms in the 

 surface soil are borne off in heavy rains, the fertility 

 of the land is seriously impaired. 



To meet e.\treme cases, horizontal ditches around 

 hiU-s or along iheir sides, three or four rods apart, 

 are also required at the South. These are usually 

 twelve or fifteen inches deep and some twenty wide, 

 and made with a plow and cleaned out with hoes. 

 They are not horizontal, strictly speaking, but have 

 a fall of one inch in twelve feet. Unless tlie water 

 can escape by running off at one end of the ditch, it 

 soon fills in a hard rain, breaks over at the lower side, 

 and lets the whole current fall into the ditch below, 

 which in turn gives way also, and a gully is soon 

 formed, in light land, .!eep enough to hide a Pennsyl- 

 vania six horse wagon and team. 



The deeper land is plowed, the less liable it is to 

 wash. Side hill plows should be used in plowing 

 land much inclined to wash. In i i: king side hill 

 ditches, cither a water or a spirit level is used to keep 

 them on a true grade, although considerable experi- 

 ence enables one to locate a ditch by the eye alone. 

 A fall of one foot in one hundred feet answers very 

 well to give a gentle current to carry off water with- 

 out damage. 



STHIDnfa CATERPILLAR. 



Messrs. F.niTOHS: — A few years since, an insect called the 

 "Slridin^ Caterijillar," made its nppearonce in our hop fields 

 early in July. It is of a green color, one-eighth. of an inch 

 long, increasing to an inch at maturity. Its depredations 

 have been increasing ever since, first preying upon the leaf 

 until the plant is stripped, and then attacking the hop. 



If you have discovered any means of checking the rava- 

 ges of this destructive insect, you will confer a great henclii 

 uptm liop culture, and a number of your old subscribers, by 

 inserting them in your next number. An old Subscriber. 

 —March, 185U. 



Will some reader give us more light in regard to 

 this insect ? 



SALT. -THE LARGE WHITE GRUB. 



Mr.ssns. Eitors: — Two years ago I had a field of wheat 

 almost entirely destroyed by the large white grub-worm, 

 an I I n-iw have the same ficM in wheat again. The worms 

 wire 8u!l to be seen last fall, »hi'n the lield was ploweil 

 Would salt sown on the wheat in tlie spring, he a prevent- 

 ive? Knot, hnt woul 7 Juu.-) Dickson. — .Sa/K/ywY/.-, 

 Ohio. March, 1850. 



Salt enough to kill the worms would be likely to 

 injure the crop. A little >alt, however, will benefit 

 the crop ; and perhaps it will bear enough to destroy, 

 or drive the depredators deep into tlie earlli. Try a 

 few rods, tind report the result. 



A DILEMM:^ 



1\1essrs. Editors : — I find myself in a dilemma in relation to 

 a quantity of straw which has been suffered to accumulate 

 in my yard for a number of years, which, by the by, is well 

 stoc*ked with tare seed ; and I should think by the appear- 

 ance, lliat the pile has been made of about the whole straw 

 produce of the farm for at least eight years. 



Now, my trouble is not that there is so much of it, but I 

 wish to know how I can get it into a suitable slate for use in 

 the quickest and cheapest manner. Can I put a quantity of 

 stone lime at the bottom of the stack, apply water and slake 

 it without danger of burning my barn ? If I Ciin not, please 

 inform me how it can be done. Can you tell me of an article 

 that will produce decomposition active enough to prevent 

 the Uire seed from vegetating ? II so. please inform me 

 through your next number, and I think it will be satisfactory 

 to others as well as myself, as there are hundreds similarly 

 situated. .4 Novice.— iima, N. V., March, 1850. 



Place your heap of unslaked lime so far from your 

 barn that if it sets fire to the mass of straw, it will 

 burn nothing else ; but if the mass of partly rotted 

 straw be urt, as it should be, it will burn but Utile 

 more than a snow bank. Oil of vitriol will kill the 

 germs in seeds ; but it is rather too expensive for your 

 use. Heat generated by slaking lime, is the best 

 means available. There is very little danger of set- 

 ting a mass of wet straw on fire. 



IRRIGATION AND SOILING. 



.Messrs. Editors : — For the informationof myself and some 

 others of your readers, I would like to inquire whether soil- 

 ing for dairy purposes is practiced in this country, and to 

 what extent 1 and whether cows under that treament would 

 be healthy during our hot summer nmnths ? and what .vould 

 he the ditlerence in the quantity of milk to a cow running at 

 large ? and whether this system would, or would not. be 

 the most economical one. where water can be had in snfB- 

 cient quantity for enriching or improving our small farms in 

 the intejior of this State ? Any information on the above 

 subject, accurately given from actual experience, would he 

 received with interest, so that a young farmer might know 

 with some degree of certainty, the profit or loss. LaN5IN(>- 

 viLLE.— i-uMiHo-, M v.. March, 1850. 



Irrigate your pastures and meadows in all cases 

 where it can be done at a moderate e.xpenso. This 

 nerd not prevent one from growing corn, clover, rye, 

 barley, oats, or peas, for soiling purposes. Partly 

 cure all green succulent plants before feeding them 

 to cows, horses, mules, or oxen. This practice is 

 increasing in both the Northern and Southern States, 

 and will long continue to increase as its advantages 

 are belter known. Of cour.=e, a man mny commit 

 blunders at this business, as in every oilier branch 

 of farm economy about which he knows but little. 



VALUE OF GAS LIME. 



iMEssiis. Editors: — Will you do me the favor of informing 

 me of how much value fur couverling muck into manure. la 

 the gns lime — lime used to purify gas. It is principally 

 oyster shell lime that is used at this place, and can he bought 

 at $:i per hundred bushels. I'rnf. Johnston says that it is 

 not worth much : but that, if made into compost, it will not 

 hurt the crops. I have not found anything, from our own 

 eountrymcii cm the subject, or in your valuable journal. 

 Please send me an account, if you can conveniently, and 

 much oblige Chas. I*. Cowi-ES. — Syracuse, March. IS.lO. 



If you have but a short distance to haul the lime, 

 it will pay well to buy it at $S per one 100 bushels, 

 unless your soil abounds in lime .nlready. In that 

 case, you will but carry coal to New Castle. All 

 depends on your land. A little may be gained from 

 the gas. 



