138 
CAUTION IN THE USE OF GUANO.-RAISING PORK, ETC. 
three feet apart with a light one horse plow, running 
three inches deep, being careful not to disturb the 
eod. The seed was chosen of a medium size, drop¬ 
ped six inches apart in the row, and covered two 
inches deep with hoes. It was a field of about ten 
acres. No grass sprung up on it, and very few 
weeds were seen during the season. Just before the 
potato vines bloomed, a single horse plow was pass¬ 
ed down and up each row, throwing the dirt to the 
vines, the men following with hoes and rapidly hill¬ 
ing them. In the fall they were dug with the plow, 
when the sod was found completely rotted, and pul¬ 
verised beautifully. No doubt the unmolested growth 
of spring grass facilitated the decomposition of the 
sod, and added to the growth of the potatoes. The 
season was rather a wet one, which accelerates 
decomposition; had it been dry the sod would 
not have decomposed so well. The first week in 
June is sufficiently early to plant potatoes for win¬ 
ter and spring use. We have planted as late as 
the 3d of July and got fair crops, when a warm 
autumn followed; but this is too late for this climate, 
and w T e cannot recommend the practice. Early pota¬ 
toes should be planted in April. Some think plant¬ 
ing unripe seed prevents the rot. 
Caution in the Use of Guano. —This manure, 
especially the Peruvian, is found to be so powerful, 
that it must be used with great caution. Any plant 
that it touches in a raw state it will surely kill; and 
it burns the leaves of everything which is watered 
by its solution. The safest mode of application is 
thus: Mix it in alternate layers, under cover where 
the rain cannot get at it, with ten or twenty times its 
quantity of any fine light, easily pulverized soil. 
Let it lie thus a week or ten days, or as much longer 
as one pleases. The soil with which it is mixed 
Attracts and partially absorbs its most powerful salts. 
When it is wished to use this compost, toss it over 
carefully and mix it well. It may then be sown 
broadcast upon grass and grain ; put in the hill with 
corn, potatoes, melons, &c., &c.; or around any crop 
immediately after the first time hoeing, and again just 
before the crop fruits. For a solution of guano, put 
one ounce only to a gallon of water, and then w’ater 
carefully around and not on the plants. For steeping 
seeds previous to planting, four ounces may be 
enough for a gallon of water; though some say they 
have used a pound to a gallon with impunity. The 
African not being quite as strong as the Peruvian, 25 
to 50 per cent, more of it may be used, according to 
the value of its analysis. 
Mr. Prentice’s Sale of Short Horn Cattle.— 
In this Number of our paper we give a complete 
catalogue of this superior herd of cattle. It will be 
seen that every animal Mr. Prentice owns is put in, 
and the sale will be positive, without reservation, let 
the animals bring what they may. There was never 
such an opportunity offered before in this country to 
obtain choice animals; and to sell without reserve, 
we believe, has never been done in England. As we 
intend being present at the sale, we offer our services 
in purchasing for such of our friends as may find 
it inconvenient to attend and bid for themselves. 
Any instructions they may please to give as to choice 
of animals, and prices at which to purchase, they 
may depend upon being faithfully executed. 
RAISING PORK. 
Every farmer knows full well that if he has to 
winter his pigs, even in the most fertile of corn 
countries, and cannot get over three cents per pound 
for the pork, he is losing money; how important 
then that he keeps such a breed of swine, and feeds 
them so well, that he can bring the pigs, dropped early 
in the spring, to weigh from 200 to 300 lbs., in De¬ 
cember and January. Let people say what they will 
about the necessity of having old hogs to make a 
thick cut of clear pork on the ribs for packing, we 
know this is all gammon. We have seen many a 
pig fed well from his birth, that would weigh full 
250 lbs., and cut four inches thick of clear pork on 
his sides, at nine to ten months old; and have heard 
of others weighing 300 lbs., and cutting five inches. 
Now this is all that is necessary for the navy or Bos¬ 
ton fishermen, and more than is desirable by consum¬ 
ers in general. Our best market for pork is England, 
and the people there prefer it from hogs weighing not 
over 175 to 200 lbs., and like the lean well mixed with 
the fat. We would never winter anything but breeders 
of the swine family, and the moment the pigs were 
dropped we would commence shoving them with 
feed till ready for the knife. The farmer who pur¬ 
sues this course will make from 30 to 60 per cent, 
more on his pork than those who winter their spring 
pigs. As for autumn pigs, we would not have them. 
Let the sows breed but once a year. 
Three or four years ago we prophesied that the low 
price of pork would soon make it scarce, and now it 
is a fact; and by and by, when choice boars will be 
wanted to improve the breed, they cannot be had, for 
our farmers are growing careless again in their stock, 
and breeding helter skelter in every direction. A pig 
is getting to be a pig once more with them—long 
nose or short—sharp back or round. We advise all 
those who have good hogs to keep them so. Don’t 
sell and fat the best, keep them for breeders, and fat 
and sell the poorest. In this way one will be con¬ 
tinually improving, and in any event he will have a 
good breed on hand, always ready for his own use 
and the benefit of a careless neighbor. 
PLANT NEITHER TOO CLOSE. NOR TOO 
FAR APART. 
There is a happy medium in all things, which it 
behooves a good farmer to study in planting his va¬ 
rious crops. If he plants too far apart, weeds are 
more certain to take the place of the crop, and he 
does not get that return from his land and labor 
which he should do. On the contrary, if he plants 
too close, there is a continued struggle between the 
roots of the plants for their food below ground, and 
their branches and leaves for pure air, and an oppor¬ 
tunity of absorbing nourishment from it above ground. 
The consequence is, that the roots get dry and sticky, 
and the leaves soft, moist, and weak; they become 
unhealthy, are covered with mould, or are destroyed 
by insects. For this reason w r e are much opposed to 
sowing anything broadcast which can be drilled. 
Corn for fodder has been found almost invariably to 
yield a much larger quantity of stalks and ears in 
drills than broadcast; the same principle holds good 
with turnips and other roots; and wheat in drills is 
not near as liable to rust and mildew as when sown 
broadcast. Particular regard should be had to this 
matter in cultivating cabbage, cauliflower, and broc- 
