168 



;the iLLmois faemer. 



June 



which would otherwise be absorbed into the soil 

 and laid up to push the young corn into an early 

 maturity of growth. For the best manure heap 

 any corn raiser has is the sun, the next best the 

 air with its gases, and the rest he may find in his 

 farm-yard, or wherever he pleases ; but if he so 

 cultivates as to constantly waste the power of the 

 sun and the air, he cannot raise a first rate crop 

 of corn, manure it as he will. Since our spring 

 climate usually has too little heat for corn and 

 too much for wheat, we should keep corn sur- 

 faces smooth, so as to save as much heat as pos- 

 sible, and wheat surfaces rough or ridged, so as 

 to avoid it as much as possible. So, in all cases, 

 we save heat by smooth surfaces, if they are not 

 glazed or glassy — and dissipate it rapidly by 

 rrugh ones : both that which comes from the sun 

 a' ove and from the center of the earth below. 

 Water also stands and lodges upon rough, cloddy 

 surfaces, and thus again dissipates, in its evapo- 

 ration, an immense amount of this vital element 

 of the corn crop, for it wastes the same amount 

 of heat to boil away or evaporate a quart of wa- 

 ter in the field that it does in a kettle over the 

 fire. Duch rough surfaces also retard the deposit 

 of moisture and gases from the air above, and to 

 the same extent interfere with the capillary at- 

 traction from below, as too much frizzling the 

 top of the lamp~wick arrests all its proper modes 

 of burning. The free and proper access of the 

 air to the soil below is everywhere interrupted 

 by dry clods and inequalities, which it cannot 

 penetrate, or if so only to have its deposits 

 blown away ngain by the winds; and, while the 

 natural fction is thi s interiered with at the sur- 

 face, that from below must be correspondingly 

 impeded, and the whole process, either of recu- 

 peration or growth, in like manner retarded. 



Packing Fruits fob Long Distances. — Imay 

 here state that I have found no better method in 

 all my experence, which extends over a period 

 of twenty vears, with all kinds of fruits, vary- 

 ing in distance from fifty to five hundred miles. 

 It simply is: box, soft paper, and sweet bran. 

 A box is chosen in size according to the quantity 

 to be ?ent. A layer of bran is put on the bot- 

 tom, then each bunch of grapes is held by the 

 hand over a theet of paper; the four corners of 

 the paper are brought up to the stalk and nicely 

 secured ; then 'aid on its side in the box, and so 

 on until the first layer is finished. Then, fill the 

 whole over with bran, and give the box a gentle 

 shake as you proceed. Begin the second layer 

 as the first, ^nd so on until the box is completed. 

 Thus with neat bands the bloom is preserved, 

 and may be sent to any distance; but with clumsy 

 hai ds, quite the contrary, and often an entire 

 failure, as tne putting and taking out of the box 

 are the most important points to be observed. I 

 have invariably packed sixty or eighty bunches 

 of grapes and fifty or sixty dozens of peaches or 

 apricots in one box, and received letters from em- 

 ployers who say they had arrived as safe as if 

 they had been taken from the trees that morn- 

 ing — Cottage Gardener, 



Planting Cabbages. — A correspondent of the 

 Mark Lane Express, who highly extols the cab- 

 bage for feeding milch cows, store cattle, sheep 

 and swine, and more especially for spring-feed- 

 ing of lambing ewes, says that the areraga pro- 

 duct per acre in Englaad may be stated at 25 

 Ions. He gives the following directions lor 

 planting them : 



The cabbage plants freshly drawn from the nur- 

 sery-bed, with the extreme end of the slender 

 fibrous root cut off, are brought to the field and 

 immersed in tubs of water, with the roots down- 

 wards, and taken from the vessels as the plants 

 on the top of the drills, at the distance of two 

 feet from each other, making a hole with the dib- 

 ble for the insertion of the plant to the depth it 

 has stood in the nursery bed, and pushing with 

 the dibble the sides of the hole together, in order 

 to give the plant a firm position. I. must be 

 very carefully observed not to insert the plants 

 deeper or more shallow than they stood in the 

 nursery bed, as a transformation of the exposed 

 or earthed up skin is the consequence, and a ne- 

 cessary delay in the onward progress of the 

 plant* All plants with a large foliage require 

 much moisture, and the dung that is used for cab- 

 bage must be thoroughly moist, and even wet, 

 whether it be cool or fermented , the plants im- 

 mersed in water, and the insartion in the ground 

 should be performed in the wettest weather in 

 which the work is possible to be done. When 

 any plants are seen to be dead, the places must 

 be immediately filled with fresh plants in order 

 to enisure a full crop all over the field. 



A Good Farm Fence. — Mr. D. Davis, writing 



to the Co. Gent, recommends good straight rails 



from fifteen to twenty feet long, and posts from 



six to fcix and a half feet long, and five to seven 



inches in diameter. Chestnut is good. After 



you have heaped up a heap of brush to burn, 



put the ends of the posts you are going to set in 



the ground, on the heap, and then set the bushes 



on fire, and char the ends of the posts, which 

 will prevent them from rotting so soon, tak.ng 

 care nut to burn them too much. Then dig the 

 holes from two to two and a half feet deep, and 

 set the posts and wedge them firmly in with 

 stones and dirt. The rails of a panel should be 

 of equal length. Then have one man take hold 

 of each end of a rail, and spike it to the post; 

 four rails high is enough. 



Three men could build a fence very fast — one 

 to dig the holes, the other two to build the fence. 

 A fence built in this way is very strong— the 

 rails not liable to be thrown by unruly cattle, 

 takes up very little room, and needs no braces — 

 plow close up to each side if you wish, and s 

 very good fence to look at. 



Instead of having bars at the entrance of your 

 fields, make a gate in this way : Take two pieces 

 of joists four inches square, and as high as you 



