1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
367 
Talue of Sea-Weed as Manure.- 
Wiu. Collins. Rye, N. H., wanta to know the best way to 
use sea-weed as manure. On page 333 (September) he 
will find an article on sea-weed, in which the mode of 
using it on the farms of Long Island is described. The 
Canadian farmers on the shores of the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence use it in a similar manner, and also burn it and 
spread the ashes on the land, or apply it in the hills when 
planting potatoes. 
Woolly Taste in Muiton.-'J. G. L." 
writes us that it isthe outside skin on the carcass that 
gives the woolly taste to the mutton. Butchers, he says, 
often gash it in fanciful figures as an ornament to the 
quarters, instead of removing it. — There may he some 
truth in this idea; but the English sheep have the same 
cuticle on the carcass, and yet no one complains of the 
woolly taste in the mutton. And a well-fattened three-year- 
old Merino wether affords a saddle of mutton fit for the 
table of an epicure. 
Painted I»ails.— E. Skinner, Orange Co., 
N. Y., writes : " The pail almost exclusively used by 
farmers is the common painted wooden one. This can he 
bought for one third the cost of a tin pail. These pails arc 
used for milking and for water; they arc absolutely unfit 
for cither — no liquid can remain in them, even for a short 
time, without becomingpoisoned and disagreeable to the 
taste. I suggest that one half the pails sent to dealers in 
the country remain unpainted on the inside, so that 
farmers can secure the article they need. If this can he 
accomplished, it will prove a mutual benefit. "—It is years 
since we have seen a painted pail. We find the unpainted 
ones in the country stores near our place. Storekeepers 
will usually sell such articles as the customers require. 
Weal* Knees in a C'olt. — C. Schneider, 
McKee's Port, Pa., has a colt whose knees are so weak 
that it could not stand np for four weeks. The fore legs 
appear crooked. This is doubtless due to constitulional 
weakness, which no outward application will remedy. 
Give him, in some nourishing feed, as ground oats with 
wheat bran, alsoa tonic of sulphate of iron2oz.. pul- 
verized gentian root 1 oz., pulverized ginger 1 oz., salt- 
peter 1 oz. ; make this into twelve powders ; give one 
powder with each feed. Foment the knees with warm 
water, and put on a bandage to support the joint. 
Uiuk Tor Wheat.-K. T.," Iona, Mich., 
has a field of wheat ; land has been rnn down, and has had 
little manure in fifteen years. He asks: "Will it beany 
benefit to top-dress the wheat this fall with muck fresh 
from the swamp ? Also if muck could benefit corn or oats 
next spring." — The muck will do but little if any good to 
the wheat without lime and salt or ashes. But still, if the 
muck is there, we would haul it out and spread it, if 
nothing better can be done. The future crops will get 
the benefit of it. If hauled out and spread during the 
winter, it would be in better condition for spring crops 
than for wheat now. 
So-wing 1 Clover. — C. R. Shiller, Peoria, 
111., has a piece ofland now in corn and potatoes, which 
he wants for hay next year, and have the aftermath for 
hogs in the fall, and asks, '" How soon must the clover 
he sown?"— Clover should not he sown so late as this. 
It would be injured by the frosts. Better prepare the 
ground thoroughly before winter, and sow the clover 
seed early in spring, when, if the ground isingood heart, 
a crop of hay might be taken off the same season. But 
we would not advise it to be both mown and pastured ; it 
would hardly survive such severe treatment the first year. 
Compost of jflnclc, Ijime, etc. — 
"■L. E. S.," Newtrarg, asks what proportions of muck, 
lime, and manure will make the most beneficial compost. 
— We would not recommend such a mixture. A compost 
of muck and stable manure, in proportion of two loads 
of the former to one of the latter, would make valuable 
application to land. The process of composting has no 
other end than to secure fermentation and decomposi- 
tion, without the loss of any gases formed during the 
process. Lime added to such a compost would have 
exactly this injurious effect, and therefore should not be 
used in contact with barn-yard manure. A good com- 
post may he made with one cord of muck and four 
bushels of lime with one peck of salt. Ten to fifty 
bushels of lime is a proper quantity to apply alone to an 
acre of ground. 
Hard Times tor Farmers. — "C A. 
W.," of Alleghany Co., N. T., wrote us Angust 24th: 
''Pastures are dried up, and corn is going into the sear 
and yellow leaf; while some farmers are cutting it up 
and feeding it to the cows. Nobody has enough fodder 
■corn. Two-year-old heifers only bring the price of year- 
lings last fall. What shall the end be ?"— Since then we 
have had a great rain, and wc presume C. A. W. feels better, 
as be has sent us $5 for two bushels of pure Diebl wheat 1 
Did any one ever know a period when times are not hard ? 
At any rate, hard times are as common as drouths, and 
fluctuations in prices seem the normal condition of 
American agriculture. The remedy for drouths is better 
tillage and heavier manuring. The way to have more 
green corn for fodder is to make a piece of good land as 
rich as possible, and drill in three bushels of corn per acre, 
auduse the cultivator freely between the rows. There is 
no individual remedy for fluctuations in prices. All that a 
sensible man can do is to prepare for them, just as he 
does for chances in the weather. lie must not have all 
his eggs in one basket. lie must try to raise things that 
require more brains, skill, energy, patience, and perse- 
verance, than the majority of people are willing to bestow. 
Holding KacU the Jlill*.— F. Gross, 
Gordonsville, Va., says in Switzerland a wet rag is laid 
on the back of a cow that holds hack her milk, and is a 
very good remedy. Another correspondent says a weight 
laid on the hack— as a hag of earth or sand, or a chain in 
the bag— will make her give her milk.— As all the reme- 
dies in vogue for this vice relate to an application to the 
hack, there probably may be something in it. Wc never 
could succeed in it, and shall be glad to hear more about 
it from those who have. 
Fine Corn.— G. W. Craig', Arbuckle, West 
Va., sends a boxful of ears of corn as a specimen of his 
crop. The ears are enormous and a capital illustration 
of what may be done by selection of seed. Mr. C. states 
that varieties brought from further North do not succeed 
well with him. The kind he sends has been cultivated 
by father and son upon the same farm for forty or fifty 
years. Notwithstanding the drouth, this variety is so 
fine in appearance at least, that wc do not know where 
he could go to better it, did he wish to make a change. 
Good for West Virginia. 
Xo Curc'Liiecrii Hay.— Peter A. Drou- 
bay, Pine Canon, Utah. — Lucern hay needs to be cured 
without exposure to the sun's heat. It should be put fn 
cocks as soon as wilted, and allowed to ferment and heat 
for two days, during which time the moisture will pass 
off, leaving the hay still somewhat damp, in which state 
it may be safely stacked or put into the barn. The cocks 
maybe made high, but narrow, so that the moisture may 
readily escape. We shall be happy to receive the infor- 
mation referred to. 
Ironweed. — D. S. Major, Lawrencebnrg, asks 
how to kill Ironweed (Vernonia). This weed is a per- 
ennial, and depends for its existence on the continu- 
ance of the root, and will succumb only to such a course 
of cultivation as will destroy the root. Repeated plow- 
ings, with a succession of hoed crops, will effect this. 
All attempts to get rid of weeds by cultivation and plow- 
ing will be abortive, if they are permitted to seed in the 
fence corners, or other waste places on the farm. These 
are the places that should be attended to closely. 
Relative Value of Manures.— J. K. 
Webster,Dayton, Ohio, asks which is the cheapest manure 
to buy to apply on a market garden, soil sandy clay loam- 
stable manure, at50 cents a two-horse wagon load ; night- 
soil (delivered), 75 cents a cart load ; refuse from glue fac- 
tory, $10 per ton ; bone dust, $45 per ton ; distance to haul, 
one mile. We should say that the night-soil and stable 
manure were the cheapest, and if the sawdust and shav- 
ings are tolerably well rotted they will be of considerable 
benefit in a mechanical way to the soil. We would com- 
post these two manures so that they should be well 
rotted, Jand at the prices mentioned would prefer thera. 
But gardens need a rotation of manures as well as of 
crops. See Peter Henderson's book on Gardening. 
Draining- a fllasin. — Leandcr J. Post, 
Lowell, Mich., wants to drain a basin which is sur- 
rounded by rising ground. Ilns tried digging a hole and 
filling it with stoucs for a drain, but it became clogged. 
This is our own experience with such a place. We did 
not succeed until a drain was dug through the bank 
which surrounded it, and the water led away. If the value 
of the land, the appearance, or the convenience warrants 
the expense, make the drain ; if not. leave it as it is. 
Sewage* — " A Digest of Facts relating to the 
Treatment and Utilization of Sewage, by W. II. Corfield, 
M.A." London and New York, McMillan & Co. How 
to dispose of the waste matter of towns and cities is a 
problem the difficulty of which increases in proportion 
to the size of the community. How to make this waste 
matter available in agriculture and to return to the laud 
the fertilizing material it so much needs, is a question 
that has occupied the minds of individuals and legisla- 
tures, especially in England. In the various investigations 
that have been made in England, the name of Mr. Cor- 
field, the author of the above-named work, has long been 
prominent, and the book before us presents in a concise 
form the present state of knowledge upon that subject. 
It seems that on a large scale the earth system is too cum- 
bersome, and that the effete matters must be carried off 
by water. It appears probable that irrigation with sewage 
will be found the only feasible plan. The work is worthy 
the attention not only of agriculturists, but of those in- 
terested in sanitary matters. It is a handsome 8vo. of 
343 pages. Price $3.50. 
Flax.— Wc would recommend every farmer 
who can make it convenient, or who has a piece of 
ground suitable, to prepare a piece to be sown in flax in 
the spring. As it is necessary to be sown early, the 
ground should bo plowed in the fall. A piece of fairly 
good sod ground would do, but if stubbl-j is to he taken 
it should be manured. The seed will be found valuable 
for the 3'oung stock and the horses, or a new milch-cow ; 
the fiber can be made available in almost every locality, 
for fortunately the old folks who can use the spinning- 
wheel have not all disappeared, and a loom can yet be 
heard to rattle in almost every township of the United 
States. Linen towels, or table linen, or even linen grain- 
bags of homespun, arc worth much more than anything of 
the kind thatcan be purchased ; and it is refreshing for 
one who has a lingering reverence for old times to see now 
and then the old-fashioned homespun, which bears an 
honest look on its face, and will, on acquaintance, verify 
abundantly all the good opinions that one may form 
about it. 
Xo Prevent Interfering;. — Levi P. 
Simms, So. Marshfield, Mass., asks how to shoe a horse 
that strikes. There are two ways of striking — one when 
the horse strikes the toe of his hind foot on the heel of 
his fore foot, and another when he strikes the side of the 
near or off shoe against the fetlock joint on the opposite 
side. This is what we understand our correspondent to 
refer to. To prevent, remove the edge of the crust that 
strikes the ankle, and have the shoe set well under the 
foot. The opposite shoe should be set lower on the out- 
side and a little higher oh the inside, so as to turn the 
ankle somewhat, that the shoe may clear it in passing. 
Let the hind calks point inwards, and be rounded off on 
the outside. If all fails, put a leather shield on the ankle. 
"Wl»at is tltc Itest Way to Extir- 
pate Sorrel and Itlu&tard ? "—Mr. II. L. Johns, 
of California, asks us this question. Wc do not know. 
It depends a good deal on the character of the land, the 
kind of crops grown, etc. We have succeeded in banish- 
ing sorrel from a piece of light, sandy land that was 
formerly covered with it, by seeding it down to grass and 
top-dressing it with manure. The first two years after 
it was laid down to grass, the sorrel almost killed out the 
grass, but the manure so encouraged the growth of the 
grass, that in two years more it crowded out the sorrel, 
and it entirely disappeared. The same result sometimes 
follows a dressing of wood-ashes or lime, and it has been 
supposed that the ashes »r lime neutralized the acid in 
the soil and prevented the growth of the sorrel. There 
is nothing in this idea. The ashes and lime, like manure, 
encourage the growth of other crops, and these starve out 
or crowd out the sorrel. In regard to mustard, wc know 
of no better plan to get rid of it than to summer or fall 
fallow, and follow with two or three hoed crops. The 
point is to cause the mustard seed now in the ground to 
germinate and then kill the plants before they go to seed. 
Any plan that will do this is good. Seeding the land 
with clover and mowing the clover before the mustard 
goeB to seed, will be useful. 
Leaves. — In a short time the frosts, aided 
by rains and winds, will have scattered a bountiful sup- 
ply of leaves over the woodlands. These leaves can be 
made to do an excellent service on the farm. They 
should be carefully raked together iu heaps, and drawn 
to the homestead, where a shed or some place can be 
found in which they may be stored away. They may be 
hauled in a hay-rack by weaving in some corn-stalks be- 
tween the stakes, close enough to prevent them falling 
through. A large barn-basket is a convenient thing to 
load them with, and it will be surprising how many loads 
may be gathered from an acre of woodland. They make 
a very excellent bed for hogs, being to some extent the 
bed provided for them by nature. For sows with young 
pigs, they are the best bed that can be procured, as there 
is no danger, when they are used, of the young pigs getting 
entangled in the bedding and crushed. As a source of 
manure they are valuable : they rot easily, and have good 
fertilizing qualities. Elm and oak leaves contain a large 
proportion of potash, and leaf mold, or the decomposed 
leaves, make a valuable addition to the soil of flower- 
gardens, or for potting plants. Where manure is scarce 
—and where is it not?— leaves should he the first resource 
whereby an increase may be made. 
