76 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
Manure—Saving Barn-Yard. 
AY. F. Quinby, Newcastle Co., Del., sends to 
tlie American Agriculturist his plan for saving ma¬ 
nure in the barn-yard. He says, “ the soil should 
be underdrained, then place a layer of straw, C, 
say one foot thick on the surface; next to this a 
foot of earth, B, [we prefer muck if obtainable. 
Ed.] and on top of this, straw, A, to any desired 
depth. The lowest layer of straw prevents the 
earth, B, from sticking to the bottom, and al¬ 
lows the filtered water to pass off. The earth 
acts as a filter, and there is no better than clay, 
which absorbs all the alkali and allows the wa¬ 
ter to pass off nearly pure. The upper straw, C, 
prevents the earth from being tramped into 
holes, and is converted into manure. At the 
proper season, all can be hauled out together 
for use. This plan would probably treble the 
usual amount of manure. It may be a good 
deal of trouble to arrange all this, but there is 
no use in calling anything trouble, in these days, 
that pays; and increasing manure will pay.” 
For the American Agriculturist. 
One Cow to an Acre of Land. 
I have heard of farmers who could keep one 
cow, or its equal, for every acre of land owned. 
How many who have fifty or one hundred 
acres, think they could keep 50 or 100 head of 
cattle ? To show how it might be done, I will 
propose an experiment on ten acres. Stock 
can be kept on a variety of food, as roots, grain, 
and hay, better than on hay alone. Suppose 
jive acres of the ten, to be in meadow. I would 
plant two acres with corn, one with beets, and 
sow two with corn for soiling or feeding out green. 
Commencing, say on the 10th of June, keep the 
stock in the stable aud yard, mow the grass, and 
bring it to them. I think one acre, if part in 
clover, so that it could be cut the second time, 
would keep the 10 head from June 10th to July 
15tli. By this time, the corn which was sowed 
May 10th, would do to begin to cut, and I think 
from past experience, that the two acres of 
sowed corn would furnish plenty of feed to the 
15th of October. If not, I would thin the acre 
of beets (which might be planted rather thickly) 
and feed them out between meals. From Oct. 
15 to Nov. 15, feed the stalks from the planted 
corn, and the tops of the beets, which would 
by this time be fit to pull and store for Winter. 
Now for the next six months, or from the mid¬ 
dle of November to the middle of May, there 
would be hay from four acres of meadow, say 
10 tons; one acre of beets, 1000 bushels; two 
acres of corn 150 bushels. That would furnish 
each animal for the Winter (200 days) one ton of 
hay, 100 bushels of beets, and 15 bushels of corn; 
or 10 lbs. of hay, A bushel of beets, and nearly 
three quarts of meal per day. No doubt, stock 
would come out good in the Spring with that 
feed. There remains the month from May 15th, 
to the 10tli or 15th of June to provide for. It 
was supposed that the cutting of the sowed 
corn might be commenced in July: by the 1st 
of September quite a piece of it would be cut 
off; this I would sow with rye and grass seed. 
As frost usually occurs by October 1st, the sowed 
corn should all be cut before that time, and the 
remainder of the piece be sowed with rye aud 
grass seed. This rye would do to begin to cut 
by the middle of May, and last until the grass 
could be mowed again. As the rye is cut off, 
I would begin to sow corn again. Some will 
say that to produce 1000 bushels of beets to the 
acre, or 75 bushels of corn, or 2i tons of hay, 
will require rich land; but if stock be kept up 
the year round, a large amount of available ma¬ 
nure caD be made, which I consider one of 
the greatest advantages of the soiling system. 
Last season I sowed 10 rods of ground with 
corn, the 10th of June, and it supplied one cow 
with a good armful twice a day for 10 weeks. 
In my statement above, I have allowed 32 rods 
of sowed corn for each animal, in order to have 
some left to cure for feeding after early frosts. 
Fairfield CoConn . D. H. S. 
--- — -- 
Notes on Flax Culture — II. 
The time required for flax to ripen will de¬ 
pend considerably upon the character of the 
soil, and the weather during the season : be¬ 
tween three and four months from the sowing is 
the average. When the leaves turn yellow and 
the last blooms are disappearing, the crop should 
be examined every day or two, to ascertain the 
degree of ripeness. It is fit to pull when the 
stalk is of a yellowish tinge, the leaves having 
mainly fallen off, and the center boll become of 
a brown color. Another test recommended, is to 
select the ripest seed capsule on an average 
stalk, and cut through it; when the seeds have 
changed from the white milky substance they 
usually show, to a greenish color, and are pret¬ 
ty firm, the flax is fit to pull. If the straw be 
left standing until all the seed is fully matured, the 
fibers are harsh and brittle. If the proper 
time be observed, the seeds though not quite 
ripened when gathered, will be perfected by the 
sap remaining in the stalk after it Is harvested. 
The straw is usually pulled up by the roots. In 
doing this, care should be taken to keep the 
root ends even. When a convenient handful is 
gathered, hold it loosely in both hands and let 
the but-ends drop on the ground several times, 
until they are uniform. It may now be set up in 
rows with the heads inclining together, as shown 
in Fig. 1, or bound loosely in small bundles, 3 or 
4 inches in 
diameter, and 
gathered into 
circular shocks 
of six or eight 
bundles, with 
the huts of each 
well spread 
out, that they 
’ , i Fir. i. 
may dry readi¬ 
ly. The latter method is preferable, as the stalks 
are not so easily blown down. The cost of pulling 
is usually from five to eight dollars per acre. The 
straw is left standing in the field six or eight days, 
or until the natural moisture is dried out and 
the seed bolls are ripe enough to open easily. 
Should a storm occur, the flax may need atten¬ 
tion to keep the bundles upright, that they may 
dry out quickly. When sufficiently cured, the 
bundles are taken to the barn or stacked in the 
field. In the latter case, they should be carefully 
arranged to exclude water. The next process 
is to separate the seed from the stalk, for which 
several methods are in use. Some use a large 
close-toothed iron comb, called a ripple, through 
which the flax heads are drawn, a handful at a 
time, and the capsules torn off. Others thresh 
the heads with a large mallet having a curved 
handle. One experienced flax raiser rec¬ 
ommends to whip out the seed by striking 
each bundle upon a solid block. "Where the 
seed alone is de¬ 
sired, the prac¬ 
tice is to thresh 
with a flail, or by 
treading with 
horses. The most 
expeditious meth¬ 
od we have seen, 
is by passing the 
seed ends through 
rollers driven by horse power. A machine for the 
purpose is shown in Fig. 2. The rollers are set so 
as to break the bolls without injuring the seed; 
they are moved by means of a belt over the wheel, 
in the space between the two sets of rollers. The 
flax is taken in both hands, and the seed ends 
passed down between the rollers. Such an ap¬ 
paratus would pay where much flax .is raised. 
A dry day should be chosen for taking out the 
seed, as the bolls break much more easily than 
when they have absorbed much moisture. In 
our next article, directions for rotting, and other 
suggestions will be given. 
Fig. 2.—Scale of £-inch to the foot. 
Timber Belts on Prairies. 
Persons living in regions destitute of forests, 
find it necessary to plant trees, not only to 
shelter their houses from the furious winds, but 
also to protect their orchards and crops. While 
in many new countries, the energies of the farm¬ 
er are directed to clearing the land of trees, the 
total absence of these is severely felt by those 
who have settled on prairie lands. In planting 
trees in these localities, those varieties should be 
chosen which are not only of rapid growth, and 
will soon afford shelter, but also those which are 
at the same time valuable for timber and for fuel. 
The Black Walnut, the Maples, and Locust, 
are suited for this purpose. The Locust has the 
disadvantage of being subject to the attacks of 
the borer, and the limbs are sometimes broken 
by the winds, but the rapidity of its growth, 
and the great value of its timber for fence posts 
and the like, render it desirable to have the 
plantation contain a portion of these. The 
chestnut is another valuable tree, both for its 
timber and fruit. Recently, attention has been 
called to the White willow, claimed to have 
qualities which adapt it to this purpose.—As a 
matter of economy it is better to start most 
trees from the seed. Nuts, if to be transported 
for a great distance, should be kept in sand or 
loam. AYalnuts are said to do better if planted 
where the trees are wanted, being somewhat 
checked by transplanting. Locust seeds should 
be planted in the Fall, or kept in boxes of earth 
through the AA r inter. The seeds of tlie maple 
may be kept until Spring. Plants are usually 
left two years in the seed bed before trans¬ 
planting, keeping them free from weeds. In 
planting, it should be borne in mind that the 
object is to form a belt of timber and not a 
hedge; that a tree which has had plenty of 
room to develop its limbs will answer much 
better for shelter than one which has its trunk 
drawn up and has few limbs, from being 
crowded by others. The distance apart will 
depend upon the kind of tree—ten feet be¬ 
ing little enough tor the smallest. There should 
be at least two rows, and where practicable, 
