CORRESPONDENCE. 



115 



LETTEH FROM PENNSYLVANIA. 



Mr. Editor; — Our country is comparatively new 

 — llie growth of timber thrifty, maldug heavy clear- 

 ing; our hard wood being principally beach, maple, 

 and red birch, in some parts oak, chestnut, cherry, 

 and ash, with an occasional sprinkle of hickory; large 

 bodies of hemlock may be seen over the whole coun- 

 try — iu fact they are rarely ever out of sight. The 

 soil is univei-sally good and deep, no hard-pan, and 

 well watered, well calculated for growing purposes. 

 Oats have been raised as a first crop after clearing, 

 averaging 100 bushels and over to the acre. It 

 appears to be, in fact, better calculated for dairy and 

 stock farming than any other country adjoining the 

 State line on either side; but seven-eights of our 

 farmers are still heavily in debt to the land-owners 

 for their farms, probably for the reason that they 

 have not known how to clear to the best advantage, 

 '^T so make the most from their crops on such new 

 rands. 



Have not some of your subscribers the time and 

 data at hand to show the higher value of such lands, 

 considering its pro.\imity to a commercial mart, com- 

 pared with the somewhat lighter first labors on 

 western lands, to which so many of our best farmers 

 are flocking, that must always be at a great distance 

 from the seaboard, — with all the advantages for 

 transportation that steam and internal improvements 

 may afford? 



A subscriber to your journal would be glad to 

 know the best and most economical method of clear- 

 ing heavy timbered land, say hard wood or hemlock 

 lands, and the best rotation of crops for a new begin- 

 D6''- J. M. Hamilton. 



COTOE.ISPORT, Pa. 



WHEAT, GEASS, &c. 



Me. Editor: — In reply to your note of inquiry 

 asking for the particulars of my practice of seeding 

 down lands to grass, &c., I will say I have used clover 

 exclusively when my only object was to benefit the 

 soil; but for pasture or hay, a mixture of clover or 

 timothy — say two parts clover to one of timothy— 

 is preferable. In sowing grass seeds, we usually mix 

 them together by ha»d, the last of March or first of 

 April; although I think timothy should be sown in 

 the fall— say the last of September. 



The two varieties of wheat that have succeeded 

 best with me, are the Souk's and the Mediterranean 

 The Souk's to be sown on the ridge land, and the 



Mediterranean on the flat portions. The Midiler- 

 ranean is less affected by the weevil than any other 

 variety — the fly we know but little about 



With us, the four-rowed barley gives the best 

 yield. Since wheat has got to l:ie so uncertain a crop, 

 we are in the habit of sowing wheat after barley. 

 We plow our barley stubble once or twice, as cir- 

 cumstances may require; but first of all, land should 

 be in a high state of cultivation. This appears to be 

 the cheapest way to raise wheat — ^I will not say it is 

 the best 



The Spitzenburgh apple yields very well, and also 

 the Fall Pippin; and both are very saleable. No 

 one general rule or routine of practice can be given 

 to suit all cases, for we have to vary our seed-time 

 and harvest as the season seems to require. 



Tours truly, J. Kipp. 



Bbnton, n. y. 



WIRE FENCES-MANTJEE CELLAKS- 



Mr. Editor: — I have been much surprised by see- 

 ing so frequent recommendations in our agricultural 

 journals of Osage orange hedges, or of any hedges 

 at all. Can a farmer whose land is worth one hun- 

 dred dollars an acre, afford to lose a strip of fifteen 

 feet for a fence? which is the least possible quantity 

 of land a hedge can occupy. I am told they are 

 going entirely out of use in England; and they should 

 do so wherever land is of any value. It may be 

 asked, what can we have? and to this the best an 

 swer is, have an outside fence, and no other, but as 

 this, in our present mode of farming, is impossible, I 

 beheve a substitute may be found. Not, however, 

 a fence made of piano ■nire, but a six-wire fence, 

 made of No. 4 wire and iron posts, with stretchers 

 at every hundred feet, which can be slackened in 

 winter and drawn up in the spring. This fence can 

 be made for $1.75 a rod, takes no room, and vrilllast 

 a hfe-time. It will turn anything but a hog, and 

 even those if of any respectable breed. It throws 

 no shade, and is the easiest fence to keep in order 

 that can be made. 



Have you ever seen a bam cellar for manure that 

 did not give a most ammoniacal atmosphere for the 

 cattle above it to breathe, or which did not have 

 some of the manure in a very bad. dry state to be 

 carted out in the spring ? The cellar, by constant 

 labor can be kept in a good state; but did you ever 

 see it done? Manure absorbents used in quantity in 

 stables is a eheaper way, and then a manure shed and 

 pit in the barn-yard saves expense and labor. 

 i I have tried an experiment for making a warm eel- 



