TIIE GENESEE FAR:MER. 



275 



the welfare of a wife, who is cared for as carefully 

 as she should be, is far more than money to every 

 true man. 



Bat let me not forget to add that a foor mower 

 is a great humbug. We had a neighbor who had 

 one he never used but one season, and then it 

 nearly killed his horses. We have seen several of 

 the Buckeye Mowers performing, which worked 

 admirably, both as a mower and reaper. Nineteen 

 hundred of them have been manufactured and sold 

 at Salem and Canton during the present season, 

 which shows that all formers are not like Mr. 



BUNDY. DAVID STREET. 



SaZem, ColumMana Co., Ohio. 



MOWma MACHINES-ONCIE MORE. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — I would like to fur- 

 nish about a "stickful!" of matter for your col- 

 umns, in answer to the borabaslio article in the 

 July number, written by Mr. E. A. Bundt. As 

 Mr. B. has not touched upon the question at issue, 

 viz: "the economy of using mowing machines", I 

 will give him a few more facts. 



1st. It is not usual for good farmers to winter 

 their machines in the fields — only such as can not 

 see the economy of using mowing machines do this. 



2d. We do not pay $125 for our machines. 

 Kktchum's mowers cost $110, and being all iron 

 would not rot; even if Mr. B.'s plan, of sticking a 

 stake by the side of it in order to find it in tlie 

 spring, were followed. Good machines, of all kinds, 

 ctin be got at prices ranging from $75 to $130. 



3d. It is almost impossible here to get men enough 

 to get in the hay, alter it is cut. Wages are high, 

 and help is scarce. As to helping poor men by 

 furnishing them work, it is well enough ; but if 

 Mr. B. himself would not get his hay in the hest 

 and cheapest manner, then he is a singular specimen 

 of humanity. 



I now give him the rest of that "alphabet" ! 



Wes'feld, N. Y., July AtJi, 1859. De AZEO A. NICHOLS. 



Weeds in the Garden. — On page 240 of the 

 last Genesee Farmer, in speaking of weeds, I think 

 their benefit is not all told. I think from experi- 

 ence that if they are all carried out of a garden, 

 and none left to be worked into the ground, that 

 the garden will cease to bear weeds or anything 

 else to any benefit, notwithstanding it should be 

 manured every year. I believe my father ruined 

 one so when I was a boy, and worked for him. 

 We both practiced carrying all weeds out, and 

 manuring every year, and I can not give any other 

 reason for the failure. I now love to have weeds 

 grow in my garden, but I love as well to pull, or 

 hoe them up, before they overrun what I want to 

 raise. — W., Hornelhville, N. Y. 



PLASTER FOR GENERAL CROPS. 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — la reply to the in- 

 quiry of W. H. Parker, of Farraington, Oakland 

 county, Michigan, I will give my experience for 

 several years i)ast in relation to plaster or gypsum. 

 I have found it to have a good etiect on almost all 

 kinds of vegetables, except beans, peas, and onions, 

 as it makes them grow too much stalk or tops. 

 For wheat, clover, buckwheat, corn, and potatoes, 

 if put on as soon as the tops can be seen, plaster 

 has increased the crop one-tenth, as it promotes 

 the growth of the roots and of course brings for- 

 ward the tops. I have never found much benefit 

 from putting it on when corn begins to tassel, or 

 potatoes begin to blossom. I put it on wheat when 

 sown, or early in spring. Clover the same. Buck- 

 wheat when sown. I have put it on in one field, 

 the one half when the buckwheat was sown and 

 the other half of the field when it began to blos- 

 som, and the result was nearly double the number 

 of bushels from the early plastering. The same 

 result on potatoes last year, and this year the effect 

 was greater on my eai'ly June potatoes. 



Our plaster costs here $6.50 per ton ; and it is 

 generally considered by the farmers that it pays 

 well, as clover does not do well without being 

 sown with it. The farmers in the valley of Wy- 

 oming have generally sold off all their straw, hay, 

 and corn stalks, and the consequence is that for 

 some years the crops have been poor. But there 

 is now a great improvement in our crops. Some 

 of the farmers begin to keep more stock, and i-«e 

 plaster and lime. z. knapp. 



Liczerne coimty, Pa., August 7th, 1859. 



The following method to destroy weeds is pur- 

 sued at the mint in Paris, with good effect: 10 

 gallons water, 20 lbs. quicklime, and 2 lbs. flowers 

 of sulphur, are to be boiled in an iron vessel; after 

 settling, the clear part is thrown off and used whefi 

 needed. Care must be taken; for if it will destroy 

 weeds, it will just as certainly destroy edgings and 

 border flowers, if sprinkled on them. Weeds thus 

 treated will disappear for several years. 



RYE FOR AUTUMN FEED. 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — Rye is not so gen- 

 erally valued by our farmers as it ought to be. 

 Were the stubble fields plowed after harvest, and 

 sown with a bushel or two of rye per acre, the 

 stock on the farm would have an abundant supply 

 of sweet, succulent pasturage in autumn. It grows 

 rapidly and tillers out, and becomes thicker as it is 

 eaten down. It is said, however, to give a rank 

 flavor to the butter made from the milk of cows 

 fed on it, but this is believed to the case only 

 when they are allowed to surfeit themselves on 

 it. Some farmers would object: that the rye 

 would take possession of the land, and grow up tho 

 next season. But that is easily remedied by plow- 

 ing it under, either late in the fall or in the spring, 

 and the land will then be cleaner, and in better 

 condition, than if it had been allowed to run to 

 weeds.— F. W., Charlotteville, C. W. 



Remarks. — It was formerly a very common 

 practice in England to sow rye, in the way recom- 

 mended by our correspondent, for the use of ewes 

 and lambs in the spring. A considerable quantity 

 of succulent food was thus obtained early in the 

 spring, to the manifest advantage of the ewes and 

 lambs. But though the rye was eaten on the land 

 by the sheep, and the droppings turned under, and 

 the land afterward sown to barley, it was found 

 that the rye impoverished tho soil, and the practice 

 has on this account been abandoned by many good 

 . farmers. kds. 



