Jfield djjrap. 
HOW TO KILL QUACK GRASS. 
Quack grass is one of tbe worst pests that 
a farmer has to contend with, I think, but 
where a farm is kept for grazing purposes, 
it is not to be dreaded as it is where it is 
used more particularly for raising grain. I 
have contended with a great many noxious 
plants, and consider quack grass worse than 
all others, Canada thistles not excepted. 
Some writers say that deep tillage will erad¬ 
icate it; but as I have tried it, 1 can sa 3 r 
from experience that it will not do it. A 
great amount of it can be destroyed by cul¬ 
tivating hoed crops, such as corn, potatoes 
and beans; but where it is as thick as it is 
in many places, it is very expensive and fa¬ 
tiguing to the farmer. 
The way the most of the Western New 
York fanners manage to kill quack grass, is 
as follows, viz.:—As soon as corn planting 
is over, plow the Held that you wish to rid 
of the pest, about four or five inches deep, 
and then harrow the ground thoroughly 
three or four times over; after which rake 
the field with a steel wire-tooth horse rake 
and you will be surprised when you collect 
the roots that have been pulled out bj* the 
harrow and rake. Where a field has been 
long seeded down, and there is any quack 
grass in it, it will be found matted only 
about four or five inohes below the surface; 
this is why I do not advocate plowing any 
deeper the first time. When the roots are 
dry, gather them together and burn them 
and plow the field again, going through the 
same operation as at first, but one or two 
inches deeper every plowiug, and my word 
for it quack grass will not be as abundant 
as it was before.— Lexington, Rochester. 
Horace Piper writes the Country Gen. 
tleman that, the following method of de¬ 
stroying this grass, he knows, may be adopt¬ 
ed with success:—Plow the ground late in 
Autumn, just before it closes. The grass 
will then have no time to grow and extend 
its roots before winter, and the frost will 
disintegrate the soil so that it may be easily 
pulverized. In the Spring cross-plow care¬ 
fully and harrow with a long-toothed, heavy 
harrow till the ground is thoroughly mel¬ 
lowed. Then apply an implement which, 
for convenience, 1 will call the cradicator. 
It is made like an iron-tooth garden rake, 
the head being about five feet lung, and 
containing strong steel teeth about, fourteen 
inches in length four or five inches apart, 
and curving a little forward. To this han¬ 
dles are added for guidiug it, and shafts for 
the attachment of the horse. This tool, 
when drawn over the mellow ground, ex¬ 
tracts the long and fibrous roots of the 
grass, and collects them into heaps, which 
may be carted away and burned when dry. 
The roots generally extend into the ground 
about as deep as it has been previously cul¬ 
tivated, and if the laud is found to be very 
full of them it may bo advisable to plow it 
a second time in Spring, a little deeper than 
before, and to apply the eradicator again, 
by which the principal part of the roots 
may bo removed the first year. If the land 
is green sward, it must be cultivated in the 
common way the first season. 
While planting and hoeing, let each man 
keep a steel-pronged garden fork along 
with him, with which he may remove the 
grass roots in places where they arc numer¬ 
ous, and also a basket in which they may be 
placed and carried away. This may seem 
to be a long and tedious process, but it is 
making haste slowly, and in the end will 
be found the quickest way to attain the de¬ 
sired result. Two seasons will generally be 
found sufficient to eradicate most of the 
grass, but the process should be continued 
from year to year till not a particle remains. 
If this grass grows In the mowing fields be 
careful to cut it early in the season before 
any seed can mature, and do not purchase 
any hay containing it, to be consumed on 
the farm; otherwise the seeds will be car¬ 
ried in the hay into the barn, and thence 
in the manure into the cultivated land. 
-- 
WHEAT CULTURE. 
I have been employed iu raising wheat 
and all other crops of grain common to the 
latitude of New York. I was employed 
from childhood till past fifty-two years of 
age, in the labor of clearing laud and raising 
wheat on “ uewland." 1 saw the deteriora¬ 
tion of wheat in Otsego County. It was not 
occasioned by the application of barn-yard 
manure. It was owing to the exhaustion of 
what is called “ humus,” Winter wheat did 
not give a good yield in Cattaraugus Co., 
except on a few favorably located spots. On 
MOOHE’S RURAL i'iEW-YORKER. 
those spots wheat did not do well after the 
first crop. 
In Wyoming Co., wheat was, for many 
years, the leading crop. But, even there, 
it, deteriorated. Its deterioration was not 
owing to the application of manure. The 
same causes that injured wheat iu Otsego 
also injured it in Wyoming. Some varieties 
were attacked by the weevil. 
I have raised wheat for Ill years iu Wyo¬ 
ming Co., with varied results. It has been 
injured by rust. It lias been injured by ex¬ 
cessive wetness, and by a combination of 
causes. But tbe harvest of 1871 was one of 
our very best. 1 have not learned that any 
person met with a failure. 
I have experimented, in the way of crops 
of all kinds, during the last nine years, and 
I think experience authorizes me to affirm 
that he who would teach must first learn! 
I lay down a few rules as invariably neces¬ 
sary. First: —To Becure good results iu 
raising wheat. In my neighborhood, laud 
must bo under-drained. Second: —rt must 
be so subsoiled as to prevent the possibility 
of water standing upon the surface ZA hours 
after the heaviest rains. Third: —The best 
manner of applying manure to wheat land 
is to use only well-rotted manure as a top- 
dressing. Fourth: —Wheat should be sown 
between the luth and 20th of September. 
Fifth : —I have obtained the best results by 
tlie use of the drill in seediug. 
On a piece of land containing a little over 
four acres, 1 underdraiued nearly one acre 
for experimental purposes. That samo acre 
I subsoiled. The subsoiled part I ‘‘top- 
dressed; " the balance of the field T heavily 
manured iu the common way. The result 
has been this:—I have twice sowed it with 
wheat; I have twice planted it with corn; 
1 have sowed it with clover, and mowed the 
crops, and every crop has demonstrated in 
favor of blind ditching and subsoiling. The 
improved part has given at h ast, twice as 
largo a crop as the unimproved. 
In 1871 I plowed the whole field. The 
improved part, including a strip two rods 
wide on the west side, I planted with po¬ 
tatoes. The subsoiled part demonstrated, as 
in every other crop. 1 am now an old man, 
and can do but little more for the benefit, of 
the world. I now most earnestly entreat 
all who cultivate land to “Prove all things, 
and to hold fast, that which is good.” 
Castile, Wyoming Co., N, Y. I?revs Feet. 
DETERIORATION OF SOUTHERN SUGAR 
CANE. 
The Southern planters and papers are 
complaining of the deterioration of the rib¬ 
bon cane, almost exclusively used by sugar 
planters; and to this deterioration the de¬ 
ficiency in the staple product is ascribed. 
This degeneracy is ascribed to bad cult iva¬ 
tion, deficient labor and drainage, and to 
the inferior cane used in planting. It is as¬ 
serted that the ribbon cane of to-day is 
almost wholly unlike the original cane im¬ 
ported by Judge Borrtn in 1810, from Java. 
It has entirely changed color, ami its juice 
has lost its original aroma. It is more deli¬ 
cate and puny in its growth, more easily 
affected by frost, and more subject to de¬ 
cay iu windrow or mattresses, put up for 
seed. The stubble will not keep sound 
after the first year, and the juice tastes like 
sorghum or corn stalk juice, requiring more 
boiling to make it granulate, and yielding 
less sugar and double the molasses it used 
to do. High cultivation aud fertilizing has 
failed to restore it to its original vigor and 
quality. 
This condition of things is likely to result 
iu a combination of Louisiana planters to 
employ some experienced person to proceed 
to India, Java, or Sumnjatra, to select and 
import enough of the best stock of that 
country to supply planters. The Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture has also addressed a 
circular of inquiry to the sugar planters, 
with a view of eliciting the information 
necessary to securing a supply of the best 
kind of cane for planting. The importance 
of action iu this matter Is important; but 
we doubt whether the Department cannot 
safely leave it to private enterprise to sup¬ 
ply what is wanted. For we remember that 
importations made under the auspices of 
the Department have hitherto profited few 
except the agent sent to select . 
FIELD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
The White Rose Potato. — Dr. Hex- 
a.mer having been reported as saying that 
“ the White Rose potato,” which it is 
claimed originated in Grant Co., Wis., “is 
the Ilarison under a fictitious name,” de¬ 
nies having said so; but he did say “The 
White Roso looks so much like the Hari- 
son that I cannot distinguish one from the 
other.” 
( 4}ai;nt (Bconomn. 
CLEARING LAND, 
There are three methods to be pursued 
in clearing land where the timber is to be 
burned on the ground. First, under-brush 
aud pile all t he brush close and cut up the 
old logs and down trees. Under-brushing 
meaus cutting every tree and bush under 8 
inches. Then fall your large timber on, or 
as near as possible to, the brush heaps that 
you have already made; trim every limb 
close, and pile the brush on the heaps; cut 
tho bodies from 14 to 18 feet long; leave the 
rail timber standing imtil you bum, be- 
because if you fall it when you fall the other 
timber you would be likely to burn it up. 
When there is sawing timber to be saved, 
under-brush in the fall and cut the saw-logs 
in the winter, and get them out of the way; 
then cut the other timber as above stated; 
burn iu June or August, and then “ log off.” 
If you can, get it off time enough for win¬ 
ter wheat; plow with a shovel plow, if not 
too much sward, and seed with grass seed. 
This method is at tended with the most la¬ 
bor, bat you get the use of your land the 
first season. Many fail in clearing land by 
not taking enough pains in burning out and 
piling brush. 
The second method is to windrow; that is, 
to under-brush and throw the small trees 
in windrows, five or six rods apart; then fall 
the large timber on the windrows and lop 
down the limbs and throw in the brush that 
does not fall on the heaps, and leave the 
bodies without cutting up. Let it lie about 
three years, then put fire in, in a dry time, 
aud burn it; then throw poles across (he 
logs where you want to cut them, and build 
a fire on them, and by attending to it, you 
can burn the logs oft'. In this way, however, 
the land gets foul. 
The third method consists iu under- 
brushing and girdling the large timber— 
that is, chopping through the bark around 
the tree. When the trees are dead and dry, 
cut and fall across each other as much us 
possible and burn. Trees should be girdled 
in June. In cutting up timber a cross-cut 
saw can be used to good advantage, if it can 
be kept iu good order. To have tho stumps 
rot tho quickest, cut the timber in June. 
Athena, Mich. John MoLean. 
FISH GUANO. 
Large quantities of fish guano are used 
in New England. Chas. W. Dickerman 
writes the New England Homestead that a 
Mr. 11 all, fifty years of age now, and all 
his life a farmer, was the first man to man¬ 
ufacture fish guano in this country—twenty 
years ago. From a small beginning, the 
business has extended until now Mr. Hall 
is President of the Quinnipial Co. at Pine 
island, which lust year sold over 3,000 tons. 
The season for catching the fish from 
which this guano is made extends from May 
to October. This Company receive from 
1,000 to 300,000 fish per day during the sea¬ 
son. These fish are unloaded into large 
tanks and steam forced into them until the 
mass boils; they are then subjected to pres¬ 
sure until theoil is expressed. This oil sella 
for about 50 cents per gallon, and it has sold 
as high as $1.30 per gallon. The amount 
obtained from one thousand fish, varies 
from three to twelve gallons, according to 
their fatness. It is suspected that large 
quantities of it are used for the adultera¬ 
tion of linseed oil. After the oil is express¬ 
ed, the fish are dried, either on a platform 
iu the open air or in a revolving dryer over 
artificial heat. 
MANURE FOR CORN AND POTATOES. 
Some farmers handle their manure wrong, 
in my opinion—especially with reference to 
potato aud corn crops. The mistake they 
make is in hauling out their manure for 
these crops in the Fall preceding the plant¬ 
ing season, thereby losing one-third the 
strength of the manure. The plan of all 
farmers who give this a consideration is 
to not draw out their fertilizers until with¬ 
in a week or two of the time of planting— 
just long enough before to have the manure 
heat. Some umy say they do not have time 
to do this; but it will pay, even if they have 
to hire help; for the manure rots away to 
such an extent that I can safely say that 
one-third is lost. I do not include small 
crops, for they need fine manure. If anyone 
does not believe this theory, let him try it. 
Bahway, N. J. f. f. 
-♦♦♦- 
Saw to Cut Down Timber.—Farmers 
in Wood Co., O., cut down timber with a 
common cross-cut saw. They first cut a 
notch in the side of the tree tow'ard which 
it is desiz-ed it should fall. Then they saw 
(JUNE i 
from the other side, inserting the saw as 
high, or higher, than the upper part of the 
notch in the opposite side. It will be found 
necessary to hold the saw firmly against the 
tree. Use a wedge to throw the tree over. 
—H. W. 
Judicial 3i4|)ics. 
FARMER GARRULOUS TALKS. 
The Eight Hour System, or any other 
system, on a farm, is objected to by a cer¬ 
tain class of people, because it is said if it is 
recognized it would result in a total loss of 
a crop. This, Mr. Editor, is wbat some 
people would call “bosh.” There is no 
more need that a man should lose his crop, 
when it is understood that a day’s work 
means eight hours labor, than that the farm¬ 
er is swindled because a bushel of corn must 
weigh fifty-six pounds in order to be. a legal 
bushel. When I hire a man by the day, or 
month, I am specific iu my bargain. If I 
pay him for a day’s work—say %Z —both lie 
and I understand distinctly that he is to 
faithfully give me ten hours labor for that 
amount; and that, if my needs are such 
that he works over-time, I pay him for such 
over-time pro rata. So when I hire a man 
by the month—say at $20—it is understood 
between us that he is to give me twenty- 
four or twenty-six days labor, of ten hours 
each, for that amount. If he makes over¬ 
time, T am to pay him pro rata. I have 
never found that 1 could not command the 
services of my men as many hours per day 
as it was profitable to me to have them 
work ; and 1 have never yet found men so 
hired dissatisfied with the specific character 
of the bargain, I always took pains to be as 
just to them as I expected them to be faith¬ 
ful to my interests. Aud it is roy deliber¬ 
ate opinion that when farmers recognize 
this business principle of paying for what 
they got, and getting what they pay for, 
there will be more successful farmers. 
There is nothing impracticable about it; 
and tho recognition of the rights of laborers 
on farms will help to improve the class of 
labor that will be found available. 
“ Charge It.”—I rode to town the other 
day with Sam Stewer. He said ho was in 
“a deuce of a hurry.” He had sold a tub 
of butter to be delivered at the station that 
day, and ho had a field ready to sow with 
wheat. He didn't know how to spare the 
time, but he “needed the money,” aud so 
harnessed Ids team to deliver the butter. 
This he did, got his cash, and, returning 
from the station, stopped at a store to get 
two pounds of tea, a pound of coffee, a pound 
of allspice, five pounds of sugar, and a gal¬ 
lon of molasses. The packages were pnt up 
for him. He hustled them into the wagon, 
aud, as he was untying the tie-sl rap, lie 
shouted to tho merchant, " Charge it.” 
After we had started home, I said:—“ Why 
did you not pay that bill? You had the 
money in your pocket.” 
“ Yes; but you see I had got to buy some 
clover seed of Peter Juniper, who only 
deals for cash—don't give credit. Then I 
have got a bill to pay at the milliner’s. My 
wife wants a new bonnet, so does daughter 
Sally, and last year’s bill is not paid; and 
the women folks suid they would not ask 
for any more credit there until it was, so 
I’ve got to give them fifteen or twenty dol¬ 
lars to pay up last year’s bill so that they 
can get their head gear The fact is, Gar¬ 
rulous, I'm behiud time all the while. 
These middlemen do take the life-blood out 
of us farmers.” 
“Bah!” said I. “That is all nonsense. 
There are two words, Stewer, that you 
should never speak to a man or woman of 
whom you make a purchase; nor should 3 - ou 
allow au 3 T oue to say them for 3 'ou. If you 
will agree not to do so, J will warrant that 
within two years you will be out cl debt, a 
free, happy, and independent man; aud 
that what you buy will cost you from seven 
to fifteen per cent, less than it does now! ” 
“ What words?” 
“ Never say * charge it! ’ Never allow any 
one to say ‘ charge it.’ The man who does 
so has to pay a good round per cent, for tho 
use of the money he thus borrows—more 
than any farmer can afford to paj r . I’ve 
tried it, Stewer, and I know. You have 
often wondered how I manage to always 
have ready money. It is because I do not 
say ‘ charge it.’ It is because I will not say 
'charge it.’ It is because I will not buy 
what I cannot pay cash for. And it is be¬ 
cause when 1 do buy, 1 can get it cheaper 
than you can, because I do pa 3 ’ cash for it, 
and you say‘charge it.’ That's what ails 
you, Stewer. And you’ll always be a 
Stewer, and in a stew, as long as you say to 
an}'body, ‘charge it.’ ” 
