268 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTUHAL PRESS. 

 CnEAi' Salt fok Manuuk. — Mr. V. W. Smith, 

 Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt "Works, Syr- 

 acuse, N. Y., announces, for tlie benefit of those 

 farmers that are disposed to make use of salt as a 

 fertiliaer, that it can be had in any quantity at 

 Syracuse for seventy-five cents per barrel; or at a 

 price not exceeding eleven cents per bushel, shipped 

 loose on the canal boats at that place. Mr. Smith 

 says it will afl:brd him great pleasure to attend to 

 any orders for the salt, gratuitously, so far as his 

 personal services are concerned. Those who wish 

 to sow salt on their wheat this fall, can now obtain 

 it at a very cheap rate. A barrel per acre, sown 

 broadcast, is the usual quantity. 



Coal Ashes as a Fertilizer. — An exchange 

 gives the following experiment by an English farm- 

 er: He marked off three patches in a clover field, 

 each containing one rod of ground, Tlie first had 

 no manure, and produced 38 lbs. of clover, cut in 

 full bloom. To the second w^as applied four quarts 

 of sifted coal ashes that had not been exposed to 

 the weather; this produced 50 lbs. of clover. On 

 tJie third patch one quart of plaster was sown, and 

 the crop from it weighed 54 lbs. In other words, 

 the land without anything gave 5780 lbs. ©f green 

 clover per acre; with coal ashes, 8000 lbs.; and with 

 plaster, 8640 lbs. These experiments were on too 

 small a plat of ground to be reliable. 



Cm.TiTATiNG Corn too much. — A correspondent 

 of the Michigan Farmer thinks that corn can be, and 

 often is, cultivated too mnch. He says his neigh- 

 bor tended his corn seven times, and it is now only 

 shoulder high, while his own that was only plowed 

 tlirice is three feet higher. He thinks corn gains 

 nothing by being cultivated after harvest time, and 

 says it should be planted early and well nursed 

 while it is young, and that when it gets strong it is 

 best to be left alone. He recommends going care- 

 fully over the field at the time the corn is bginning 

 to ripen, and selecting the ripest, firmest and tough- 

 est eftrs, .and luisk and preserve them on the cob in 

 a dry place, for seed. 



Milking in silbnok. — At a meeting of the Farm- 

 ers' Club at "West Cornwall, Conn., one of the mem- 

 bers observed that no talking should be tolerated 

 in the yard or among the cows, while milking was 

 going on. Another said he had discharged a man 

 because he would talk and interrupt the milking 

 in hi.s dairy, and tliat in three days afterward the 

 increase in the yield of milk wa« equal in value to 

 the amount he would Lave had to pay thft man in 

 wages. 



Hoeing Potatoes when wet.- A correspondenl 

 of the Prairie Farmer states that having noticec 

 how potatoes were interrupted in their growth, am 

 invariably pined away and died, if disturbed an( 

 bruised when wet with dew or rain, tried the fol 

 lowing experiment: He selected a patch in hi 

 potato field, had it plowed only once, and thei 

 loosened the soil with the hoe when the vines wer 

 above ground, and in the heat of the day whe 

 they were perfectly dry. He never tonehed ther 

 afterward till they were dug in October. The? 

 vines kept green, and the yield of potatoes wj 

 very large. The other portion of the patch wj 

 worked three times, and when the vines were w« 

 with dew. These blighted early, did not prodm 

 half a crop, and that of a very inferior qualit; 

 The ground, seed, and time of planting, in hot 

 patches were the same. 



Usefulness of Birds. — The Homestead sa; 

 until a few years ago the park at Brussels wi 

 shaded by trees of luxuriant foliage, the branchi 

 of which bent over the alleys and scieened tl 

 promenaders from the sun. These trees were fill 

 with birds, whose droppings occasionally annoy 

 the promenaders. For this reason the birds we 

 banished. In a few weeks the leaves of the tre 

 were in holes and dying, and now the branches a 

 nearly stripped of their verdure and loaded wi 

 caterpillars, and the walks infested with niotl 

 Such is the effect of interfering with nature, a 

 destroying the equipoise she has placed against t 

 undue increase of any one of her creatures. 



How TO make a balkt Horse pvll, — A corn 

 pondent of the Cotton Planter gives a method 1 

 making an obstinate horse or mule pull up a h 

 or any where else, when his muscles are equal 

 the work. "Take a small rope, double it, maki 

 loop at the double end, and draw it smigly arom 

 the under jaw of the animal, just below his frf 

 teeth, with the loop underneath. Throw the lo« 

 end over your shoulder and 'walk in the way 

 should go,' holding fast and pulling steadily i 

 firmly. Don't be troubled about him, for he w 

 follow without fail after he has discovered how j 

 have 'got him.' This method will also compel 

 animal to stand still and allow a bridle or collar 

 be put on him." 



Grasshopper feed. — The California Cultiva 

 says at Los Angelos, California, they cultivate a 

 foster the growth of weeds for the purpose of fe" 

 ing the grasshoppers, which, finding plenty 

 green, succulent vegetable food, spare the grain a 

 ripe vegetable-s, trees, vines, &c., which they wo» 

 i otherwis* entirely destroj. 



