206' 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Planting Teees. — A correspondent of the Amer- 

 ican Agriculturist gives the following points to be 

 kept in view in planting out trees of all kinds — es- 

 pecially fruit trees : 



1st. A portion of the roots should be so near the 

 surface, and in so porous a soil, that they can enjoy 

 air and the sun's warmth, 



2d. Part of the roots must go deep enough to 

 secure abundant moisture or sap at all times — par- 

 ticularly when the surface soil is temporarily parch- 

 ed by drought. 



3d. The subsoil, so far down as the roots pene- 

 trate, should be of good character ; that is, it should 

 liave been so exposed to the action of air as to des- 

 troy the soluble proto-salts of iron, magnesia, etc.; 

 and also organic acids — otherwise these substances 

 v.'ill be absorbed and act as poison. 



Profits of Sheep Raising. — A correspondent of 

 the North- Western Farmer makes the following 

 stetement, showing how wool-raising pays those 

 who manage it as it should be: "Last season I 

 clipped 250 sheep ; the wool sold for $552. I have 

 sold within the year 74 sheep, which is equal to 

 the number of lambs raised, for $814 — making 

 $1,366. My sheep are of the Spanish Merino 

 breed, and mostly ewes." lie considers sheep- 

 raising the most profitable business a farmer can 

 engage in. 



Surface Manuring. — A correspondent of the 

 Country Gentleman says: A farm in this neigh- 

 borhood, that had been greatly exhausted — the 

 meadows yielding but little, and that of an inferior 

 <|uality — has been restored to fertility by its pres- 

 ent owner by means of surface manuring the mead- 

 ows, and thorough scarifying each spring. They 

 now yield a heavy crop of the best kind of hay. 



Glass Pans for Milk. — An English farmer says, 

 when he first took to dairying on a large scale, he 

 laid out $100 in glass pans, because they looked so 

 well in a dairy. On further acquaintance with 

 them, he has come to the conclusion that they are 

 the cheapest things (even at one dollar each,) that 

 a farmer can use — they are washed and wiped and 

 kept clean with so little trouble. 



iMPBoyjNG Swine. — A writer in the Prairie 

 Farmer saye the farmers of Iowa are wide awake 

 on the hog question. They are improving their 

 stock by a cross with the Sufiblks and Chester 

 Whites. 



Peofits of Rhubabb.— a writer in the WorTcing 

 Farmer says from three-fourths of an acre he sold 

 $500 worth of rhubarb, or pie-plant. 



TniOK OK Thin Seeding of Oats. — A corres- 

 pondent of the Country Gentleman relates an in- 

 stance where 40 bushels of oats per acre were ob- 

 tained from one bushel of seed ; and only 83 bush- 

 els per acre from 3^ bushels of seed. The thick 

 seeding, however, produced much the most straw, 

 and he thinks when oats are sown for fodder they 

 should be sown very thick. 



Ashes, — A gentleman writing to the Ohio Farm- 

 er says : Some farmers have a very foolish habit 

 of selling their ashes for a dime or a shilling per 

 bushel, when they are worth more than twice that 

 amount to spread on their land. It don't pay, he 

 says, to sell ashes at this price, and then buy lime 

 to manure our farms with. 



Bloody Murrain.— An experienced correspondent 

 of the Ohio Cultivator says where cattle have ac- 

 cess at all times to running water, they will not get 

 the murrain. If any cattle are aflfected with mur- 

 rain, remove them from all other stock, and let 

 them be as quiet as possible. Rest and quiet will 

 cure them, if anything will. 



Bug-eaten Peas. — A correspondent of the Horns- 

 stead says he selected thirty fair looking peas, not 

 badly eaten. Two only of the thirty ever made 

 their appearance above ground, and they were so 

 slender as never to amount to anything ; and he is 

 satisfied that those which are eaten to a shell will 

 not vegetate. 



Best Layers. — A correspondent of the English 

 Poultry Chronicle^ who seems to have had consid- 

 erable experience, states that the "best layers all 

 the year round, for size and quality of egg," are a 

 cross between the game cock and the Golden Span- 

 gled Hamburgh hen. 



SiiORT-HORNs IN CALIFORNIA. — The California 

 Farmer states that the Durham bull, "Earl tb« 

 Fourth," sent to California by J. D. Patterson, of 

 New York, has been sold to Capt. J, B. Frisbie, of 

 Vallejo, to be taken to Solano County. The price 

 paid was $4,000. ■ 



Tree Planting Clubs. — One of our exchanges, 

 we do not know which, recommends young men 

 to form " tree planting clubs." The idea is a good 

 one. Let the young men in a village or town set 

 apart a day in spring or autumn for the purpose of 

 setting out shade and ornamental trees. 



The Maine Farmer chronicles the birth of a calf 

 weighing 120 lbs. The same paper also alludes to 

 a bull calf, most native, weighing when eleven 

 months old, 890 lbs., and when a year old, 990 lbs. 



