15S 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



tOctobei", 



countries need 260.000,000 bushels above pro- 

 duction ; Euroiiean countries exporting can 

 supply 80,000,000 bushels, leaving 1SO,000,- 

 000 bushels to be obtained from other conti- 

 nents. Stocks are not excessive. There is an 

 increased consumption of wheat, and it is the 

 general opinion that the lowest prices have 

 lieen reached. Potatoes and rye are less 

 abundant than last year. 



GETTING RID OF STALKS. 



Where large crops of corn are raised, and 

 especially where shucked out, leaving the 

 stalks standing in the tield, it is often quite a 

 task to get entirely rid of them. Every suc- 

 cessful corn-raiser knows that it always pays 

 to take pains to have his corn land as clean as 

 possible. Masses of weeds or long coarse 

 stubs or stalks are not only vexatious, but 

 cause more or less loss, by tearing up hills of 

 corn in plowing or cultivating daring the 

 spring and summer. Experience teaches us 

 that a lot of coarse weeds, or long corn-stalks, 

 turned under by the plows iu the spring will 

 not rot, but stay there seemingly tougher 

 than ever, and then it often happens — more 

 so than is pleasant — that these stalks will be 

 under a hill of corn, and then in plowing 

 across them we are almost certain to have 

 them catch on the point of the plow or culti- 

 vator and tear ijip the hill of growing corn. 

 Hence, considerable pains must be taken to 

 have the corn-flelds as clean as possible, espe- 

 cially of long weeds or corn-stalks. 



There are various ways of getting rid of 

 them. Some harrow down, taking one row 

 at a time, and cleaning the harrow whenever 

 full, and afterwards burning. This, to say 

 the least, is not only a slow, but also a sloven- 

 ly way of doing the work as the harrow leaves 

 too many stalks, either torn up by the roots 

 and lying fiat on the ground, or partially 

 standing. The work cannot be done as clean 

 as it should be, and, of course, is unsatisfac- 

 toiy. 



Others take a good shaip hoe, or corn 

 knife, and cut the stalks down one hill at a 

 time, after which they are raked up into win- 

 lUows and burned. This is quitean improve- 

 ment on harrowing, but still requires consid- 

 erable time. 



A much faster way, if they are to be broken 

 down, is to take a long heavy stick of timber, 

 twelve or sixteen feet long, and six or eight 

 inches through, depending somewhat upon 

 the strength and condition of the team; about 

 three feet from each end cut notches, under 

 which fasten a good chain, and to the other 

 ends of which fasten the double-trees. A 

 man and team in this way can break down 

 the stalks very rapidly. Or if you have boys 

 one horse can be fastened to each end, and 

 then with two boys to drive, the work can be 

 readily done. After they are broken down a 

 horse spring tooth hay rake, or a strong 

 riding rake can be used to rake them together 

 when they can be burned. 



All of these plans have two operations. 

 First, to break them down, and then to rake 

 up and burn them. The work should be done 

 when the ground is frozen hard, and the 

 stalks dry, as the stalks will not break readily 

 when damp or soft. 



The best plan of all is to use a stalk cutter, 

 by this means the stalks are cut into small 



pieces and can readily be plowed under. The 

 work all being done at once— that is one ope- 

 ration gets the stalks out of the way of the 

 plow. 



The manurial value of dry-cut corn stalks 

 of course is not very high, hardly as high as 

 the ashes obtained by burning the stalks. But 

 the hurt stalks yield a very small quantity of 

 ashes, so that the question of manure cuts a 

 very small figure. I believe mysell that the 

 stalks cut up well with a corn-stalk-cutter and 

 plowed under are of considerable more value 

 than the ashes obtained by burning. And as 

 the work can be done with a stalk cutter very 

 rapidly and well at one operation, and the 

 work be better, and the land in a better con- 

 dition or after cultivation, it is certainly good 

 policy to use them wherever.'practicable, and 

 especially where a large acreiige is devoted to 

 the crop. As the work need not be pushed if 

 taken in time, two or three farmers can very 

 easily combine to purchase a cutter and in 

 that way divide the expense. —JV^. J. Shepherd, 

 in the Western Ploioman. 



FEEDING CORNSTALKS. 



Since the use of itinerant threshing ma- 

 chines driven by steam is becoming common, 

 there is danger of farmers throwing aside the 

 smaller horsepower which they have formerly 

 used, and which may be applied to driving 

 stalk cutters. There are too many advanta- 

 ges resulting from the short dropping of corn- 

 stalks, as compared with the wasteful practice 

 of feeding them whole, for any good farmer 

 to omit it when it can be accomplished. In- 

 telligent farmers, who have tried both ways, 

 inform us that the feeding value of the stalks 

 by cutting half an inch or less in length, is 

 according to estimate at least two and a half 

 times greater than when uncut, and this esti- 

 mate accords with our own repeated experi- 

 ments. This estimate was made from the 

 use of good, well cured stalks, but it would 

 not apply to fodder which has been exposed 

 to rain, and become discolored and rotted, and 

 which would be of little value in either con- 

 dition. Another important advantage of cut- 

 ting sliort is the improved character of the 

 manure, as every one will appreciate who 

 has attempted to pile, load or spread manure 

 containing a large portion of tough cornstalks. 



The preceding remarks apply to dry stalks, 

 and they are not less appliable to chopped 

 ensilage. The latter has, in fact, some ad- 

 vantages over the dry feed in several ways. 

 The green stalks cut more easily, or nearly 

 twice as fast with the same power ; the food 

 more palatable and easily digested ; and it is 

 stored iu far less space, and without exposure 

 to the weather. But for feeding value, there 

 is not a great difterence between well pre- 

 served and finely cut dry fodder and succulent 

 ensilage. Which mode of feeding is adopted 

 is not of great importance, but in any case 

 feeding the stalks whole should never be 

 prao^ticed. 



For farms of moderate size, a two-horse 

 lever or tread power will accomplish all that 

 is necessary in the way of chopping fodder, 

 where the threshing is performed by travel- 

 ing steam threshers. Two horses, with the 

 best ensilage cutters advertised in our columns, 

 of suitable size, will cut a ton of dry stalks in 

 twenty minutes, and a ton of dry stalks in a 



somewhat longer period. The latter may be 

 done on rainy days or in winter, as the feed 

 may be needed, and the feed given to animals 

 in tubs made by sawing barrels in two, or in 

 the feeding troughs in stalls. If cattle do not 

 eat it freely, it is because the stalks have not 

 been cured in a perfect condition. Animals 

 are not fond of half decayed fodder. Large 

 farms will require more efficient machinery. 

 Of the millions of farmers who raise corn 

 and feed stalks to their cattle, the great ma- 

 jority still feed stalks uncut, and a large por- 

 tion are half rotten by rains. The aggregate 

 loss by this management to the farmers of the 

 Union is enormous. It is doubtless a moder- 

 ate estimate to put the whole amount of corn- 

 stalks subjected to this treatment at twenty 

 million tons, but if only half as much, it is a 

 matter of some importance whether this ag- 

 gregate, now worth say thirty million dollars, 

 might not be at least doubled in value by the 

 treatment we have described, and made sixty 

 or seventy millions. We do not give these 

 numbers as approachtng accuracy, but to illus- 

 trate the importance of paying more attention 

 to the subject. As the drouth has cut short 

 the fodder supply in many parts of the coun- 

 try this season, it may be well to look towards 

 some provision for saving the existing supply. 

 • — Uoimtri/ Gentleman. 



UTILIZING STRAW AND STUBBLE. 



In California the waste from the harvesting 

 of grain is allowed to reseed the land, and a 

 second or "volunteer" crop is often raised 

 without any plowing or additional seeding. 

 The cold winters on the Atlantic slope, in 

 most of the States, would render this sort of 

 seeding inoperative, except in the case of 

 wheat and rye, which are winter-proof. It 

 would, doubtless, surprise many farmers to 

 know that, by plowing their wheat and rye 

 stubble in the autumn, the land would be re- 

 seeded with those grains from the waste of 

 harvest. Straw can be turned to such good 

 account for fodder in winter that it should be 

 in the best form. There will be more and 

 better grain by cutting it as soon as it begins 

 to turn white, and the stiaw will be in a 

 much more valuable condition. Farmers 

 should take pains to secure their grain crops 

 at this period of growth. Straw' is worth 

 much more to feed than simply to throw into 

 the barnyard to rot for manure. Fed with a 

 little grain it will keep stock in as good con- 

 dition as, if not better than, hay alone, and 

 the manure will be more valuable than from 

 hay alone. 



It is evident, then, that by harvesting the 

 straw when in the best possible condition a 

 large amount of stock may be kept on the 

 farm, and the farmer can thus add to the 

 value of the manure pile ; or he may, if he 

 choose, utilize his improved straw for fodder 

 and sell a portion of the hay, letting the straw 

 and some grain take its place. The day for 

 bunding straw or letting it go to waste for the 

 man who has any wisdom is gone by. This 

 fact is more emphatic, because meats of all 

 kinds are so high and the experience of some 

 farmers has shown that by good management, 

 as I have indicated, the straw may be turned 

 to a valuable account m the rearing of ani- 

 mals and in enriching the farm. This stubble 

 and straw, cut when full of juices, is worth 



