1865.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
kind of corn. If brush be too slender, the 
brooms beud too easily, and wear out too soon. 
AVhen brush grows in the form of a panicle of 
oats, it is worthless. Such brush, however, is 
seldom produced e.\cept on a thin soil of gravel, 
or sand, with a clayey subsoil sis or eight inches 
beneath the surface. 
My manner of planting the seed is, to carry it 
in a small pail, and drop about one hundred 
kernels per rod [or about two inches apart]. 
After dropping a few rows, cover it with a har- 
row having 30 or 40 teetb, by driving the team 
one on each side of the drill. If the harrow be 
not drawn the second time over the ground, it 
will not displace any of the seed. AVheu plant- 
ed in this manner, the seed comes up well, 
grows more uniformly, and makes better brush 
than if planted in hills, as the stalks are more 
evenly distributed over the ground. In about 
twelve days, the young plants will be about 
three inches high. Now is the time to get the 
start of weeds by working among it with a horse 
and plow. For this purpose, the rear end of the 
mold board should bo broken off just back of 
the share to prevent rolling the earth too far 
away from the young plants. [Some farmers, 
and ourselves among the number here named, 
prefer a horse hoe for tliis purpose. — Ed.] By 
turning the earth from the drills, the weeds will 
be subdued. In about ten days, it should be 
plowed Again, going twice in a row. Then the 
plants should be thinned so that there will be 
about seventy per lineal rod. All weeds grow- 
ing among the plants should be removed, so as 
to allow the sun to shine on tlie Broom corn. 
In about ten days more, it should be plowed 
again with a large plow having a short, crooked 
mold board, going four times between all the 
rows. Turn two furrows from the rows, and then 
turn them toward the plants, ^vorking' tlie soil 
between the stems as much as practicable with 
the plow. In ten days longer, plow it again, 
going four times between therows, as just stated, 
always turning the soil toward the corn the last 
time through. I always perform most of the 
work with the plow, and do as little with the 
hand-hoe as possible." 
Cultivation of Buckwheat. 
AVhen buckwheat is sowed in the spring, or 
first part of summer, the hot weather which 
occurs when it is in blossom, prevents perfect 
fructification. Consequently there will be nu- 
merous clusters of kernels that will be blasted. 
For this reason the seed should be sowed, so 
that the hottest weather will have passed, by 
the time the buckwheat is in full bloom. Cool 
weather or at least cool nights are quite as es- 
sential to a good crop of buckwheat, as hot days 
and niglits are for Indian corn. The point to 
be aimed at in every loc.ility is, to defer sowing 
as long as possible and allow it sufficient time to 
mature before an early frost will destroy the crop. 
This period occurs at different times in different 
localities. In tlie latitude of Central and West- 
ern New York, the pr<5per time for seeding 
is about the first of July. We have known 
buckwheat sowed as late as the 16th of July, 
which produced a bountiful crop ; but in that 
latitude there is a great risk on account of 
the frost, if it is not sowed by the tenth of 
July. Our most successful farmers in this 
latitude, calculate to have their buckwheat put 
in as soon as the fourth of July ; and in some 
seasons, even when sowed at that time, frost 
appears so early in the fall as to almost destroy 
the entire crop. In some localities it may be 
Bowed the latter part of July, and escape frost. 
If the soil where it is sowed be well pulverized 
so that it will vegetate immediately, and if the 
grain is put in by the fourth of July or even by 
the tenth, a bountiful crop may be expected. 
When the ground is plowed but once for a crop 
of buckwheat where the soil is heavy, it is often 
so dry and hard, and breaks up in such large 
lumps and clods, that many farmers in wailing 
for rain to moisten the soil previous to plowing, 
are compelled to defer seeding until it is too late. 
But if the soil be plowed in the spring, it will 
not become dry and hard by llie time it is to be 
plowed the second time, but will be moist and 
mellow; and the grain will vegetate soon. 
Every intelligent farmer who is located on a 
heavy soil, that is apt to plow up lumpy, under- 
stands the importance of plowing it when it is 
just moist enough to turn up mellow. Buck- 
wheat can not be expected to vegetate in time, 
and flourish lu.Yuriantly, and yield a reuumer- 
ating crop when the soil is a mass of dry lumps. 
The Preparation of Peat for Fuel. 
— > 
It IS really wonderful, the manner in which a 
want, when it occurs, is supplied. As our for- 
ests disappeared before an increasing popula- 
tion, and wood for fuel became less readily 
obtainable, the immense coal measures were 
opened, and a better and cheaper fuel than 
wood was supplied. When whales became so 
scarce that illuminating oils were very costly, 
the wonderful petroleum deposits were found 
and made to give up their Hquid treasures. 
Recently, from a combination of causes, coal 
has borne so high a price as to induce the 
search for some cheaper substitute, and atten- 
tion has been directed to the heretofore almost 
neglected deposits of peat. Almost every State 
has its extensive peat bogs, or meadows, as they 
are called, containing vast amounts of a material 
closely analogous to coal in its composition, 
and like that capable of serving as a valuable 
fuel. These peat deposits have, thus far, been 
almost untouched, save that a comparatively 
small proportion of the whole has been used 
for agricultural purposes. When simply cut 
into squares and dried, peat makes a tolerable 
fuel, but when properly manipulated and con- 
densed, it furnishes a product not unlike the 
best kinds of coal in appearance, and which is 
not inferior to it for domestic or manufactuiiug 
purposes. We learn from an mteresting pam- 
phlet by Mr. T. H. Leavitt, of Boston, that a 
company of Boston capitalists are engaged in 
developing this new source of fuel, and in sup- 
plying machinery to parties wishing to engage 
in manufacturing tlie peat in other places. It is 
said that the attempts at compacting the peat 
by pressure alone, have proved failures. The 
process of this company, as described to us by 
one of its members, involves the removal of all 
the fibres and kneadmg the remainder into a 
homogeneous mass, which readily becomes 
solid and dense upon drying. The different 
operations arc performed by very simple ma- 
chinery. The specimens we have seen were 
certainly very fine, and it is claimed that the 
prepared product can be produced at |4 or $5 
per ton. The address of the association is the 
American Peat Company, Boston. We have 
no further knowledge of the company than 
what is here stated, and only call attention 
to the matter as one of great general interest. 
It has been found preferable to coal for gener- 
ating steam in locomotive boilers, and, from its 
great freedom I'rom mineral matter, it is prefer- 
red by steel and iron manufacturers to all other 
fuel. We shall be glad if the attempts now 
making to utilize peat sliall result in giving 
us cheaper fuel and in unfolding a new source 
of wealth to agriculturist and land owners, 
How to Make a Close Hedge, 
The following communication from Joseph 
Coflin, of Jefferson Co., Iowa, gives his method 
of securing a tight hedge. The plan is not a 
new one, but we do not recollect having pub- 
lished it before. " I have read a great many 
chapters on hedging, and have seen a great 
many hedges, but I have yet to see the first 
fence made on the plan recommended by most 
writers on tlie subject. An Osage hedge of this 
kind shows better on paper than around a field 
of grain needing protection. The reason is 
this : where tlie hedge is cut off so frequcntlj' 
and closely, the sprouts are so weak and small, 
that as soon as the growth becomes sufllciently 
high to be of any use against large stock, the 
under twigs die out and leave holes between the 
plants. There is one mode by which the Osage 
can be made into a reliable, substantial fence, 
which is tills. Set your plants two feet apart, 
and let them alone, except to keep tlie grass and 
large weeds from the roots, until they are five 
or six years old, or until they are two, or two 
and-a-half inches in diameter. Then, before 
the sap starts in the spring, take a sharp ax and 
commencing at one end, cut the plants, (or 
bushes they will be now) three-fourths or four- 
fifths off, and laj' each bush down on the last 
one cut. The cutting must all be done on one 
side leaving the bark uninjured on the under 
side. Do not be afraid to cut them near enough 
off to allow them to bend down easily, as an 
inch of bark will keep an ordinary sized bush 
alive. The lower end of the body should be 
about four inches from the ground. Sprouls 
will start up from the roots and from the liody, 
and run up through the tops, and make a fence 
that no rabbit can pass through. The future 
trimming can be done to the fancy, or the whole 
let grow up for a wind breaker. 
"I think that when the hedge has become 
of sulficient size, it would be a good plan to 
set a sod of timothy or blue grass around it to 
prevent the growth becoming too massive and 
cumbersome. A strip of six or eight feet on 
each side would be sufficient, and would be 
much more neat and profitable than the weeds 
which would grow unless a great deal of extra 
care were taken to keep them in subjection. 
The great scarcity of timber in this prairie 
country leads me to urge the adoption of 
this plan, as I know by experience and observa- 
tion that this is the only one so far introduced 
into this section of country that is reliable." 
Breeding Horses for Heavy Work. 
■ 
The influence of Agricultural Societies, with 
very few exceptions, and too much that of the 
agricultural press, has been thrown in favor of 
bleeding a class of light active nags for the 
road and light work. And now the country is 
overstocked with these smart little Morgans aud 
Black-Hawks, and other trotting stock, the pop- 
ularity of which has, in our opinion, been a se- 
rious detriment to our horse-raising interests. 
The object with many breeders has been to se- 
cure style and speed, almost regardless of size 
and slrength. The heavy work of the farm being 
done by oxen, and our farms in many of the 
liorse- raising districts being small, the farmers 
themselves have not felt the need of heavier 
draft animals. However, it would be much 
