1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
43 
as hay, while the manure quickens the ener- 
gies of the soil, as the rotted hay would not. 
It is well known in the districts devoted to 
the feeding of fat cattle, on the ridges of Dutch- 
ess and Putnam counties, and the western part 
of Connecticut, that lauds once poor, or nearly 
run out by hard cropping or pasturing, have 
been brought up to very great fertility, by plas- 
ter and feeding animals. From one to two 
bushels of plaster per acre are sown every year, 
and fattening cattle three years old and upward 
are kept in them from Spring until Fall. When 
the animals are turned in they have their 
frames already made, and there is no great draft 
upon the soil for bone earth. The whole grass 
is returned to the soil in the manure, except the 
little carried off in the gain of the cattle. Some 
times a change of stock from cows to fattening 
bullocks, or to sheep, will be all that is neces- 
sary for improving a worn out pasture. If cows 
are kept, there must be top-dressing, or alterna- 
tion from pasture to hoed crops, with heavy 
manuring. If the land is not arable, top-dressing 
with compost or with plaster in districts where 
it does good, will be sufficient. Connecticut. 
Manuring or Mulching. 
— ♦ 
There is much to be said in favor of top-dress- 
ing grass-lands in the Fall with coarse manure. 
It protects the roots from the severity of frost, 
also from the cold drying winds, which often pre- 
vail when the land is bare of snow. Meadows 
so protected come out in the Spring earlier, 
brighter and stronger. This no one will deny. 
But is this result owing chiefly or altogether 
to the action of the manure as a fertilizer? 
Doubtless some of it finds its way to the roots 
in liquid form, but not much in Winter. The 
benefit comes largely from its action as a pro- 
tecting mulch. And if so, the question arises 
whether this is good economy, at least where 
the land is poor and manure so expen- 
sive as it is at the East. AVhen practicable, 
why not dress the grass-lands with a thin 
coat of straw, leaves, or sea-weed ? Meanwhile, 
let the manure be carefully housed under sheds 
near the bam, where it will be improving all 
Winter, and be in a perfect state for application 
in Spring. Perhaps some of our progressive 
farmers will try the experiment, on a small 
scale. Mulch one piece of sward this Fall with 
straw, and another with manure. In the Spring 
see which looks best. Give both the same 
amount of manure in the spring-plowing, and 
see which yields the best crops. The subject is 
an interesting and practical one. 
■ -m-t i ll .-« 
Farm Notes from Minnesota. 
H. A. Farmer of Goodhue Co. gives to the 
American Agriculturist some notes on farming in 
Minnesota, from which we extract the fol- 
lowing: Having to stack a part of his corn, 
he adopted the following expedient for loading 
and unloading shocks : " I had thirteen ropes, 
used for tying cattle ; one of these I would slip- 
noose around a shock, draw it up snug, pass 
the end of the rope to the man on the load, and 
then, with a vigorous toss and pull, land on 
to the wagon a shock, that would turn out a 
bushel and a half to two bushels of ears, leaving 
the rope on every shock — thirteen making a 
load. To unload, drive to the end of the rick, 
run a wide plank to the wagon rack, take hold 
of the rope, shoulder arms, and walk the plank." 
The following is his method of managing his 
straw stack: "I keep thirty head of cattle, 
young and old, and my straw is quite an item 
for their winter forage, but I dislike to force 
them to eat it. I had thirty-seven acres of 
wheat handy to the cattle yard, which I drew 
up and stacked in two stacks, and while top- 
ping out, I spinkled salt over every layer of 
bundles. AVhen it was threshed, of course, the 
salted straw was at the bottom of the straw 
stack. The result was, that my stock ale the 
straw with avidity, and made themselves very 
comfortable sheds about the straw stack. The 
salt made no difference with the grain." 
■ "•-« *^^*w' » m 
For the American Agriculturist. 
How Much Pork in a Bushel of Corn ? 
It is important that hog raisers should know 
how many pounds of pork can be made out of 
a bushel of corn, that they may decide whether 
it will pay best to sell their corn or feed it to 
hogs, at the existing prices of each. I have been 
making some experiments and taking some 
notes which may interest many of your western 
readers, as it would interest me to see similar 
notes of plans and results of others. 
On the 13th of September last I had on hand 
120 head of hogs, various sizes, from sucking 
pigs up to 250 lb. hogs. The lot weighed 8,500 
lbs., and all run together in an 8 acre lot, about 
6 acres of which is set with white clover and 
blue grass. I fed them from September 13th to 
December 1st, 660 bushels of corn, by throwing 
it to them dry on the ground, together with all 
the stove coal ashes and salt they would eat, (the 
coal was fed to neutralize any acid in the stom- 
ach, caused by high feeding, and prevent chol- 
era or other diseases.) They were furnished a 
dry place to sleep in. On the first of December 
I sold 7,806 lb3. of fat hogs, and found the entire 
lot had gained 9,702 lbs., or 14.7 lbs. for each 
bushel of corn fed. They are mostly a cross be- 
tween the Berkshire and Suffolk, with the Berk- 
shire predominating; some few have a cross of 
the Chester White. Hog Raiser 
Ridge Farm, Illinois. 
Notes on Flax Culture. 
The numerous inquiries upon the subject of 
flax culture received at the Agriculturist office, 
from different sections, show that the attention 
of many cultivators is already turned to this 
crop, which at present promises to be a remu- 
nerative one for the coming year at least. The 
following information derived from many 
sources will be of value to those inexperienced in 
growing flax, and we trust that any difference 
of treatment called for by peculiar circumstan- 
ces of location and soil, and additional sugges- 
tions from those experienced in the business may 
be communicated in time to be of use to our 
readers before putting in the spring crops. 
Flax prefers a rich sandy soil, but grows well 
upon any land that will yielfl good corn. A 
fine deep tilth of rich soil with good draining 
will give the best crops. It is almost useless to 
attempt the cultivation of this plant on a wet 
field. It is essential that the ground be free from 
weeds. In Europe, where labor is cheap, the 
flax fields are regularly weeded ; here, the pro- 
cess would be too expensive, aud hence the 
cleanest land should be selected. Flax may 
well follow corn or oats, or be sown directly 
upon a clover sod. In the latter case especially, 
it would be better to plow the land the previous 
Autumn, leaving it in ridges, to allow the vege- 
table matter to decay, and be more thoroughly 
mingled with the soil by replowing and har- 
rowing in Spring. Heavy manuring is beneficial 
in increasing the yield of seed, but it makes the 
fiber coarser and less valuable. Flax will doubt- 
less do well after any previous culture that has 
left the land " in good heart" and free from 
any troublesome weeds. 
The quantity of seed per acre varies with the 
purpose of cultivation. If the object be to se- 
cure seed only, three pecks per acre is ample. 
AVhen sown thus thinly the stalks throw out 
more branches, and a larger quantity of seed is 
produced. AVhere the crop is grown for the 
fiber alone, from one and a half to two bushels 
per acre is used, according to the strength of 
the land. In some districts of Europe where 
the finest linens are produced, as high as three 
bushels per acre are sown. It will probably 
pay best to sow with reference to raising both 
seed and fiber ; then one bushel, or on strong 
land, five pecks per acre will be the proper 
quantity. The seed may be obtained at almost 
any city seed store. That of good quality will 
be smooth, slippery, and will sink in water. It 
should taste sweet when chewed, and being- 
broken, should appear of a light yellowish green 
color, and very oily. If large quantities are re- 
quired, it would be well to correspond with 
those in the trade at Cincinnati or St. Louis, 
which are commercial centers of the large flax 
growing districts, where the seed is chiefly 
the object of culture. 
The time of sowing, of course, varies with 
the latitude; the rule is to get in the crop as 
early as can be done without danger from frost. 
In Rensselaer and Washington Co.'s, in N. Y. 
State, about latitude 43 u , where large quantities 
are cultivated annually, it is usually sown from 
May 1st to 10th. The seed is thrown broad- 
cast, and it requires considerable care to scat- 
ter it evenly. Calm weather should be chosen 
for the work, or if that be not possible, the sow- 
er should always work with the wind at his 
side, blowing alternately on his left hand and 
on his right as he paces up and down the field. 
A more uniform distribution of seed could be 
secured by going over the ground twice, and 
sowing half the amount of seed each time. 
The quicker the flax germinates and appears 
above ground, the better the crop is likely to 
turn out. On this account, it is a great advan- 
tage when the sowing can be done immediately 
before a shower. If there be drouth at the 
proper time for putting in seed, its effects can 
be partially guarded against by a deep thorough 
harrowing immediately before sowing. The 
seed is to be harrowed in lightly, and the use 
of the roller after this last harrowing will be 
beneficial especially on light soils. Details as 
to harvesting and subsequent treatment of the 
crop, will be given in a future number. 
We will add a few items in answer to those 
asking special information on the subject : The 
average yield of an acre of good land is a ton 
of rotted flax, aud from ten to twelve bushels 
of seed. A ton of rotted flax properly treated, 
will give from 450 to 500 lbs. of dressed flax, 
about 70 lbs. of coarse tow, and 12 to 15 lbs. 
fine tow. It would not pay to transport flax in 
the stra.vr to any great distance ; if properly 
broken, some 60 per cent, of the woody part 
may be separated, and then it can be profitably 
baled and sent to market. The brake for this 
work described in the January Agriculturist, (p. 
12), can be as readily moved from one neighbor- 
hood to another as the ordinary threshing ma- 
chine, thus enabling the farmers of a large dis- 
trict to prepare then' straw for transportation. 
