1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



277 



sible, and continued to do so as often as high enough 

 to be clipped with the scythe. The consequence was 

 that not a head was permitted to seed. The grass 

 and clover now form a very pretty twf, and only an 

 occasional plant of pigeon weed is to be seen. 



THE WIKE-WOEM. 



Messrs. Edftors : — Having been benefitted by the 

 agricultural experience of others, communicated 

 through the Genesee Farmer, and feeling it a duty 

 to reciprocate such favors, and as I have had some 

 experience by way of losing several crops of grain 

 and potatoes by the worms ; therefore tliis communi- 

 cation in answer to an article in the November num- 

 ber of the Genesee Farmer, asking for information 

 on the method of destroying wire-worms. 



Four years ago last fall, I sowed an old meadow 

 to wheat. The following spring it appeared thin 

 and feeble, gradually disappeared, and I thought it 

 had winter-killed. I then planted the field to corn, 

 and the worms destroyed the entire field ; some hills 

 were destroyed before the corn had time to germinate. 

 They also destroyed half an acre of potatoes. I tried 

 lime and unleaclied ashes without any good effect, 

 and gave up the field as lost for the season, until I 

 was told by Mr. Wilks Durkee, an old farmer, 

 that buckwheat would efiectually destroy them. — 

 At the proper time I sowed the field to buckwheat, 

 and had a first rate crop; I have not been troubled 

 with them in that field since. I have tried other 

 fields, with like result. I hardly dare venture a rea- 

 son ill regard to the cause, as some of your corres- 

 pondents are keen-sighted and sharp shooters ; but 

 have stated the simple facts, as they occurred. Z. 

 SwAH.—BloomJietd, Mich., JVov., 1850. 



Messrs. Editors: — As there is some inquiry how 

 to destroy the wire-worni, I would say that, some 

 years since I lost one-third of my wheat crop by sow- 

 ing it on a piece of meadow land. Since that time, 

 I have plowed my meadow or pasture land, where it 

 has been seeded any time, in the fall — tne last half 

 of November or December is the best time. I have 

 for some years planted my corn on grass land plowed 

 late, and I loose but very few hills by worms ; and I 

 think it decidedly the cheapest way to raise corn. In 

 the spring, harrow it lightly with the furrow, plant 

 level with the surface, and it will need no hilling. 

 E. Y.— Wayne Co., JV. Y., 1850. 



ICE HOUSES. 



Messrs. Editors ; — Will you permit me to ask the ftivorof 

 you to inform me. at the soonest time you can, how to con- 

 struct the bottom floor of an Ice House built &bove ground. 

 They are common in your country, built above ground, I am 

 told, and I would be very plad to learn how to construct 

 one to answer well, especially the bottom floor, as I have 

 built one. the floor of which seems not to be well done. 

 Your attention to this, I will take as a favor. M. Cooper, 

 SperryniUe, Ka., Ort., 2850. 



Mr. Wybth, of Cambridge, Mass., whose practi- 

 cal information on this subject is probably fuller and 

 more complete than that of any other person in the 

 country, says : " The bottom of the ice vault should 

 be filled about a foot deep with small blocks of wood ; 

 these are leveled and covered with wood shavings, 

 over which a strong plank floor should be laid to 

 receive the ice." 



HOW TO APPLY 1«AWTJHB, &o. 



Messrs. Editors ; — Having become disgusted with store- 

 keeping, and turned farmer, 1 would feel greatly obliged if 

 you would answer my few questions. I have always been 

 in the habit of plowing in manure as deep ns possible. An 

 old farmer, a neighbor of mine, says I am wrong — that it is 

 better to spread it on the surface — the Genesee Farmer is a 

 humbug if it says anything to the contrary. I told him that 

 the ammonia and other valuable properties escaped into the 

 atmosphere. " Don't believe it," said ho, '* it is to the in- 

 terest of all such editors to talk so, for the sake of selling 

 their paper. Plow it in, and that will be the last of it ; my 

 neighbor plows his in beam deep, and never derives any ad- 

 vantage from it." Am I right in plowing it in ? 



Is it more advantageous to plant small potatoes tlian large 

 ones ? My neighbor says that he planted some small pota- 

 toes in the same field with large ones, and that the small ones 

 nearly doubled the large ones. I believe he told me thoy 

 were the same kind of potato. (It might have been through 

 the influence of the moon ; I know he is a convert to that 

 humbug.) 



I have a field that had been cropped prior to my coming, 

 until they could get nothing from it. During t!»e three 

 years I have been on the place, I have used it for a pas- 

 ture, as water runs through it. Would it not be better to 

 plow it up and seed it down, in preference to the wild 

 June grass that now occupies it? My fatlier believes that 

 wild grass is the best for pasture, and the longer it h vastnred 

 the better it will become. 



A lady friend of mine wishes to know why some of her 

 tulips have not flowered for three years. 



I would suggest a plan for the removal of water-melons, 

 and all other plants that are difficult of transplanting ; I ha\e 

 found it to succeed very well. [ take a light sod, about the 

 size of my hand, which I turn upside down, place five meion 

 seeds on each piece, and put them in a hot-bed ; then cover 

 with rich earth or rotten manure. The roots will strike into 

 the sod, and may be easily removed. One sod will be fountl 

 sufficient for one hill. I have sometimes raised them so in 

 boxes in the house. 1 do not know that it is an original idea; 

 but it may be useful to some of your numerous subscribers. 

 A Young Farmku. — iVolcol, N. V., 1850. 



There is a difference of opinion among farmers, as 

 well as among men who make the science of farming 

 their entire study, as to the best mode of applying 

 manure. If the object in manuring is to benefit a 

 single crop, without any reference to the improve- 

 ment of the land, the better way, of course, is to put 

 the manure as near the roots as possible, so that all 

 its fertilizing qualities may be taken up by the crop. 

 If the permanent improvement of the land is intended, 

 it is of course needful to manure deep and thoroughly. 

 Manure which contains a large proportion of ammo- 

 nia, and which exhales a strong smell of alkali, will 

 infallibly lose in value by exposure to the air. The 

 loss is much less, and indeed very small, when the 

 manure contains but a small portion of volatile ame 

 monical salts, as is the case when gypsum has been 

 mixed with it and spread over the surface. As a 

 general rule, the safest way, we think, is to cover the 

 manure with the soil. 



Medium sized, uncut potatoes, we think the best 

 for planting — two in the hill ; or if in drills, singly, 

 ten inches apart. When seed is scarce, it may be 

 good economy to divide them. 



It is a very good way to improve land suited to 

 grass, to "lay it down to grass ;" particularly if used 

 as pasture. The manure left on the ground, and the 

 large amount of roots which decay in the soil, in- 

 crease its fertility. On the relative value of the 

 grasses, we prefer for the present to let our corres- 

 pondents speak. 



The tulips spoken of must have deen very young 

 bulbs when planted, or very old and worn out. We 

 know of no contingences of soil or climate that would 

 prevent the blossoming of the tulip. 



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