254 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



pends upon this in nearly all the crops. The 

 Indian corn will produce more grain with three 

 stalks to a hill, than with six, at the comoion 

 distances at which hills are placed. The small 

 grains — especially on rich ground — will yield a 

 larger crop of the seed when thinly sowed, than 

 where a thick seeding has been given. Car- 

 rots, beets, and indeed all the root crops, yield 

 more abundantly when they have ample room, 

 than if crowded. In a crop of Swedes or 

 mangolds, twelve inches apart will give a bet- 

 ter return than six or eight inches will ; there 

 will be more pounds of roots to the acre. 



This holds true in fruits as well as grains 

 and roots. Especially is this the case with 

 grapes, pears and peaches. In raising grapes 

 under glass, no success would attend the effort, 

 unless the most severe thinning out were re- 

 sorted to. To take away three from every 

 five grapes in the Black Hamburg variety is 

 scarcely enough. Crops frequently fail to be 

 profitable from a want of proper attention to 

 thinning them. 



The most important business of the farm 

 through much of the month of June, is that of 

 cultivating the crops which have been com- 

 mitted to the soil, so that they shall attain the 

 greatest possible vigor and perfection. 



Prompt and thorough hoeing is the key to 

 these results. Stop the hoe and the profits 

 cease. Nature, kind as she is, will no more 

 carry on the plant to perfection after it has 

 been started, without care, than she will drive 

 the printing press or the factory wheel, after 

 they have been constructed by the mechanic. 

 If there were no weeds, and the earth alone 

 were to sustain the plants, the hoe might rust 

 in idleness ; but so long as weeds invade, and 

 the leaves of plants spread themselves to the 

 sun and air for a considerable portion of their 

 food, the hoe and cultivator cannot be dis- 

 pensed with. 



Give the vegetable garden more attention 

 than heretofore. No part of the farm, we 

 think, is more profitable than that which yields 

 all the fresh fruits and vegetables which the 

 family require. Few farmers are aware how 

 much of a bill it would cost to supply the table 

 bountifully with a variety of the fruits and ve- 

 getables which ought to be in use through the 

 year. Not only is health promoted by such 

 use, but there is direct and unmistakable hap- 

 piness enjoyed in planting and rearing, as well 



as in eating them. By sowing seeds of let- 

 tuce, radishes, cabbage, &c., these vegetables 

 may be had until late in autumn. 



Haying. — We must urge upon the reader 

 once more the importance of commencing hay- 

 ing early. Proofs enough of the importance 

 of this have been given in these columns here- 

 tofore, so that we need not dwell upon them 

 now. Our observation has convinced us that, 

 so far as weather is concerned, the most fa- 

 vorable time for making hay is the last ten 

 days in June, and the first ten in July. As a 

 general thing, also, the grass cut during this 

 period is worth much more than most of that 

 cut later. The evidence, too, is clear that 

 grass cut while in the blossom and cured with- 

 out much exposure to the sun, is very much 

 more valuable than that cut later, and exposed 

 a part of two or three days to sun and air. 

 Grass cut early and made mostly in the cock, 

 retains more fully the grass qualities, and this 

 all stock like better than any other feed. 



Pruning. — From the middle to the last of 

 this month is the best time to prune apple or 

 most other trees. 



In June — 



"The farmer in his field, 

 Drriws the rich mould arouod th« tender maize, 

 While hope, bright pinioned, points to coming days, ♦ 



When all his toiU shall yield 

 An ample harvest, and around his hearth 

 There shall be laughing eyes and tones of mirth." 



HOUSING MANURES. 

 In a late article in the Boston Journal of 

 Chemistry, Dr. Nichols says, the fertilizing 

 elements in excrement are mostly soluble in 

 water, and when the barnyards are drenched 

 with it, they usually overflow, and the valua- 

 ble portions are carried away. This is what 

 every farmer sees and knows, but there is 

 much difference in opinion as to the amount 

 of such loss ; many believing it is not great, 

 and perhaps it is not under some circum- 

 stances. To test the question, however, one 

 parcel of manure taken from a water-soaked 

 heap and another from a parcel preserved in 

 barn cellar were analyzed, with the folio wmg 



result : — 



Exposed. Sheltered. 

 Nitrogen t •••••• • 1.36 per cent. 1.88 per cent. 



Soluble organic matters .1.78 " 6.22 " 



Soluble inorgcinic matters 2 67 " 3.98 " 



Phosphoric Acid .... 0.20 " 0.29 •' 



Potash and soda 0.79 " 2.00 " 



On this the Dr. remarks: — "It will be no- 

 ticed that in the nitrogen (ammonia forming 

 constituent,) the soluble organic and inorganic 



