1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
143 
ing and thawing of the ground, and the conse- 
quent swelling and shrinking of the seed, and 
the frequent starts and checks the young plant 
must receive during four to six weeks, greatly 
Injure the plants just at the start, which can 
not be remedied by after-treatment, as the " set " 
will be too thin. 
Experience with Millet. 
Abraham Herbein, Berks Co., Pa., writes to 
the Agriculturist that thirteen acres of corn re- 
planted twice, last Spring, were finally made 
worthless by the cutworms, and so about the 
middle of June seven acres of the plot were 
sowed with millet (Hungarian Grass). The soil, 
a black shale, was rather thin in some places, 
and therefore easily affected by a drouth which 
occurred from the setting to the ripening of the 
seed. On these spots the millet grew only about 
ten inches high, and shriveled before it was cut. 
Where the soil was deeper, it yielded at least 
three tons of cured hay per acre. From the 
whole seven acres, twelve tons were harvested. 
About one hundred bushels of seed were ob- 
tained from this, much less than would probably 
have ripened, had the weather been favorable. 
The straw, after being threshed by a machine, 
was eaten by cows and other stock as readily as 
the best meadow hay. The seed is considered 
by him equally valuable with rye or corn for 
cattle and hogs, but not so suitable for horses. 
The remaining six acres of the above field 
were sowed with buckwheat, which returned 
only thirty bushels. It was injured by dry 
weather, and nipped by early frost. Mr. Her- 
bein thinks that millet will generally be found 
a safer crop than buckwheat to replace a failing 
crop of corn. It ripens sufficiently early to be 
followed with winter grain. He also intends to 
substitute the millet for oats this Spring, last 
year's oat crop having been a failure from the 
ravages of the aphides or yellow plant lice. 
Seeds by Mail— The New Law. 
■ — 
The reduction of the postage on seeds and 
cions to one cent an ounce, is one of the best re- 
forms of the age, and is giving a new impulse to 
horticultural improvement throughout the coun- 
try. It is especially helpful to those who live in 
the thinly settled districts, remote from the large 
towns or cities in which seed stores are kept, and 
in the suburbs of which most of our nurseries are 
located. It virtually puts down the best seed 
stores in the country at the door of every sub- 
scriber to the Agriculturist. He has only to look 
over our advertising columns and order what he 
wants by letter. He gets first-rate seeds for 
about the same price he could buy them in the 
city, without the trouble or expense of the jour- 
ney. Though he live in the new settlements of 
the west, he can procure the best seeds and cions 
grown in the East, at a trifling postage expense. 
Its tendency is to make these articles both 
cheap and good, for it favors competition and 
makes every seed grower directly responsible 
to the purchaser. Every man who has a choice 
variety of vegetables or fruits, has an inducement 
to multiply it, for, if he will advertise, he has a 
ready market for the seeds or cions at the near- 
est post office. Small plants and trees, if prop- 
erly packed, will go safely by mail. Any one 
who examines our advertising columns will see 
that this business is largely on the increase. 
P. S. — The above was prepared for last 
month's paper, but crowded out. Since it was 
written, a new postage law has been enacted, 
according to which, as we understand it, the 
rates after July 1st will bo : 2 cents on one, 
two, or three circulars in the same envelope ; 
and on seeds, cuttings, etc., 2 cents on any 
weight up to four ounces, and 2 cents for each 
additional four ounces, or fractional part of four 
ounces. This will be a reduction, for on four 
ounces or eight ounces the postage will be only 
i cent an ounce. The new rates will therefore 
facilitate the sending of large parcels, and 
heavier seeds. A whole pound will go for 8 
cents to any part of the United States and Ter- 
ritories. — The present rate (1 cent per ounce) 
continues until June 30. Many of our subscrib- 
ers sending for seeds, have made themselves 
needless expense, by putting 3-cent stamps 
upon their envelopes, where only 1-cent stamps 
were required, according to the directions plain- 
ly given. When practicable, we have removed 
the extra stamps, and put them inside of the 
envelopes, but this could seldom be done with- 
out defacing the stamps. 
— . ■»■ » » 
How Mnch Seed per Acre ? 
The following suggestions condensed from an 
article in the Mark Lane Express (England), 
apply equally well on this side the Atlantic. 
Land naturally poor, or temporarily reduced in 
fertility by over-cropping, requires thick seeding. 
Soil in low condition can not force vegetation 
to any extent, therefore little or no tillering 
takes place. Consequently each kernel will pro- 
duce but one stem, and, when thickly seeded no 
more are required or can find room to grow. 
The opposite of this is the case with rich soil. 
The increase by tillering will far exceed the 
difference made in the quantity of seed gen- 
erally put on. Suppose five bushels of oats 
per acre are to be sown on poor land, and two 
bushels on good soil. If each plant of the latter 
should throw out three tillering stems there 
would be a heavier yield than on the thickly 
seeded portion. But where the tillering process 
is fully developed as on the wheat plant in rich 
ground, the average will far exceed three col- 
lateral stems. Of course, every allowance should 
be made for liability to loss from other causes, 
as worms, insects, unfavorable weather, etc. A 
table showing the proper amount of various 
seeds per acre, to be sown, including the varia- 
tions to be made on account of difference of soil, 
was published in the Nineteenth Volume of 
the American Agriculturist, page 139 (May, 1860). 
»— — M«» I ■ 
Feeding the Chinch Bug. 
Mr. R. F. Roberts, of Racine Co., Wis., sends 
to the Agriculturist, the experience of a farmer in 
that County. " Two years ago he seeded down 
a piece of land sowed to oats. The grass took 
well and the oats gave a large yield of excellent 
quality, while all the rest of his oats and his 
wheat suffered greatly from the ravages of the 
chinch bug. Last Spring he seeded down another 
piece sowed to oats, which yielded a large crop 
of 'heavy grain, while a plot of wheat sowed 
beside it was scarcely worth cutting. His con- 
clusion is : that the chinch bug feeds on the 
tender grass, and while they are doing that, the 
grain matures so that it is beyond their power 
to injure it. He noticed that when he cut the 
grain on the plots seeded down, the bugs ap- 
peared as thick as they were on the other fields. 
This coming Spring he is going to sow grass 
seed with all his grain crops, using two thirds 
the quantity of grass seed commonly sown, 
when seeding down meadows, and of wheat and 
oats the same quantity as if no grass seed was 
sown with them. He prepares his seed wheat 
by soaking in strong brine and drying with 
slaked lime." [The lime, and the brine, are al- 
ways good for seed wheat and seed corn. — Ed.] 
To Sweeten Butter-Firkins. 
Mrs. Arch. Cooper, Racine Co., Wis., sends 
the following directions to the American Agri- 
culturist: "Before packing butter into new fir- 
kins, put them out of doors in the vicinity of 
the well, fill them with water, and throw in a 
few handfuls of salt. Let them stand three or 
four days, and change the water once during 
that time. Butter-firkins should be made of 
white oak, and this process effectually takes 
out the acid contained in that wood, and makes 
the firkins sweet. If the butter is well made 
and rightly packed, it will keep good all Sum- 
mer, even if the firkin be kept in store above 
ground. To cleanse old firkins in which butter 
has been packed and left exposed some time to 
the air, fill with sour milk, and leave standing 
twenty-four hours ; then wash clean, and scald 
with brine. This makes them as good as new. 
m— « t» — —m 
Questions About Plants and Flowers. 
We have several letters giving descriptions of 
plants and asking us the name. Though we 
may be able to give a tolerable guess, it is not 
possible to name a plant in this way with any 
degree of accuracy. Those who wish for infor- 
mation of this kind, which we are always ready 
to give, should send us a specimen for exami- 
nation. We can sometimes recognize a plant 
from a mere fragment, but it is better in all cases 
to send a complete specimen, which should in- 
clude some of the flowers ; the seed, ripe or 
partly so ; the upper leaves ; and if the lower 
leaves arc different in shape, one of those also. 
The specimens should be dried by laying them 
in an old book or by putting them between sev- 
eral thicknesses of newspaper with a heavy 
book laid on to press them. Use only pressure 
enough to keep the leaves flat while drying. 
Preparation of Furs. 
Several of our Western readers have asked 
how they can prepare the skins of animals for 
use. We have not been able to get much infor- 
mation from the fur dealers, who wish to keep 
the secrets of the trade to themselves. We un- 
derstand, however, that the dried pelts are put 
into tubs with a quantity of rancid butter, (prob- 
ably rancid is used because cheaper than fresh,) 
and they are then trampled by the feet until 
they become soft and pliable; after this they are 
trampled with saw-dust — mahogany being pre- 
ferred—to remove the grease. The furs are then 
ready to be made up. We find the following 
in the California Farmer. It will be observed 
that the directions do not give the amount of 
water to be used ; probably enough to well 
cover the skin will answer. We suppose that 
this process is intended for fresh skins : Take 
one pound of alum to five pounds of hide, a 
double handful of salt— all of which dissolve in 
warm water. Put the skin in and let it stand 
for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours ; then 
take out and dry, and it is done. To tan with 
the hair off, the skin must be first soaked in 
strong lime-water till the hair comes off; then 
treated as directed for tanning with the hair on. 
