THE GENESEE FARMER 



14^ 



are more generally injured by these little pests than 

 by auy thing else. A good preventive is to sift 

 dty mJeached wood ashes or slaked lime over them 

 while they are wet with dew or rain, which I believe 

 acts as a lunar caustic, at once destroying them. 

 They soon disappear, at all events. Perhaps you, or 

 some one else conversant with entomology, can give 

 the names of these insects. 



Fovrih. A great many people having a small lot 

 of ground for potatoes, will, in order to get the largest 

 yield, crowd them on three times as close as they 

 ought to be; and the result is, they throw up a bunch 

 of weak tops and smother each other, and shut out 

 the air and hght, which are particularly essential to 

 the growth of the potato — the haulm rots next to 

 the ground, the outside leaves curl and mildew, and 

 in a week or so die, and the fetid juice passes down 

 and aHects the tuber, which very soon sets up decom- 

 position. Is it not then a wonder that the potato, 

 under so many states of deprivation for more than a 

 century past, does not become entirely extinct ? 



In addition to the above causes, may be mentioned 

 the bad management of pitting. I have noticed a 

 great many farmers here who defer digging their po- 

 tatoes till late in autumn, after the "fall "rains have 

 ..come on, and then have to take them up in a wet 

 state and put them away, which is very detrimental 

 to them. They should be taken up in dry weather 

 and left in the sun to dry, and then carefully pitted or 

 stored in a dry cellar. 



Last season I cultivated a small plot of ground 

 (one-eighth of an acre), to ascertain the expenses of 

 culture. It was of a north-eastern aspect, and the 

 soil was composed of sandy and clayey loam, inter- 

 mixed with vegetable mold. It was broken up on 

 the 10th of April and left to the 2d of May, when 

 there were five loads of well-decomposed stable ma- 

 nm-e spread on, and plowed in to the depth of eight 

 or ten inches. It was then well harrowed, and fur- 

 rowed off three and a half feet each way, and two 

 sets dropped in a hill, six or eight inches apart, and 

 covered four or five inches deep. The variety used 

 for seed was the Red JVeshannock. They were cut 

 ci-osswise, the seed ends being planted in one place 

 and the middle and stem ends in another ; and those 

 from the seed ends on being harvested were not onlv 

 of a smaller size, but had more pronged and more af- 

 fected ones than the others, there benig half a bushel 

 in all, which I charge to late planting and cuttino- 

 sets. As soon as they were up sufficiently hio-h, they 

 were plowed, with three furrows in a row, and hoed, 

 with a broad flat hill hollowing in the middle to con- 

 duct rain. This includes all the work or care they 

 had. The following is the bill of expenses of culti- 

 vation : 



however, did not appear to impede the growth of 

 the potatoes much, the haulm looking green and fresh, 

 and entirely covering the ground, so that it could not 

 be seen, and the ground was perfectly mellow and 

 porous. The crop was excellent, yielding 60 bushels 

 of large tubers; one was 15 inches long, and weighed 

 3 pounds — another, a pronged one, would hardly go 

 into a peck measure, and weighed 5 pounds. The 

 crop averaged 48 fold to the seed, and 480 bushels 

 per acre. s. A. Ellis. 



BoscoE, Coshocton Co., 0. 



INDIAN" COEN. 



April 10— Breaking up the lot, ._. $0.18'^ 



" 30 — Hauling three loads of manure, 37p 



May 2— " two " " and piow'ing" ivs ^ 



2 — spreading manure, _.. 3ji^ 



<- " 2— One and a fourth bushels of seed,"" 'goi/ 



■ " 2— Planting the same, V.V." !.37i' 



June S — PloiTing and hoeing, ] So''* 



" 15— Digging and pitting, "-"I"""! 1..31'^ 



"^"^^ - $4.5l" ~ 



The middle part of last season was very warm and 

 dry here; there was not rain enough in six weeks to 

 lay the dust on the public highway. The di'outh 



Mr. Editor: — It is unnecessary to speak of the 

 great importance of this truly American jjlant. It 

 is equally at home in the Northern limits of the 

 temperate zone as well as in the semi-tropical climate 

 of the sumiy South. Man, beast and bird equally 

 find a wholesome, healthy and palatable food from 

 Its ripened grain. It is a plant too which pays 

 well for all the labor and cultivation bestowed upon 

 it; and the cultivator who neglects to put his land in 

 proper condition and tilth, finds when the harvest 

 draweth nigh that small ears and puny stalks are the 

 reward of his previous neglect. Such being the case, 

 it is of great importance that the soil be properly 

 fitted and prepared, in order that its growth may be 

 encouraged and the precious grain be put out of the 

 way of the early frosts of autumn. 



It is a rank feeder; and provided the soil be 

 thoroughly plowed and pulverized, you can hardlv 

 make the soil too rich. Spread your manure, on a 

 green sward ; then with a good, strong team, and a 

 deejD-set plow, cover it well Avith earth. Use the har- 

 row welluntil the land is as mellow and friable as you 

 would wish your garden soil to be. Plant your rows 

 straight— be j^ari/cM.Zrtj- to have them straight— other- 

 wise the cost of after cultivation is very much in- 

 creased. 



Moisten your seed corn with warm water, and to a 

 bushel of corn add a pint of tar; stir thoroughly till 

 each gram has its coating. Dry with plaster of Paris 

 or ashes. Plant when the Dogwood or Shadblow is 

 in blossom, or when the leaves of the White Oak are 

 about the size of a cent. Give the young plants, 

 when about two inches high, a handful of leached 

 ashes or plaster. Keep the cultivator or corn-harrow 

 in active operation between your rows, and particu- 

 larly when it is a dry time. Of the importance of 

 stirring the soil during a time of drouth, one may 

 easily satisfy himself by digging a hole to the depth 

 of about a foot in a hard baked'soil, and refilling with 

 earth made mellow and fine. He will find in a few 

 days that the mellow earth is moist and damp, even 

 while the adjoining earth is as impervious and im- 

 penetrable to the refreshing dews as so much rocky 

 surface. Connected with the necessity of deep tillage 

 as a protection to the growing plant, is the present 

 practice of the Narjo Indians of New Mexico, where 

 the climate is very dry and arid. They make a hole^ 

 about a foot in depth with a stake, and enclose the 

 seed corn in a ball of moist earth and drop it in the 

 hole. The moisture contained in the earth sprouts 

 the corn, and being placed so far below the dry sur- 

 face of the upper soil it takes care of itself, and iieedi. 



