1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
15 
as it is collected. If the open yard were kept 
well supplied with muck, and the manure were 
to be plowed under every month but without 
draining off, it would not waste much. Where 
straw is plenty, as in the wheat growing dis¬ 
tricts, it makes a very good covering for manure. 
This is the practice of some of the best man¬ 
agers. But it requires a much larger quantity 
of straw than most of our farmers have for lit¬ 
ter. The straw is thrown out frequently, and 
the yard is kept nearly dry for the cattle to lie 
on. Muck usually costs nothing except the 
drawing and hauling, and rightly managed it 
makes a good protection for manure. It should 
be scattered frequent!}' over the yards and un¬ 
der the sheds, and the heaps kept well covered. 
A Caution. —A Canadian subscriber to the 
Agriculturist complains that he lias followed our 
advice, and that his manure dried up, heated, 
and was nearly spoiled—in other words it “ fire- 
fanged.” This reminds us to repeat, that while 
no liquids should be allowed to run from the 
manure heap, it should always be kept moist. The 
heap should be frequently examined, and if 
found drying out, water should be added. The 
lest plan is to pile the manure in a tight vault 
or excavation that will hold the liquids. If not 
under a roof, a cover of loose boards will an¬ 
swer, as a little rain falling through will do no 
harm. Then, as often as needed, pump up or dip 
up with a bucket, the liquid from below and 
spread it over the heap. This liquid manure 
will hasten the decomposition of the straw and 
other coarse materials, and all the heap will be 
equally rich. 
-«-«- » o »- 
The “Dakota Potato,” or Ground Nut.— 
{Apios Tuberosa.) 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
This plant, Eaton, in his Botany, more than 
thirty years ago, said : “ ought to be generally 
cultivated.” And it appears by the December 
Agriculturist, others have taken the hint, as 
well as the undersigned, in making the trial. 
Six or eight years ago I procured some of the 
tubers from the State of Maine, and some also 
from this immediate vicinity, (Middletown, Ct.,) 
and planted them in my garden, but I am sorry 
to say my success has been poor indeed. So far 
as my own experiments can be relied on, they do 
not appear to improve by cultivation, in the least, 
nor even to grow as well as they do in the wild 
state. I have not yet been able in my garden to 
produce tubers as large as are often found in 
their native situation. I purpose to continue the 
experiment a few years longer, however. J. J. 
- «=aK>gi i« »~cs>-- 
Sweet Potatoes in Ireland. 
“Hibernia” inquires if sweet potatoes will 
flourish on his farm near Belfast, in the North 
of Ireland. We judge not. If we remember 
rightly, the soil thereabouts is not sufficiently 
sandy and warm. A light, moderately sandy, 
warm soil suits this crop best, though we have 
grown them well on a pretty stiff loam, by high 
hilling. Probably, however, the soil would 
answer, if there were sufficient sunlight. In the 
sea-girt islands of Great Britain the air is 
almost always moist, and bright skies, warm 
clear days, such as the sweet potato flourishes 
best under, are not the general rule there. Per¬ 
haps the longer absence of frost, owing to the 
proximity of the never-freezing ocean, may in 
part make up for the less sunlight. It would be 
well to try the experiment. The common Ndn- 
semond variety can be purchased in our mar¬ 
kets. These, packed in dry sand in a box, and 
kept from freezing, can be carried over at any 
time during Winter. Put them into boxes of 
earth in a green-house or hot-bed in March, and 
abundant sprouts will start out. When 0 to 10 
inches high, break them off from the tuber, 
keeping as many fine roots on the stems as pos¬ 
sible, and transplant out into high hills or 
ridges, when the soil is warm and danger of 
frost past. The ground should be well sup¬ 
plied previously with thoroughly rotted ma¬ 
nure. For directions, see American Agriculturist 
for April, 1S62, (vol. 21, page 108), and an ar¬ 
ticle to be published a month or two hence. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
An Iowa Corn-Marker. 
Iowa is well adapted to the cultivation of 
corn, yet many are so careless that weeds often 
get the mastery, hence they get a poor remuner¬ 
ation for their hard toil. One great reason is, 
that after fitting the land for seeding, they spend 
several days in “ furrowing out each way,” with 
a shovel plow, jogging along in a zigzag manner, 
so crooked that a squirrel can hardly find the 
rows after it comes up. This requires much 
labor, and is of no benefit except in making 
easy planting. The corn is placed too deep to 
feel the warmth of the sun when it needs it the 
most, and the farmer has to wait too long for 
the corn to get large enough to keep from cov¬ 
ering it up the first time through with a plow or 
cultivator. Corn needs light, air, and warmth 
to veget»te and grow rapidly; to obtain these 
abundantly I can not think a deep furrow fa¬ 
vorable. My way is to plow deep and har¬ 
row lightly to level the surface, then make a 
marker after this fashion.-Take two hard¬ 
wood poles, or scantling, fourteen feet long, lay 
them parallel, and pin to them at right angles 
four blocks two feet long and two inches thick, 
at a distance of three and-a-half feet apart. Slant 
off the front ends of these blocks, making them 
like sled runners. Turn the apparatus over, 
fasten a tongue to the middle of front pole, and 
the marker is complete. Hitch on the horses, 
take your place on the center of the marker and 
drive on until the field is marked in one direc¬ 
tion ; then cross-mark in the same wa 3 r . Stakes 
should be set at each end of the lot to guide by, 
instead of merely trying to run parallel with the 
last mark. Fifteen acres can thus be marked 
each way in a day. C. J. Rhodes, 
Tama Co., Iowa. 
How Corn is Made in Egypt (Ill.). 
[The following plain, straight-forward account 
of the common mode of cultivating corn in 
Southern Illmois, from Wm. 0. Marvin, of Ran¬ 
dolph Co., will give a partial picture of farm 
life there, and perhaps afford a limit or two. 
The plan described is doubtless susceptible of 
improvement. A brief description of the meth¬ 
ods pursued in different sections, not only with 
corn but other crops, would be useful to others:] 
“We prefer for Indian corn, wheat stubble un¬ 
broken until plowed for planting in the Spring: 
First, the cut worms trouble it very little; second, 
should the season be dry it bears the drouth 
much better than our other lands; and 
third, such land is most easily kept clean. 
The plowing should be at least eight inches 
deep, and all the growth of weeds and grass be 
turned to the bottom. After it is well broken, 
we lay it off one way in rows four feet apart, and 
5 to 6 inches deep, with a one horse plow. It is 
then crossed with the marker, making six rows 
to the round. Our children usually drop the 
seed. Some cover it by throwing on one, and 
some two furrows with the small plow, and just 
before it is up, harrow it down level. Others 
cover with the harrow alone. Others cover by 
dragging a suitable flag stone across the rows, 
which is by no means a bad way, as we have no 
stones in our fields to interfere with culture. 
But we think the hoe is the best implement of 
all to cover with, and this is the only use we 
make of the hoe in producing the crop. 
When the corn is up so that it can be worked, 
we remove the front tooth (or share) from a cul¬ 
tivator, and with a span of horses run it astride 
the rows, first one way, and then aci'oss. This 
works the soil between the rows, and close up 
to the hills, in both directions, leaving it clean 
and in a condition little inferior to the best hoe¬ 
ing, and the hills are made around the corn. 
[This lets in the sun to warm the roots and pro¬ 
mote their growth.] The labor is not half that 
of hoeing. The after culture depends upon 
circumstances. If rains harden the surface, the 
plow may be required. After plowing, a one- 
horse cultivator is run between the rows to lev¬ 
el off the surface, as we prefer flat culture to 
high ridging around the hills. By the above pro- 
. cess we get, in common years, from 40 to 60 bush¬ 
els per acre, according to the quality and con¬ 
dition of the soil.” 
Change the Locality of Seed—An Exam¬ 
ple of Selection. 
A contributor to the American Agriculturist 
writes thus: It is the general testimony of 
those who have tried it, that the productiveness 
of seeds of many crops—among which may be 
mentioned wheat, corn, and potatoes—is greatly 
increased by changing their locality. Will it 
not be well for farmers to bear this in mind now, 
and not wait until some unlooked-for delay may 
chance to embarrass Spring work? Perhaps 
the benefit is not owing so much to change in 
latitude or longitude, as to change of soil. If 
not, then it will do as well to exchange with 
some neighbor who has seed raised on a differ¬ 
ent soil. But what has been proved, is safest, 
and those who can procure seed from a distance 
should do so. It is not too early to be looking 
about, and making arrangements to that effect. 
[That to change the locality of seed is beneficial, 
seems to be the general opinion, and therefore 
it is reasonable to suppose there must be some¬ 
thing in it, though we do not understand why 
this is so, nor are we certain that the popular 
opinion is not an erroneous one. On our old 
paternal homestead the same varieties of wheat, 
corn, and potatoes, were grown continuously, 
perhaps for twenty years or more, and instead 
of deterioration in quality or product, there was 
a constant improvement, so much so that most 
of the wheat raised was in demand for seed. A 
system of selection was followed. No potatoes 
smaller than hens’ eggs, and no over-grown tu¬ 
bers, were planted. The seed wheat was obtain¬ 
ed by hand-screening, with a sieve made spec 
ially for the purpose which retained about one 
third of the largest and plumpest kernels. The 
two-thirds passing through the sieve was still 
first grade in the market, at least after this selec¬ 
tion of seed had been practiced a few years. Ed.] 
--— --. -- 
Why is a woman mending her husband’s 
clothing after he has retired to rest, like the 
enemy of the human race? Because she is 
sowing tares while the good man is asleep. 
