260 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Benefits of Hoeing. 
Keeping down weeds is not the only end of 
hoeing. Exterminating them, so that they may 
not interfere with useful plants, or go to seed, is 
highly important, but this is not the whole of the 
chapter. We refer now, to the great benefit aris¬ 
ing from a thorough pulverization of the soil. 
Hard, unbroken ground, though free from weeds, 
is not in a condition to receive sensible benefit 
from the atmosphere. The dews of night can 
not penetrate it, and when Summer rains fall, 
they only dash against the surface and run off, 
as from a rock. 
The benefit of hoeing was impressed upon us, 
the present Summer, during a dry time which 
hreatened to become a drouth. Noticing certain 
Boston Marrow Squash vines beginning to wilt, 
we broke up the hard, dry soil at the extremity of 
the roots, and pulverized it well. The very first 
night, it imbibed the dews, as it had not done be¬ 
fore for a long time. And in a few days, when a 
copious shower fell, the water, instead of running 
off from the hills, soaked into the soil and revived 
the plants into a healthy growth. The same thing 
was observed in the case of a recently planted 
tree, which had begun to flag, in the long-contin¬ 
ued dry weather. Hoeing the ground for several 
feet around the tree prepared it to catch and re¬ 
tain the dews and rains. The tree fairly smiled 
under the treatment. Mulching was added to the 
hoeing and the raining, and we now hope to save 
a fine specimen of Magnolia acuminata. 
Fall Colts- 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
It is the custom of most farmers and stock 
breeders to have all their young animals come in 
the Spring of the year. There is abundant reason 
for this, as it is more natural to the dam, in the 
first place, and then there is the young grass fur¬ 
nishing a generous flow of milk, the healthy con¬ 
dition of the animals in that genial season, and 
the less trouble to the breeder in caring for them. 
In this view I decidedly agree with the great mass 
of farmers in Spring breeding. 
But with colts, particularly when it is necessa¬ 
ry to work the mares that produce them on the 
farm, Spring colts are oftentimes inconvenient 
and troublesome, so much so that it is better to 
dispense with their breeding altogether than to be 
bothered with young colts at just that busy, hur¬ 
rying season of the year, when plowing, harrow¬ 
ing, and getting in the Spring crops is of the high¬ 
est consequence. And it is most generally this 
dass of farmers who have the least Fall work to 
.lo with their horses. In September the heavy 
team work is about finished, the wheat is got in, 
and the crops mainly harvested. The mares can 
then be spared to drop a foal, and with good keep, 
it can be well nursed on the fresh October grass, 
and get well along by the time the cold weather 
fairly sets in. In March the colt is ready to wean, 
and by the first day of April the dam is in condi¬ 
tion, although again in foal, to do a good season’s 
work, if carefully driven, and properly fed—over¬ 
worked she never should be, whether in foal or 
not. 
Some of the best horses we have known were 
Fall colts, and in many sections of the country, 
stallions are kept purposely for a Fall season, to 
accommodate such farmers as practice that sys¬ 
tem. And now, that by the opening of our wide, 
stoneless, prairie regions to grain growing so ex¬ 
tensively, oxen are mostly discarded for farm la¬ 
bor, it is more necessary for farmers to breed their 
own colts than formerly The practice of breec 
ing Fall colts may be commended as one of sound 
economy and convenience. 
Western Farmer. 
Remark. —We doubt the propriety of the above 
course. If the colt be dropped in September, the 
dam will be in the heaviest period of gestation not 
only during the hottest weather, but also while 
subjected to the severest work. We should say, 
let the colts be dropped as early as possibly in the 
Spring, and if the mare must be worked so hard 
as to heat and injure the milk, let the colt be 
weaned and brought up by hand. We would, 
however, suggest, that better results may be ob¬ 
tained in the long run, by allowing working mares 
to breed only twice in three years, alternately in 
March and September. This will leave them free 
for hard service one entire Summer out of three, 
and give a season for recruiting between each 
period of gestation. The subject is open for dis¬ 
cussion by practical breeders— Ed. 
To Break an old Horse from pulling at 
the Halter. 
We have drawn the above sketch to illustrate 
a method of preventing an old horse from pulling 
at the halter, as described to us by Mr. David 
Lyman, of Middlefield, Ct. Since looking at the 
engraving it has occurred to us that there is per¬ 
haps danger that the horse, if a vicious one and 
accustomed to pulling, may throw himself and 
receive severe injury and sprains. Mr. L. des¬ 
cribes the operation as follows : 
Put a strong strap or rope around the neck, and 
another strap with a ring in it around the pastern 
of one of the hind feet, and attach a strong rope 
to the ring, and pass it under a firm strap or cir- 
single buckled loosely around the girth, just back 
of the shoulder. Continue the rope between the 
fore legs and through a hole or ring in the man¬ 
ger, or post, where the horse will pull, and then 
tie it to the strap around the neck—then let him 
pull “ to his heart’s content.” A few such trials 
will most likely subdue him. The harder he 
pulls back the harder his hind foot is pulled for¬ 
ward, and the experimenter will he surprised to 
see how little the horse can do—he will not be 
likely to even get his hind foot off the ground. 
I have in this manner cured a mare, 10 years 
old, which was the most vicious beast in this 
respect I have ever seen. For some two weeks I 
tied her in this way always, except in the stable 
at night, when I secured her by tying around her 
neck a rope which she could not break. 
Pretty Sentiment. —We have planted some 
little trees, and expect that ere long the beautiful 
birds will build their nests in the spreading 
branches ; and it may be that they will finally cast 
mottled shadows over our grave. 
All truth must not be told at all times. 
Ashes and Muck- 
One of the best methods of using muck, partic¬ 
ularly in the vicinity of villages where wood is 
the principal fuel, is to compost it with ashes. 
In these villages, ashes are always to be had, and 
the enterprising farmer, who takes the paper, will 
buy them up early in the winter, before his old 
fogy brethren think of moving. They cannot 
blame him, if they find the market bare, when 
they want ashes for dressing their potatoes and 
corn next June. 
Ashes contain, in large quantities, potash and 
lime, both powerful alkalies, and efficient decom¬ 
posers of organic substances. The vegetable 
matter, of which peat and muck are principally 
composed, undergoes a rapid decomposition, 
when mixed with either potash or lime. It is 
thus reduced to that impalpable state, in which it 
can be taken up by the roots of growing plants. 
The mode of composting the muck and ashes, is 
not a matter of very great importance. There 
should not be less than five bushels of ashes to a 
cord of muck or peat. Farmers, who have used 
this compost in about these proportions, affirm 
that the results, in a course of years, are as sat¬ 
isfactory as a like quantity of barn yard manure. 
As the ashes cost only about ten to twelve cents 
a bushel, it will be seen that this is a very cheap 
manure. The application of fifteen or twenty 
cords to the acre produces large crops of corn, 
potatoes, and other hoed crops, and the effect is 
visible upon the grass crop for many years after¬ 
wards. 
Where the compost is prepared at this season 
of the year, it should be forked over once or 
twice, before it is applied in the Spring. One 
advantage of this preparation is, that it may be 
drawn directly to the fields wheie it is to be used. 
The decomposition will go on quite as well in the 
open field as under cover, and nothing valuable 
will be lost. 
While farmers are carting wood and lumber to 
the cities and villages, as they often are during 
the winter, they may as well carry back ashes to 
their farms as not. The expense of transporta¬ 
tion will not be felt, and the land will receive 
some compensation for the wood it has lost. This 
compost is particularly valuable for fruit trees. 
A half cord dug in under an old apple tree will 
give it a new lease of life. 
-- m a - ■■iTi -1 » 
Errors in the Use of Muck. 
Where farmers have experimented with muck, 
and failed to benefit their land by its use, it is 
probably owing to an unseasonable application. 
There are few muck or peat swamps, that will 
afford a good dressing for land without some pre¬ 
paration. They frequently contain salts of iror, 
and other deleterious compounds, that will de¬ 
stroy vegetation. Some in their first attempts to 
use muck are ignorant of this fact, and seeing the 
grass turn yellow and die under the top dressing, 
they conclude that muck is a humbug. One has 
often occasion to notice the difference in muck 
from the same swamp. On the banks of the same 
ditch, where the muck is allowed to lie for one 
season, you will see some spots entirely barren, 
while others show a stunted vegetation, and oth 
ers still, great luxuriance. It is never safe to ap¬ 
ply fresh muck or peat to growing crops. It 
too cold and sour, and often charged wun 
poisonous matters. 
It may be properly seasoned in various ways, 
according to the circumstances of the cultivator. 
The cheapest way of preparing it for use, where 
