384 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



with other kinds of animal food, is not gener- 

 ally appreciated. There is less difference be- 

 tween the economical value of milk and beef- 

 steak, or eggs, or fish, than is commonly sup- 

 posed. The quantity of water in a good (pial- 

 ity of milk is 86 per cent., in round steak 7.0 

 per cent., in fatter beef 60 \}hv cent., in eggs 

 about 68 per cent. From several analyses, 

 made last winter, I estimated sirloin steak, 

 (reckoning loss from bone) at 35 cents a 

 pound, as dear as milk at twenty-four cents a 

 (juart ; round steak at 20 cents a pound, as 

 dear as milk at 20 cents a quart. Many 

 laborers who pay 17 cents for corned beef 

 would consider themselves hardly able to pay 

 ten cents for milk, when, in fact, they could 

 as well alfordtopay 15 cents. Milk is a most 

 wholesome and economical food for either rich 

 or poor. If the money expended for veal and 

 pork were expended for milk, I doubt not it 

 would be an advantage to both the stomach 

 and pocket, especially during the warm season. 

 Relatively speaking, then, milk at 10 cents, or 

 even 12 cents a quart, is the cheapest animal 

 food that can be used. Whether farmers can 

 aftord to produce it cheaper is a matter for 

 them to decide. It is very probable that were 

 they to ask 12 cents, a very large number of 

 poor people would refrain from its use from 

 mistaken notions of economy, notwithstand- 

 ing they are excessive meat-eaters. — Monthly 

 Agricultural liepoH. 



&c., in The Field, London, is answered 

 by another correspondent of the same paper 

 as follows : 



The same causes that produce ammonia 

 from the fa;cal matter generate an acid, called 

 humic acid, from the straw. This relates to 

 manure and its distribution. These having a 

 nnitual affinity unite, and the resulting com- 

 pound is humate of ammonia, which is non- 

 volatile, highly soluble ; consefjuently evei'y 

 dew or shower carries with it this compound, 

 which is distributed to the plant. The soil 

 has the power to take it up from the water 

 and store it aAvay, giving it up again to the 

 roots of plants as required. Tliis plainly 

 sliows that manure laid on lands is better than 

 if j)loughed in six inches deep ; moreover the 

 humate of annnonia, being non-volatile, in my 

 opinion, is not deteriorated either by the sun's 

 ravs or action of frost. — Charles Josejjh Whit- 

 worth, M. li. C. V. S. L. 



"WINTER MANURING FOR CORN. 



The soil is a sandy loam, and grew ])otatoes 

 the previous year. On a portion of the lot 

 I haided, early in February, at the rate of 

 forty-seven loads of well-rotted manure to the 

 acre, and spread it evenly over the surface on 

 the snow. To the balance of the lot I ap- 

 plied the same amount and quality of manure 

 to the acre, just before planting. I ploughed 

 the ground about four inches deep, and 

 planted the medium sized Yellow Dent corn. 



The diU'erence in growth and yield between 

 the early manured and late was very remark- 

 able indeed. The early manured was decid- 

 edly ahead of the late, from the time it came 

 up till liarvest. It ripened earlier, and 

 yielded 160 bushels of sound ears to the acre, 

 and the other 120 bushels per acre. 



During nearly thirty years' experience, I 

 have never, but once before this, obtained so 

 heavy a yield ; and I think it is about as nuieh 

 as can be obtained. The variety I plant \ields 

 three pecks of shelled corn to the bushel of 

 ears. I select the earliest ripened, soundest 

 and best formed ears for seed, and from stalks 

 bearing two or more ears, if sound and large ; 

 but I never plant "nubbins." — Cor. Rural 

 Neiv- Yorker. 



Tend the Corn Late. — A correspondent 

 of the loiva Ilomedead says sensible words as 

 follows : — "Tend your corn loell ; tend it late 

 — don't be deterred because a timid neighbor, 

 who may like an excuse for neglect, says you 

 will ruin it if tended when the blades curl tip. 

 This is all bosh ; the blades will open as the 

 sun recedes behind the tree tops, and your 

 corn will grow apace. If you abandon your 

 corn early, that inevitable late crop of weeds 

 and grass will come upon your land like a 

 cloud, and in place of corn you will reap nub- 

 bins. Therefore, we say, tend your corn late, 

 i and crowd it with a few tons of turnips, by 

 having the late weeds and grass exterminated, 

 your ground in a mellow condition, and sow- 

 ing thereon a few pounds of turnip seed about 

 the 20th of August." 



• SuRKACK Application of Manure. — An 

 inquiry relative to "non-buried manure," 

 whether deteriorated by the action of frost, 



Preventing Mildew ox Gooseberries. 

 A writer in The Globe, says : For the past six 

 years, as soon as the grass will cut, say nine 

 inches or a foot long, I have spread a quanti- 

 ty of new cut grass under my bushes, and let 

 it remain all summer. That, combined with 

 veiy high cultivation and close pruning, has 

 been a complete preventive of mildew for the 

 last six years. Whether this simple and in- 

 expensive remedy will liold good on all kinds 

 of soil, I am not prepared to say. One thing 

 I can say, as all my neighbors can testify : 

 I have had splendid crops of large sized, sound 

 berries, some of them nearly as large as small 

 plums. My soil is a sandy loam, with gravel 

 sub-soil. 



Adulteration of Milk. — Dr. Bates, health of- 

 ficer of San Francisco, in a recent communication, 

 says : The common mode of adulterating milk for 

 this market, is with water, bunit sugar and table 

 salt, by which process the bulk is increased from 

 one-eighth to one-half, and can scarcely be detected 

 by sight or taste. 



