attends to it just now and until the middle of 
July. The stock in winter will appreciate 
and pay for such providence. 
Whrnt in Marion Co., Kansas .—It is as- 
serted that a Mr. Miller of Marion Center, 
Marion Co., Kan., who settled there in 1859, 
asserts that he has grown fifty bushels of fall 
wheat, by measurement, per acre ; and that 
for the whole time he has resided there, fall 
wheat has averaged twenty-five bushels per 
acre. 
The Cotton Crop of 1873.—It is estimated 
that there is an increase of 7 }4 P er cent, in 
seems really to be the case, strange though 
it may appear. Lime, according to the re¬ 
sults of experiments made with the view of 
clearing tip this subject, a ppearing to increase 
the power of earths, to absorb either nitro¬ 
gen or ammonia, or both, from tho air. If 
this be the case, the soils which ifjre properly 
limed will produce not only valuable fertil¬ 
izing material by the decomposition at work 
of their material, but will actually absorb 
that from the air. 
Besides being used, lime may also be abused 
by the farmer : and as surely as the rational 
then be hollow ; the water will get in the 
hollow and rot them, so they will never 
sprout again. Tf they are cut off with a hoe 
or plow, the ground will close overthem, and 
there will come two sprouts for one. — T. H. 
W., Chester, VI. 
In Rural New-Yorker, June 21st, B. J. A. 
asks for some method to extirpate Canada 
thist les. I have a little accidental experience 
which I will give him the benefit ol'. In the. 
best field on the farm we had about two 
acres of Canada thistles. Five years ago we 
cut a good crop of clover hay, and the last 
week in August turned the second of seed 
crop down for fall wheat. Harvested a good 
crop of wheat but no thistles.—A. H. Elli¬ 
ott, Erie Co., Pa. 
THE MANGEL WURZEL 
Mr. Dev of Wisconsin recently said: 
“ The mangel wurzel beet I think the best of 
all roots. It will take nearly four lbs. of seed 
to sow an acre in drills, and there can be 
raised on an acre from 600 to 800 bushels. 1 
plant in rows or drills 2feet apart and culti¬ 
vate with n horse. Last year 1 planted of 
an acre and raised 800 bushels. 1 think 1 
would have had more if 1 had not ridged my 
ground. I am done ridging for root crops. I 
planted throe kinds, the yellow globe, white 
sugar and yellow vooid. 1 think the white 
sugar and yellow globe the best. I think 
there is no root that equals the beet for feed, 
especially for milch cows. They cause a 
great flow of milk and there is no bad flavor 
to the milk. They are excellent for sheep 
that have lambs before the grass starts in 
the spring; and to any farmer who has 80 
acres of land 1 would recommend him to 
plant at least 2 acres with roots which will 
Jmlitstijmt Pinitittfnr 
WILLIAMS’S LOCK-TRACK RAILWAY 
POWER. 
THE SWEDE TURNIP 
Mr. John Dev, in a discussion on Root 
Culture by a Wisconsin Fanners’ Club, said : 
“ The Swede turnip is a good root for sheep, 
hogs and young cuttle. Cows fed on them 
will keep in good heart, but they are not as 
good for milk as the carrot or beet. It will 
pay well to raise them. If we do not wish to 
feed them we can sell them ; they usually 
bring 40 or 59 cents per bushel, and if we 
say 600 bushels to the acre at 40 cents we 
have $240,00; and if we allow one-half for 
raising and markotingwe have $ 120 , 00 , which 
would buy 200 bushels of corn, and to raise 
200 bushels of coni we would want 4 acres of 
ground and expend more to raise and harvest 
than we would the turnips.” 
ARRESTING DECAY IN POTATOES, 
Various plans for arresting decay in pota¬ 
toes after digging have from time to time 
be.cn made public, such as dusting with quick¬ 
lime, gypsum, charcoal dust, etc. Prof. 
Church of Cirencester, England, tho eminent 
agricultural chemist announces that sulphite 
of lime appears to exercise a very remarkable 
influence in arresting the spread of decay in 
potatoes affected by the potato disease. In 
one expert meat the -alt was dusted over some 
tubers, partially decayed from this cause, as 
they were being stowed away. Some months 
afterward the potatoes were found to have 
suffered no further injury. A similar trial 
with powdered lime proved to lie much less 
effective. 
THE USE AND ACTION OF LIME 
Besides forwardin' 
the interests of the 
agriculturists by showing how to correct 
certain evils by use of lime, chemistry has 
aided agriculture in another way, viz., by 
encouraging the farmer to perform this oper¬ 
ation more generally by showing him the 
many good results which follow it. if farm¬ 
ers believed now, as we have reason to sup¬ 
pose they did some seventy or eighty years 
ago, that carbonate of lime acts only by im¬ 
proving the texture of the soil, is it possible 
to believe that they would expend so much 
money aud time in applying lime to their 
fields as the}’- do now ? I think not: but they 
have been told by chemistry, und the state¬ 
ment has been proved by experience, that 
lime acts, and acts most energetically and 
usefully, on soils tho texture of which stands 
in need of no improvement. 
I have already stated that lime is advan¬ 
tageous as an aid to the decomposition both 
of mineral and vegetable substances existing 
in the soil; it plays, however, another very 
Important part. Lime imparts to soil, as is 
proved by the working of niter or saltpeter 
beds, the power of changing the nitrogen 
contained in decomposing vegetable and ani 
mal substances into nitric acid, which acid, 
combining with tho lime, forms the powerful 
fertilizing agent, nitrate of lime, or lime 
niter. During the French Revolution, the 
nitrate of potash (or potash niter) used by the 
French army, was obtained by a process veiy 
similar to that which takes place in a well 
limed and drained field. The French niter 
was obtained by mixing manure with chalk, 
or some such calcareous matter, and water¬ 
ing the mixture with water or urine. The 
heap, after having been treated in this way 
for some months, was found to contain a 
large quantity of nitrate of lime, which sol¬ 
uble salt was extracted by digesting the mass 
into water, and converted into nitrate of 
potash by being treated with pearl aslu What 
took place in these niter beds takes place in 
a properly limed field, so that by a compara¬ 
tively small outlay a large quantity of the 
richest manorial agent can be produced in a 
soil by careful and judicious liming. Some 
chemists claim more than this for lime, and 
assert that more nitrate of potash is derived 
from niter beds than is equivalent to the 
amount of nitrogen in the substance em¬ 
ployed, which is tantamount to saying that 
nitrogen is absorbed from without. This 
FIELD NOTES. 
Late Plowing in of Clover Fields .—A cor¬ 
respondent of the Cincinnati Gazette details 
several experiments which show that when 
clover sod is turned in May, after the clover 
is up some inches, corn planted thereon is far 
less liable to be troubled by the cut worm; 
than if t he land were plowed the fall before 
or earl// in spring. The worms feed on the 
clover instead of the corn. Besides, if the 
clover is in rank, growing condition when 
turned under, and the roots full of sap, it 
will be more rotten ax August than if plowed 
earner, when tho roots are not full of sap. 
The Eradication of Nut. Grass.—(Cypems 
rotundas , L., var, hydra,) the Rural Carolini¬ 
an says “cannot he eradicated by thorough 
cultivation,” for every farmer and gardener 
South well knows that t he more thorough tho 
cultivation (in the ordinary sense of the term) 
the bet. er (or worse) the coco grows, and that 
not hing serves so well to propagate it as to 
plow and re-plow witii a view to destroy it. 
Shade, however, will eradicate it, the only 
practical difficulty being to make the shade 
perfect and persistent enough.” 
Blue. Grass in Kansas .— Albert Crane 
formerly of Kentucky, it is reported, has 
bought land for a stock farm, hi Marion Co., 
Kan,, and has the past spiring sown seven 
hundred and fifty bushels of blue grass seed. 
He burned off the wild grass, hamrwed the 
sod and sowed the seed on if. The blue grass 
is said to be growing handsomely and he 
thinks it v ill drive the wild grass out in a 
year or two. 
It is not too Late to Plant Turnips .—Plant 
them wherever there is a vacant space in the 
corn or potato field, or wherever an early 
garden crop has been taken off. It is aston¬ 
ishing how large a supply of these roots may 
be raised on such vacant spaces if one only 
HOME-MADE HORSE-POWERS, 
The cheapest and best way to make a 
horse-power for dairy and other light use, is 
to put a light drum on a center post, nigh 
enough to have the belt clear the horse’s 
head. Attach a sweep ten or twelve feet 
long to the center post, so that the track in 
which the horse walks will be from twenty 
to twenty-four feet in diameter if possible. 
Let the track be soft ground. The whole 
arrangement may be made of white pine, 
except the sweep, which should be hard 
wood. Let the drum be about ten feet in 
diameter and six inches face. Use a two-inch 
rubber belt. Make a small pulley from four 
inches to a foot in diameter, according as you 
want fast or slow motion. If you want the 
motion still faster, gear up with a second belt 
and set of pulleys. The direction of the 
motion may be changed by a quarter twist 
in the second belt, or by passing the first belt 
over idler pulleys. 
Tin’s arrangement will be almost noiseless, 
while the clatter and jar of a circular plat¬ 
form would be enough to drive a sensitive or 
nervous person almost crazy. Besides it is 
much easier and safer to teach a horse to fol¬ 
low a circular path than to keep his balance 
on a revolving platform.— Cor. Country G&n- 
tlema/n. 
KILLING CANADA THISTLES. 
Mr. B. J. A., Southern Wisconsin, wants 
to know the best method for killing Canada 
thistles, 1 have had considerable experience 
with them. I find the best way is to let 
them grow until they blossom, then cut them 
off near the top of tho ground ; the stalk will 
