1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



331 



least two feet each, and the manure cellar should 

 be ten feet in the clear. 



It has been very dry here thus far this spring, 

 and if we don't have ram soon the hay crop must 

 be short. Farmers are getting along finely with 

 their spring work. Very good feed now in pas- 

 tures ; last year at this time it had scarcely 

 started. S. R. Husb. 



Waterbury, Vi., May 7, 1870. 



SOWED CORN FOR WINTER FEED. 



I have sowed corn for several years to feed to 

 my cows in the fall, and am satisfied that it "pays." 

 This year I thinli of sowing an acre for winter feed, 

 but know nothing about the time of sowing, cur- 

 ing, &c. 



Will you please tell me the best variety to sow ; 

 the time and manner of sowing; the time of cut- 

 ting, and the best method of curing ? g. h. s. 



Belchertown, Mass., May 15, 1870. 



Remarks. — Corn for fodder is usually sown in 

 drills, from three to seven feet apart, and the seed 

 scattered therein at the rate of thirty or forty 

 grains to a foot, or three or four bushels per acre. 

 It is often planted or sown at diflferent times, to 

 secure a succession of fodder, from early in the 

 spring till the middle or last of June. Although 

 the large Southern or Western com is much used, 

 sweet corn is generally preferred. Our intelligent 

 correspondent, "N. S. T.," has some valuable hints 

 on the subject at page 313, Monthly Farmer, 

 1868. He favors a less liberal seeding than is usu- 

 ally practiced, for the purpose of a more perfect 

 maturity of the plant, and recommends only 

 twelve kernels to the foot, with rows two and a 

 half feet apart, and also the use of the smaller and 

 earlier varieties of corn. The immature growth 

 obtained from Western and Southern corn, though 

 large in bulk, is inferior in quality. He says, 

 "during the early stages of growth, its cellular 

 tissue is imperfectly developed, and the juices are 

 thin and watery. As the stalks approach full de- 

 velopment, the juices thicken and become richer 

 in saccharine matter, the goodness of the stalk is 

 absorbed rapidly by the ears, which if undisturbed 

 would take up from the stalk nearly all that is 

 valuable for nutrition. The stalk, then, has its 

 greatest value for fodder while the ear is forming." 

 Curing for winter use is the most difHcult part of 

 the process. After being cut and well wilted, bind 

 it in small bundles and put it into large shocks, 

 and if put up neatly and the top snugly bound, it 

 will keep until late in the fall ; but even then it 

 will not be dried enough to be put in large heaps 

 ia the barn. Sometimes the bundles are put 

 astride poles, or laid up in such a manner that the 

 air will circulate through the mass. 



Ordinary cultivation may produce a fair crop, 

 but only good land, plenty of manure, and high 

 culture will secure the best success. Let us know 

 how you succeed in growing and curing the pro- 

 duct of your acre. 



A correspondent of the N. W. Farmer says that 

 he has tried thick and thin seeding, and prefers 

 about 40 kernels to the foot. The finer growth 

 from thick seeding produces more weight of fod- 



der, and cattle eat it cleaner, but it is more diffi- 

 cult to cure. With a little practice the seed may 

 be strewn in the furrows as fast as one can walk. 

 The corn may be covered by a cultivator run 

 either across or lengthwise of the rows. Some of 

 the seed sowers might be so adjusted as to drop 

 the seed sufficiently near together. 



VALUE OF GROUND BONE. 



Mr. Joseph Harris, of Rochester, remarks in the 

 Country Gentleman, "The fertilizing value of ni- 

 trogen and phosphoric acid depends very much 

 'upon its condition. Nitrogen in the form of nitric 

 acid or ammonia, or in compounds such as urea, 

 which readily decompose and form ammonia, is 

 worth (at the present prices of Peruvian Guano) 

 20 cents a pound. But when nitrogen exists in 

 substances that decompose slowly, it is, of course, 

 not so valuable. Hair, hide, horn and wool con- 

 tain more nitrogen than the best Peruvian Guano ; 

 but no farmer could afford to pay as much per ton 

 for them, because it takes a long time for them 

 to decompose. And so it is with bones. We 

 would rather pay 20 cents a pound for nitrogen 

 in dried blood, urea, or guano, than 10 cents in 

 coarse bone dust. And the same remarks will 

 apply to phosphoric acid. Soluble phosphoric 

 acid is worth 15 cents per pound, while that which 

 is locked up in insoluble combinations is not worth 

 more than five cents. Pure bone dust contains — 



4 lbs nitrogen, worth say 10 cents ....•■.. 40 

 Phosphoric acid 2i lbs, at 5 cents, worth ..... $1.10 



$1.50 

 This is all there is of material value in bones. 



They are worth more or less, according to their 



fineness and consequent availability. 

 If ground very tine we should estimate them as 



follows : — 



4 lb% nitrogen, at 15 cents, 60 



22 lbs phosphciic acid, at 7 cents, 1 54 



Concord, Mass., May, 1870. 



$2.14 

 R. 



CUTXING AND CURING HAY FOR ITS VALUABLE 

 QUALITIES. 



The great crop of New England— the hay crop- 

 is almost ready to harvest. Four weeks, at most, 

 and much hay should be in the barns. 



Upon our rough farms where the scythes must 

 do the most of the cutting we are obliged to cut 

 some out of season. Which shall we cut first ? 

 Last June we cut about two tons of meadow or 

 or swamp coarse, wild grass. The quality of the 

 hay was much better than the same grass would 

 have made if it had stood until August. We 

 wanted hay to make milk and beef. Though the 

 meadow hay was eat( n without waste we do not 

 think it was worth the cost of cutting at that time. 

 We thought the best of our hay was worth the 

 highest market price more than the swamp hay. 

 If that opinion was correct, the swamp hay was 

 worth nothing to feed to our cows, provided we 

 could buy the best quality. 



Which grass will give the best color to butter ? 

 Will a hot sun drive the color out of the hay ? 

 What kind of grass will retain the coloring prop- 

 erties best during the drying process ? We be- 

 lieve as much butter can be made from hay in win- 

 ter as from grass in summer. We believe that it 

 is easier to obtain the quality than the color we 

 desire. 



If you, Messrs. Editors, or some one at the head 

 of an agricultural college, will tell us how to pre- 

 serve the valuable properties of grass iu a dried 

 state, we will ever be your debtor. Our own ex- 



