288 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[AUGUST, 
eat too much regularly; and after feeding all 
day in the pasture, if a cow will eat a good 
forkfull of green corn fodder, the result will 
surely be seen in the pail. Green fodder ought 
to be fed in racks, in the yard, and the cows 
3'arded at night. Two-thirds of all their manure 
is thus saved, and the dung heaps grow almost 
as fast in summer as in winter. 
Kotation of Crops in Eastern Pennsylvania, 
There is much more uniformity in the rota- 
tion of crops in Eastern Pennsylvania than we 
had anticipated. The lower part of the Valley 
of the Lehigh, and the Valleys of the North and 
"West branches of the Susquehanna, which we re- 
cently visited, are mainly grain growing districts, 
and we suspect all the best farming of the State 
would come under the head of cereal agricul- 
ture. Only about a fourth part of the State was 
put down as improved land in 1850, and with 
all the rapid improvement of agriculture, there 
is probably not more than a third of the State 
now under cultivation. There are still consid- 
erable tracts of unbroken forest, and vast re- 
gions of rough, mountainous land, which the 
lumbermen are rapidly stripping of all large 
trees, and leaving it to make a second or third 
growth. The best farming is to be found in 
the valleys of the rivers and creeks, where the 
soil is almost uniformly fertile and well adapted 
to grain and grass. 
The rotation is a five or six years' course, be- 
ginning with corn upon a clover or timothy sod. 
The liming of the land, which is almost uni- 
versal, takes place in connection with this crop. 
The lime is applied at the rate of from thirty to 
a hundred bushels to the acre, and is expected 
to last through the course. There is a differ- 
ence of practice both in regard to the time of 
applying the lime and of turning over the sod. 
Some apply the lime upon the grass immediate- 
ly after mowing, and turn under the sod the 
following spring. They say the lime strength- 
ens the growth of the grass, and sinks into the 
soil, so that the spring plowing brings it to the 
surface where it ought to be. Others plow in 
the fall, and lime either in the fall or spring upon 
the plowed field. We found the best farmers 
most strongly in favor of the spring plowing, 
and they would only justify fall plowing where 
there was danger of not having help enough to 
finish the needed plowing seasonably in the 
spring. The lime and the sod are the main re- 
liance for the corn crop, which yields from forty 
to sixty bushels to the acre. 
The second course is either oats or a summer 
fallow. The best usage is in favor of the oats, 
for they say that it is in itself a paying 
crop, and does not very much diminish the sub- 
sequent crop of wheat. The third course is 
winter wheat, for which preparation is made by 
spreading all the manure of the farm upon the 
oat stubble or the fallow, and plowing it in. 
The Mediterranean wheat is the variety most 
commonly used, and the yield in good years is 
from twenty to thirty bushels to the acre. The 
white varieties of wheat formerly used were 
.more productive, but were more delicate, and 
more liable to be destroyed by insects. At the 
time of sowing the wheat, timothy is sown, and 
clover the following spring, about the last of the 
frosts, when the ground is cracked with settling. 
; 3? his givIM dWei- as the fourth course, of which 
(half ■ te> ; two 
yeas4«e , tlm»t%l 
has the ground, and this crop is continued for 
one or more years according to circumstances. 
If the grass is very good, or if manure is plenty 
for top dressing, it stays in grass until it is want- 
ed to begin another notation. Much larger areas 
of land are kept under the plow than is com- 
mon in the dairy regions. Grain fields of from 
twenty to fifty acres are of frequent occurrence. 
Upon one 300-acre farm that we visited in the 
famous Buffalo Valley, we found 80 acres in 
wheat, 50 in corn, and 30 in oats; or more than 
one half the whole area of the farm. AVe think 
the farms in these valleys would average one 
fourth of their whole area in these three crops. 
Eye, which is so common in the dairy regions, 
is very little raise'd in the valley of the Susque- 
hanna, In Eastern Pennsylvania it is much 
more common. This rotation is veiy well adapt- 
ed to the wants of the grain growing districts, 
and perhaps can not at once be changed for the 
better. Lime is everywhere abundant, and 
with the manure made upon the farm, furnishes 
the ready means of keeping up the fertility of 
the soil. Potatoes are not much raised, except 
to supply the wants of the family and the nearest 
village market. The grain growing farmers of 
Pennsylvania, and of other districts also in the 
United States, have no faith in the cultivation 
of roots. They certainly could be raised profit- 
ably for stock feeding in winter, but would re- 
quire additional laborers. Grain and hay are 
the principal products sold from these farms. 
There is some fattening of cattle in the winter, 
and some raising of pork and making of but- 
ter, but they are mainly for the home markets. 
Walks and Talks on the Farm.— No. 44. 
The editor of the Agriculturist wrote me that 
he had received a number of letters referring to 
my Walks and Talks, "some praisewise and 
some otherwise." I asked him to forward them, 
and he did so. He must have retained the 
"praisewise," for all of them are "otherwise." 
Several of them criticise my treatment of the 
cow we lost by milk fever. I had another cow 
taken sick in the same way, and gave her the 
same treatment, except the ergot, and she recov- 
ered. This does not prove, however, that the 
ergot was the cause of the death of the other, 
as one of my neighbors lost the best cow he had 
from milk fever that had not had ergot, and the 
Deacon says a farmer in an adjoining town 
lost six cows from milk fever this spring. He 
thinks the disease is unusually prevalent. 
One writer advises me to get a breed of hogs 
that will not kill lambs. I have both the Suf- 
folk and Essex, neither of which have any sav- 
age tendencies. The sows that killed the lambs 
were some coarse, ill-bred creatures that I bought 
for the purpose of crossing with the thorough- 
breds. It is said that such sows are better moth- 
ers than finer animals. They certainly breed bet- 
ter, and the little pigs take after the sire in fine- 
ness of bone, early maturity, and fattening qual- 
ities. But they need high feeding. Tou can 
push them forward so as to be ready for the 
butcher in five or six months, but if half starved, 
when young, they rarely get over it, even if well 
fed afterwards. It was very annoying, how- 
ever, to lose the lambs. I sold the rest of 
them to the butcher for $400 a head, and the 
keep of k lamb is never felt. 
Another of the letters is very savage. The 
%ritei e ffsMlsiJ8se Qn^ai-aideEvbut makes^np spe- 
rms clft^gei. £4<Wtk<eiliiiui.joiSe gtQiljgman-.whoi 
sknow9" < notftiHg Qf>9a^teBntufbe^anrJ-is anno} r ed 
fowSuuse I ^O r Bi*n-eJawae4Ufifh#nring in accord-! 
ance with his imaginary notions. All I can say 
is that I tell the truth according to my expe- 
rience. I do not find farm-life entirely free from 
care and anxiety. Perhaps I exaggerate the dis- 
appointments and annoyances. But if so, it is 
not a common fault of agricultural editors. We 
hear more of the successes than of the failures, 
and yet the latter, properly considered, teach 
more than the former. A man who really loves 
farming will not be discouraged by hearing of 
the mistakes of others. He will try to avoid 
them. I have had my trials, but think I shall 
succeed in renovating my farm. Every year 
affords me more encouragement. If I mistake 
not, we have five acres that will turn out more, 
and far better, barley than I got from twenty 
acres the first year. And I have fourteen acres 
of clover that will afford more good feed than 
could have been cut from half the farm. I have 
a very fair crop of wheat on land where the oats 
the first year onty yielded 8 bushels per acre, 
and those hardly fit to feed the geese. I have 
some veiy promising corn on the "Deacon's 
duck pond," and fair grass on part of the old 
stump lot, where nothing ever grew before but 
rushes and weeds. But if I should talk in this 
style, it might be thought that I had quit farm- 
ing, and gone back to the old editorial chair. 
The more I use petroleum paint, the better I 
like it. A few days ago we painted an old wagon 
that looked as though it would tumble to pieces 
like the old chaise. The hubs were full of cracks, 
the bolsters loose, and the box decidedly shaky. 
We took off the nuts, oiled them, put on wide 
washers where the wood was rotten, and made 
all light and snug, then put on all the oil 
the wood would absorb, going over the hubs 
and tires several times as fast as the oil soaked 
in. We got in at least two gallons' of oil. The 
cracks closed up, the tires were tight, the box 
snug, and the wagon looked almost as strong as 
a new one. We all know that soaking wheels 
in water will tighten the tires, but it is merely 
temporary. As soon as the water dries out, the 
wheels are as loose as ever. The oil is absorbed 
more rapidly than water, and will have, I think, 
the same effect, and be permanent. But if not, 
go over the wagon again as often as needed. 
It is little trouble. It seems curious to me that 
such a use of petroleum could be patented. In 
Captain Cox's Asiatic Researches he says : " The 
town of Rainanghong is the centre of a district 
in which there are some hundred petroleum 
wells in full activity. * * * The annual 
quantity of petroleum produced by the district 
exceeds 400,000 hogsheads. It is used by the 
lower classes in lamps, instead of oil, and when 
mixed with earth or ashes answers the purpose 
of fuel. A composition of petroleum and resin 
is an excellent material for covering wood- 
work, etc." It was also used for ship bottoms 
to preserve them from insects, etc. 
I planted potatoes this year on clover sod. 
The clover last year was cut for hay, and after- 
wards for seed. This is running the land pretty- 
hard, but as nothing is exported from the farm 
except the seed, and as a bushel of oil-cake meal 
which costs about $1.50, contains more fertiliz- 
ing ingredients than a bushel of clover seed, and 
as you can get five or six bushels of oil-meal for 
one bushel of clover seed, the farm is benefited 
by exchanging the clover seed for oil-cake. But 
unless some such plan as this is adopted, grow- 
ing clover seed impoverishes your land. Last 
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