THE GENESEE FARRIER. 



145 



EXTRACTS FROM COREESPONDENCE. 



Is IT Be8t to Hill Cokn, or not? — R. S. T., of 

 Niagara, 0. W., writes: "This is a question that 

 will not he decided for some time to come, as 

 hoth sides have supporters. For my own part, 

 I put more faith in thorough working with the 

 cultivator and hoe, and the keeping of the ground 

 stirred and free from sveeds, than in any amount of 

 hilliag up." 



Jno. Irwin, Jr., of Coshocton Co., Ohio, says his 

 experience is in favor of hilling corn, and that it is 

 best to plant corn so that it can be plowed both 

 ways — say in squares 3 to 4 feet apart. He thinks 

 too many stalks are usually allowed to grow in a 

 hill, and would not allow more than 3 or 4 stalks 

 to remain in each at the time of thinning out. 



0. Inman, of Mich., says that if the ground is 

 examined after plowing near corn, it will be found 

 to be full of small roots, which have been cut off 

 fiom the plants ; and which, had the surface only 

 been stirred, would have remained to assist the 

 plant in obtaining nourishment from the soil. 

 Therefore he thinks hilling injurious, and would 

 (inly stir the surface sufficiently to admit moisture 

 liud keep down the weeds. 



Wm. Reno, of Lawrence Co., Pa., says hilling 

 corn can only be advocated on very heavy soils, or 

 such as are low and swampy, and have an excess 

 of moisture. By the last, or big hilling, as it is 

 oommouly termed, the best and loose part of the 

 S'/il is piled up around the stalks, and nothing but 

 the poor hard pan or sub-soil left to supply the roots 

 with nourishment, at the very time when the plant 

 needs all it can get to perfect the development of 

 the ear; and when refreshing showers come, these 

 "big hills" turn all the water off into the furrows, 

 out of the reach of doing any benefit to the plants, 

 at the time they most need it. 



Longevity of the Horse. — A. B., of Bayfield, 

 O, "W"., asks very pertinently if the age to which any 

 particular breed of animals, especially horses, will 

 live to and retain their usefulness unimpaired, is 

 not a matter of some importance and worthy the 

 attention of breeders ? He thinks that in raising 

 horses, animals should be selected for breeding whose 

 ancestors have been long-lived and which have them- 

 selves arrived at full maturity, and therefore likely 

 to produce healthy offspring. He says there is no 

 reason why, by judicious breeding and care, the 

 horse should not be able to retain his vigor and, 

 usefulness to the age of fifty years. This is perhaps 

 expecting too much, but the question, as he says, is 

 worthy of consideration. • 



"Weather and Crops in Iowa. — F. H. W., wri- 

 ting from Prairie Ridge, Iowa, March 28th, says : 

 " The past winter we have had some colder days 

 than usual — thermometer "20 to 30 degrees below 

 zero ; but on the whole, we have had the pleasant- 

 est winter I have yet experienced. We have been 

 plowing for the past two weeks, and sowing for 10 

 days, and if the weather continues fine, shall be 

 preparing our corn ground early next month. This 

 is quite a wheat-growing section — as much as 150 

 acres on some farms being devoted to wheat, and 

 from 20 to 60 acres to corn. We have some cattle 

 and horses, and but few sheep. Our fences are 

 mostly what are called Shanghai — that is, post and 

 board, with the two bottom boards left out ; they will 

 keep out the larger stock, but not sheep or hogs. 

 We raise considerable of the latter, and turn our 

 corn into pork, but have to keep the hogs confined 

 during the growing season of the crops." 



How TO MAKE Swine Profitable. — H. W., of 

 Chatham, C. W., thinks it a bad practice to keep 

 hogs over winter. He keeps over only the breeding 

 sows, which bring the first litter in March. The 

 young pigs, when two or three weeks old, will be- 

 gin to eat, and can have a separate apartment from 

 the sow, where they can go in at leisure, and be 

 fed milk, and a little meal . They are weaned 

 at eight weeks old, kept well fed, and allowed the 

 range of a small clover pasture convenient to the 

 pen. After harvest, they have the run of the stub- 

 bles ; as soon as they have gleaned these they are 

 at once shut up and fattened on chopped corn and 

 barley, mixed with boiled potatoes ; and when 

 killed, at from 7 to 8 months old, they average 

 from 200 to 250 lbs. His pigs are a cross between 

 the Byfield and Suffolk. Those pigs that come in 

 the fall, can be allowed to run with the sow till 

 three weeks old, and then killed for roasters. 



Large Gooseberry Bush. — W. M. Beauohamp, 

 of Skaneateles, N. Y., sends us the measurement of 

 a gooseberry bush in his garden, viz : "Diameter, 

 9 feet one way, and 10 feet 2 inches the other; 

 heiglit, 4 feet 6 inches. It produces generally over 

 a bushel of gooseberries each year. The birds 

 patronize it largely as a place for building their 

 nests in, and sometimes six broods of young are 

 raised in it in a single season." 



Chinese Sugar Cane. — B. F. B., of Pughtown, 

 Pa., writes: "This crop did not ripen well last 

 year. I find little or no difference in the product 

 of syrup from the ripe or unripe cane, provided 

 the head is fully developed ; and a little frost does 

 not injure it." 



