AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
321 
ture. Hundreds of cases like this are to be 
found all over the country. Men hear of 
Guano, and taking it for granted that it is of 
no consequence how they use it, they put it 
on by the handful and plant the seed directly 
upon it. Farmer’s should read and think 
more. It is very expensive to cultivate the 
soil, without knowledge. Take the papers. 
-[Ed. _____ 
PLOWING IN CLOVER. 
We suppose this work is done ere now in 
most sections of the country, still some hints 
may not be out of place, especially such as 
refer to the after treatment of the fields. 
For wheat or rye we consider a good crop 
of clover plowed in to be one of the very 
best means of securing an immediate re¬ 
turn, as well as permanently enriching the 
soil. Let no short-sighted policy tempt any 
one to lessen the supply of manure by graz¬ 
ing down such fields “just a little.” Let the 
clover attain its full growth, and as soon as 
the blossoms are fairly up put in the plow. 
We have plowed under hundreds of acres of 
clower, always “ finding our money in it.” 
Our practice has been to pass a roller— 
sometimes a harrow bottom side up—over 
the grass ahead of the plow, taking care to 
bend down the stalks in the direction in 
which the plow is to run. This tends 
greatly to prevent clogging under the beam. 
Our clovered wheat fields have never 
been plowed a second time. There is no 
danger of turning the clover under too deep¬ 
ly. As it is plowed in when green and suc¬ 
culent, it will rot, no matter how deep it 
may be, and the further it is from the sur¬ 
face, the less danger is there of any loss 
from evaporation. The clover being all 
placed neatly and evenly below the surface, 
the ground lies at rest until a crop of weeds 
appear upon the surface, when they are 
harrowed down. When sowing time comes 
on, a thorough harrowing is given, care be¬ 
ing taken not to disturb the underlying 
clover. As soon as the surface is well pul¬ 
verized the seed may be applied by drill or 
broadcast. There is enough clover in the 
earth just below the surface to give the 
wheat plants a start, and the roots, gradu¬ 
ally extending downwards, find successive 
supplies of nourishment.— [Ed. 
POLL-EVIL IN HORSES. 
According to our own observation, this 
ailing is not so common among horses now 
as it was fifteen or twenty years since ; still 
we frequently hear complaints of it, especi¬ 
ally in the northern and western parts of 
New-York, and also in Michigan. A cor¬ 
respondent proposes a remedy, which we 
can not vouch for, but he pronounces it in¬ 
fallible, and says he has both cured a num¬ 
ber of his own horses and seen many others 
cured among his neighbors. He tried suc¬ 
cessive applications of alum, which occa¬ 
sionally succeeded, but finally hit upon spirit 
of sea salt, or muriatic acid, (called by 
chemists hydro chloric acid.) He first wash¬ 
es the sore clean with a strong suds made 
with Castile soap, after which he pours on 
half a dozen to a dozen drops of the acid, 
varying the quantity to the size of the sore. 
The acid eats or burns out the diseased flesh, 
giving the sore the red appearance of a fresh 
wound. If one application does not do this, 
he makes another, and even a third or fourth 
if necessary. It is then washed out with a 
new portion of the soap-suds, and left to 
heal. He is very confident the remedy will 
prove speedily effectual—“ no matter how 
long the running has been going on.” We 
have seen some cases where this disease 
had eat down so far into the flesh and bones 
of the head, that we do not believe any acid 
could produce or induce a recovery; still 
the application can do little or no harm, and 
it may be worth a trial in any case.— [Ed. 
LARGE VERSUS SMALL POTATOES FOR SEED, 
We have uniformly recommended using 
full-sized potatoes for seed—our own exper¬ 
iments have fully settled this point. Still 
we are glad to chronicle any careful and 
trustworthy experiments made by others. 
Here is one to the point: 
Last season Mr. Stephen Haight, of Wash¬ 
ington Hollow, Dutchess County, N. Y., 
planted three rows side by side—No. 1 with 
small potatoes about the size of Bantam 
hen’s eggs, two potatoes to a hill; No. 2 
with medium size, about as large as common 
hens’ eggs, two in a hill, uncut; No. 3 with 
those about the size of goose eggs, one in 
the hill, cut once. The rows were cultiva¬ 
ted alike in every respect. When dug and 
weighed, the product was as follows : 
First row, one half marketable size, 40 lbs. 
Second row, two-thirds do 53 lbs. 
Third row, nearly all do 64 lbs. 
Other experiments showed a similar result. 
It will be observed that the first and second 
rows had a much larger number of “ eyes” 
than the third, as there were two potatoes 
to the hill, and still the yield of the third 
was 60 per cent, greater than the first, and 
20 per cent, greater than the second.— [Ed. 
USING PLATN WORDS-QUESTIONS, 40. 
George S-, writes asking us to explain 
two phrases in our last number, and he 
“ hopes we will continue our usual practice 
of introducing none but plain words, that 
every body can understand.” George shall 
usually be gratified. We make it a constant 
study to simplify our own language and that 
of our associates and correspondents as 
much as possible. We prefer to use a dozen 
plain English words, to convey an idea that 
could be expressed in a single foreign term 
or phrase which might perchance not be un¬ 
derstood by every reader. Still there are 
many of these phrases which are very ex¬ 
pressive and which it would be-very well for 
any one to understand. George asks about 
“ soi disant ” and con amore.'' 
Soi disant, means, self-styled—self-an¬ 
nounced—would be, or pretended. 
Con amore, signifies with love, desire, af¬ 
fection for. A farmer ex neussitate is one 
compelled to that pursuit by circumstances, 
or from necessity. A farmer con amore is 
one who follows the occupation, because he 
has a real love for it, delights in it, has a 
natural inborn or perhaps cultivated affec¬ 
tion for it. 
We shall be ready at all times to explain 
any such matter. The sole object of these 
pages is to convey information, chiefly on 
these subjects connected directly or indi¬ 
rectly with soil culture, and in all cases 
such information as is needed by soil culti¬ 
vators. We are therefore glad to receive 
and answer questions from all persons, and 
particularly from boys like George S. Our 
greatest study is to find out just what infor¬ 
mation is needed by our readers, and to fur¬ 
nish that.— [Ed. 
EDITOR’S FARM NOTES, 
OR GLEANINGS AMONG PRATICAL MEN. 
Huntington, L. I., Saturday, June 22.-— 
We visited the farm of Mr. James I. Ship- 
man, situated in this town, in that portion 
known as Sweet Hollow, which is consider¬ 
ed one of the best hay raising sections of the 
island. This tract commences about two 
miles in a northeasterly direction from the 
Railroad at Farmingdale, and extends north¬ 
ward until within a few miles of Hunting- 
ton village. The farm of Air. S. is situated 
three miles from Farmingdale Station, and 
two miles from the Sweet Hollow or Mell- 
ville Meeting House. It contains sixty acres 
of tillable land, and a fine growth of young 
oak and chestnut woods. The arable land is 
surrounded on three sides by these woods, 
and lies nearly flat, with a slight inclination 
toward the southwest. The soil is chiefly 
a clay loam, resting on a hard pan sub¬ 
soil about eighteen inches below the sur¬ 
face. 
The house is surrounded by a lawn con¬ 
taining about half an acre of ground. A 
small flower garden occupies the south-east 
portion of the enclosure, having a variety of 
choice plants which are carefully tended 
and present a beautiful appearance. The 
edging is of grass closely clipped. The kitch¬ 
en garden, immediately in the rear of the 
dwelling, is not separated from the lawn. It 
is of a square form, contains about a quar¬ 
ter of an acre, and is surrounded by a fruit 
border six feet wide, which is occupied by 
plum trees, and pears grafted on quince stock, 
which were selected for a six week’s succes¬ 
sion. A path five feet wide separates the 
fruit border from the garden. The main 
alley is made through the center of the plot 
six feet wide, along the sides of which are 
rows of currants and gooseberries. The 
bed divisions are all made at right angles 
with the main avenues, and contain the usual 
vegetables seen at this season. 
We first visited an oat field of seven acres. 
They were sown the 24th of April, after 
having prepared the ground by plowing eight 
inches deep and harrowing it well, the ma¬ 
nure applied, Ta-feu, was sown at the rate 
of 200 lbs per acre, and harrowed in. The 
oats, although sown late, look at this time 
veiy promising. The field was used for 
Indian corn last year, and a fine crop real¬ 
ized. Mr. S. has never used Ta-feu before, 
c t thinks favorably of it. He considers 
