138 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



June 



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Thb Weather. — 1st, the weather preceding; 

 2(1, tlie weatlier immediately succeeding planting ; 

 3d, its. general character accurately observed during 

 the growth of the crop. 



I'he Growth.— 'st, noticeable peculiarities; 2d, 

 dates of difterent stb^es ; 3d, Uie weather connected 

 with such stages ; 4th, general characteristics of 

 growth. 



The Harvesting. — 1st, time; 2d, manner; 3d, 

 condition of the crop ; 4th, the weather ; 5th, gene- 

 ral treatment. 



Produce. — 1st, quantity by actual estimates; 2d, 

 quality ; 3d, par value, k,c. 



In this way, substantial data for the comparison 

 of modef^, and the settling of principles, would be 

 obtained, and the conclusions of the former be fixed 

 upon the firm basis of accurate and reliable facts. 

 Frederick S. Jewell. 



poxtltry facts. 



Messrs. Editors : — In this age of big theories and 

 big fowb, we need facts to guide us. Therefore, I 

 herewith contibute my mite. In most of our statis- 

 tics, all the facts arc not given, so that we are not 

 able to form a correct judgment. I will try and 

 avoid this error. 



My fowls are of the Poland variety, full-blooded, 

 jet black, except the top-knot, and sometimes two 

 partly white feathers in the tail of the cock. I ob- 

 tained them, originally, from the Aviary in John St., 

 New York. On the first day of March last, I had 

 eight hens and one cock. One of the hens had the 

 rheumatism ia her neck. I cut her head off on the 

 23d May, and buried her near the foot of one of my 

 grape vines. The others were healthy and laid be- 

 tween six and seven hundred eggs before September, 

 and raised twenty-four chickens. Being engaged in 

 building an addition to my house, my poultry record 

 was lost for a time in August, so I cannot give the 

 exact number of eggs. Uut it will be within the 

 bounds of truth, to say that the seven hens laid six 

 hundred eggs between March and September, and 

 raised twtnty-four chickens. The early chickens 

 commenced laying in November, anJ have continued 

 to lay until the present time, with the exception of 

 about 5 weeks in the coldest weather. Early chickens 

 at maturity make much larger fowls than late ones. 



The cost of keeping my hens has been forty cents 

 per year, each. Living in a village, I keep them 

 housed until four o'clock in the afternoon, when they 

 have the run of a yard, and are shut up at night. I 

 usually feed screenings, at twenty-five cents per 

 bushel, and corn at forty-five to fifty cents. My early 

 spring chickens weigh from three to three and a half 

 pounds in the fall, when dressed. I have now twen- 

 ty-four hens, and expect to revel in fat eggs all the 

 year. You are probably aware that there is as much 

 difference between fat eggs and poor eggs, as there 

 is between fat beef and poor beef. E. \Vare Syl- 

 vester. — Lyons, .V. 1'., Feb., laol. 



To prevent the Bug from uestrovi.ng Vines. — 

 A small striped bug in the west, that destroys vines, 

 te particularly troublesome in gardens, and but a few^ 

 people in this country know a remedy ; a small hand- 

 full of tansey pullod and placed around each vine, 

 will drive tlie bugs away. A knowledge of this 

 might save a great amount of care and vexation. — 

 M. H. B. — Spencer, Ind. 



VALUE OF SWAMP MUCK AS A MANURE. 



Messrs. Editors. — While reading J. P. Norton's 

 remarks on the value of swamp muck in the May 

 number of the Farmer, it brought to my mind a cir- 

 cumstance (which by tl\e way, I have related to 

 hundreds of owners of such swamps.) that took place 

 on my father's farm in Manchester, Conn. My 

 father had a sand hill on his homestead, that con- 

 tained from two to three acres of drifting sand, 

 entirely useless and good for nothing. He also had 

 a muck swamp near by, and he concluded to try it 

 on his sand hill. We hauled I should think, from 

 100 to 150 loads of the muck to the acre, and spread 

 it on his sand hill. This was done in the fall, and 

 the next spring we ])lowed and planted it to corn, we 

 had about ten bushels to the acre. My father there- 

 fore said he had lost his labor. I wished the follow- 

 ing year to have the same again planted to corn, to 

 which he objected, saying he had had enough of muck 

 manure. I however persuaded him to let me plow 

 and plant it. It yielded twenty bushels of shelled 

 corn to the acre. My father then sold the farm, and 

 the same sand hill was plowed and planted for thir- 

 teen years in succession to corn, and at the end of 

 which time the owner and myself while passing over 

 the same ground, then planted to corn, we concluded 

 that there could not be less than forty bushels of 

 shelled corn to the acre, he at the same time as- 

 sured me that he had never put a single load of ma- 

 nure on the lot with the exception of ashing and plas- 

 tering his corn and said that the crop you now see is 

 no better than for several years past. There was 

 also a fine young and thrifty apple orchard growing 

 on the same laud, beginning to bear. Frederick 

 Woodbridge. — Franklin Mills, O. 



GLOVER MILL. 



A Correspondent in our last number desired to be 

 informed of the best clover mill in use — price, k,c. 

 We take the following from the Ohio Statesman, 

 being notes made by the editor, at the Ohio State 

 Fair. This machine received the first premium. 



Ill the Agriciiltuial Implement Department, ii clover seed 

 hulling and cleaning machine was exhibited by M. II. jMans- 

 lield, of Ashland, Ohio, which in many particulars is superi- 

 or to any machine of the kind yet introduced in New York 

 or the New Kngland tStates. This machine -will hull and 

 clean ready for market, in a perfect manner, 5 bushels of 

 clover seed per hour, with the power of three to four horses, 

 which is at least 30 per cent, more thjn can he done by the 

 latest improvements known in the east. In its principles it 

 is entirely new, differing materially from any clover hulling 

 machine, previously brought into use. The threshing or 

 hulling part is simply a cylinder about 20 inches in length, 

 suspended on a shaft with a 4 inch pulley to one end, to 

 which is attached 80 spikes or rubbers in parallel rows simi- 

 lar to the drum of threshing machine. The concave has 128 

 of those spikes or rubbers, which are also set in parallel rows. 

 The spikes are made of malleable iron, and are 2^ inches 

 long, and !{ inches wide. They are neatly lluted on each 

 side, having ten of those llutes to a looth, and being so ar- 

 ranged that the teeth of the cylinder nearly touch those in 

 the concave. The process, it will be readily seen, is one, 

 when the proper power for motion isapjilicd, which will rub 

 O'lt the seed most perfectly, as last as it can be fed into the 

 machine. Those tinted teeth or rubbeis each pass through a 

 smidl hub ill the inner (art of the cyliuder, and arc so arranged 

 that li.ey ar-' thrown bai k on the .surface of the cylinder at the 

 iri.suuii a slick, stone, or any other serious obstruction rnay 

 accidentally get into iho inachiui;. The se()arator and fan- 

 ning apparatus are got up on the most improved principles, 

 and the whole riiachino is built with a view of coinbining 

 durabiliiy wiih ellicienty. T.lie price of these machines at 

 the place of manufactory is $'Jo, being warranted to perform 

 all that we have ventured to say in their favor. 



