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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



SPIRIT OF THE AGKICULTUKAL PRESS, 



Late Sown Wheat. — A Kentucky farmer writes 

 the Louisville Courier \h&,i he thiuks farmers in his 

 section sow their wheat too early, as early sown 

 wheat is more liable to injury from the Hessian fly. 

 This is true, but 'with us late sown wheat is more 

 liable to injury from the midge — and so we have to 

 steer between tliese two evils as much as possible, 

 lie states that for the last fi-ve years he has sown 

 his wheat after the 15th of October — last year from 

 the 18th to the 2Sth — and in all these years he has 

 never missed a good crop. While his neighbors 

 were " complaining of fly, freezing out and rust, he 

 has escaped all, producing from twenty to thirty- 

 live bushels of good bright wheat to the acre." 

 He sows with a drill. 



Boiled Coen fok Hogs and Stock. — Wm. Van 

 Loom, writing to the Prairie Farmer, says that he 

 has practiced feeding boiled corn to his stock and 

 liogs, and. is "satisfled that he saves one-half his 

 grain, and gains as much more in time;" that one 

 bushel of corn on the cob, boiled, will produce as 

 much pork as two fed raw, and in one-half the 

 time. In one experiment, he fed three bushels of 

 boiled corn, per day, to 27 hogs, for ten days. The 

 .iverage gain was two pounds per day. He then 

 ted the same lot of hogs on three bushels of raw 

 ■ ■orn per day for twenty days; they gained only a 

 ; rifle over one pound per day. Such experiments, 

 outinued for so short a time, are not reliable. 



Breaking Prairie Land. — M. L. Dunlap, in 

 ;he Illinois Farmer, advocates the use of the Mich- 

 igan double plow, for breaking up prairie land. 

 lie has tried it, and with good results. The land 

 can be plowed, with this plow, at any time when 

 the frost is out, as late as November in the fall, or 

 as early as March in the spring. He thinks the 

 prairie should not be plowed more than three or 

 i'our inches deep at most. 



Buckwheat Straw. — J. A. Hubbard, writing to 

 the N. E. Farmer from a locality in Maine where 

 ;his grain is extensively grown, says that buckwheat 

 ^traw "is injurious to young pigs, and if they lay 

 in it, it will set them crazy and they will finally 

 die. It is hurtful to hogs and young stock to run 

 through it when green, making their head and ears 

 sore and itch very much." Is this so? 



Sorghum Sugar. — A correspondent of the Ohio 

 Gultiuator has had the best success in making 

 sugar from the sorghum by dividing the cane — 

 taking the lower joints for sugar and the balance 

 tor molasseB. 



Salt for Fence Posts. — A correspondent of 

 the iV. ff. Journal of Agriculture set some white 

 oak posts, about twelve inches square, tliirty years- 

 ago, and on examining them the other day he 

 found them all sound. After setting, he bored into 

 each post, about three inches above the ground, 

 with a two-inch augur, at an angle of about 45°^ 

 and filled the hole with salt and plugged it up. It 

 took about half a pint of salt to each post. The 

 plugs are yet in, and the posts look as sound as 

 when set. He tried none without salt. 



The Tea Plant.— The N. E. Farmer says the 

 progress of acclimatizing the tea plant, so far as 

 heard from, is favorable, and there is reason to be- 

 lieve that it can be grown in the open air south of 

 the northern line of North Carolina and Tennessee. 

 Eighteen thousand plants have been sent into the 

 Southern region, and eight thousand more have 

 been distributed to persons in the Northern States* 

 owning green-houses, as objects of curiosity. There 

 are some grown, for the latter purpose, in this city. 



Look to the Chests of tour Animals. — A late 

 writer says that a v^ide, deep chest in all animals, 

 is an indication of robust constitution, and is, no 

 doubt, the point of shape to which breeders should 

 look when selecting either males or females. It ia 

 not enough that a bull or cow should show a wide, 

 full breast in front, but the width should extend 

 back along the brisket, and show itself just imder 

 and between the elbows. Fullness through the 

 region of the heart is indispensable in either sex. 



How THE Shakers Unload Hat. — Mr. Levi 

 Baetlett says, in the Country Oentleman, that 

 the Shakers at Canterbury, N. H., have constructed 

 a barn so that the load is drawn to the upper story, 

 and the hay is " pitched down " instead of up. 

 Formerly they used a grappling hook and horse 

 power, wh'ch at four "grabs" would carry a large 

 load to the top of the building; now they have no 

 use for it. 



The Cattle Disease. — The Maine Farmer says 

 there is now every reason to believe that the wise 

 and energetic precautions taken by the authorities 

 of Massachusetts, have operated as an effectual 

 check upon the progress of the terrible disease 

 which at one time threatened contagion and death 

 to the cattle herds of New England. 



Feeding Turnips to Cows. — " If this is done," 

 says the American Farmer-, '-morning and evening, 

 immediately after milking, no taste of turnips will 

 be discernible in the butter." We have heard this 

 before, and would like to know if it is a fact. 



