OOBE’S BUBAL NEW-YOBIREB. 
— 
40 
oficM (itytrps. 
CUTTING AND SHOCKING COEN. 
As we are now in the midst of the season 
for cutting corn, perhaps a few words on the 
subject may Had a place in your valuable 
journal, as in your last issue you invite us 
farmers to write as well as talk. I have read 
an article wiih the above caption taken from 
the N. Y. Weekly Herald. It stated that 
farmers have each their own way' of doing 
this work. That may be so. Yet there is 
but one right way ; and if mv method is not 
correct, I would be glad to learn a better one. 
My plan is to commence on four rows, run¬ 
ning north and south, for reasons which I 
will explain before closing. Taking the hill 
under my left arm, I hold it togetheraud cut 
It as close to the ground as possible, hold¬ 
ing the corn cutter under the cut corn, 
lift ng on it so ns to avoid losing any of 
the ears or suckers and small stalks, which 
are the best part of the fodder, and at 
the same time making the right hand aid 
the left arm in carrying it to the next hill, 
then dropping the butts of the cut hill on the 
ground close to the next, I encircle the same 
with the left arm and cut it (the corn) like¬ 
wise, going thus from hill to hill, and taking 
each of the four rows until 1 have a bundle 
as large as I can conveniently carry with the 
cutter under the butts, which is very essen¬ 
tial, carrying It forward into the standing 
corn a sufficient distance to leave about an 
equal amount of standing corn on each side, 
eo as to make what most folks would call a 
large shock, say one that will yield about l>tf 
bushels of ears. I then place the bundle on 
the ground between the hills of the middle 
rows, so that each cut stalk will stand firmly 
on the ground ; then taking the stalks of one 
hill on the right hand and those of the op¬ 
posite hill ou the left, cross them around the 
bundle, always taking pains to pull upon the 
standing stalks which form the band, bring¬ 
ing them around the bundle. I do not tie 
them, as is the usual way, but simply give 
them one twist together, bend the ends 
down and tuck them under two or three of 
the cut stalks and bear them down. The 
bundle will stand firm, being fastened to the 
ground between the t wo stand ing hills, which 
operate as braces or ties to prevent the 
storms, which usually come from the West, 
from blowing them down. This is my reason 
for cutting north and south. 
After fixing, or rather binding the bundle, 
I go on cutting as before, not forgetting to 
wrap the hill under my left arm and keep 
the cutter under the butts, so as not to waste 
a particle of the fodder. X then cut on each 
side and set around the shock, or rather on 
two sides of it, leaving the two standing hills 
near the outside of the shock when finished, 
so as to be handily cut off when ready to 
pull over for husking, and, being ou the out¬ 
side, two can be cut with more facility than 
one in the middle of the shock. So you see 
the saving of the one hill to each shock in 
cutting. I then bind the shock firmly about 
one foot above the ends of the ears with rye 
straw, and place a second band about one 
foot above the first. 
Corn set up in this way will staud secure 
for months ; still it is better to husk as soon 
as the corn is fit to crib. In husking, 1 take 
the com cutter and go through three rows 
of shocks, making two or three bundles of 
each shock, putting them together in the 
middle row, three shocks of corn making 
one of stalks. I bind the tops with a double 
band of rye straw, which works better if 
dampened to toughen it. A. B. Benham, 
Drycteu, Sept. 18,1874. 
if ever, flowers a second time in the year. 
It requires two or three years to get well 
established, hence it is not well adapted to 
the alternate husbandry. It is remarkable 
for the second growth, or for a continued 
growth of its leaves. If not eaten off by 
stock we have often seen the leaves two feet 
long. It is one of the most widely diffused of 
any grass in the world. Notwithstanding 
some call it a useless weed, It is the chief 
among our lawn grasses, worth more than 
all the rest put together, in most places. 
It constitutes a large part of the grasses 
in our old pastures. It is too often estimated 
by its rather short stubbles, as seen in poor 
meadows, than by its rapid and continuous 
growth of nutritious and palatable leaves. 
Wc wonder there i3 not more of it sown. 
Milch cows fed on it, if they have good water, 
make excellent butter and cheese. There is 
no grass known which bears cold weather 
and hard usage better than this. The straw 
is used like leghorn for bonnets. 
Poa comprcssa, is known as blue grass, 
wire grass, fiat-stalk grass. Its habit is much 
like June grass, though it prefers dry soil. 
The stems are hard, dark green, and easily 
known by being fiat or compressed, remain¬ 
ing green and sweet for a long time after the 
seeds have ripened. It shrinks the least in 
drying of any of our grasses. For pastures 
it is exceedingly rich and much liked by all 
kinds of stock. For meadows it is small and 
wiry ; hard to cut, soon gumming lhe scythe 
OUE LATEST GEASSES. 
Prof. W. J. Beal of the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College sends to the Michigan Farm¬ 
er an article upon grasses which condenses 
much knowledge upon this subject copying 
that part which relates to the more valuable 
6orts, asking attention particularly to what 
he says upon Kentucky Blue grass and 
Orchard grass. 
Poa pratensis is known by a great variety 
of common names, among which are Ken¬ 
tucky blue grass, June grass, smooth-stalked 
meadow grass, green meadow grass, spear 
grass. 
No grass in this country plays so important 
a part in our best pastures. It is also promi¬ 
nent in European pastures. It is not so often 
Eown as some others, but works its way into 
pastures with wonderful rapidity, and then 
holds its own, too, with great tenacity. It 
has a creeping root stock, which helps it to 
spread and retain its footing. It flowers 
early in June in central Michigan, but seldom 
‘ or knives of the mower. It is thin, never 
' forming a close turf, nor does it seem to grow 
1 very well mixed with other grasses. Among 
i our best judges there is a difference of opinion 
1 as to its comparative value for meadows and 
i pastures. A native of Europe, North America. 
Phleum pratense, timothy, herd's grass, is 
! the best known gross in the northern States. 
In England it is called Cat’s-tail. It is not so 
1 fashionable and popular in Europe as here. 
It is often sown with red clover, but it 
flowers considerably later. On account of a 
bulb at the base it will not bear feeding or 
cutting closely. The second growth after 
mowing starts very slowdy. The quality of 
hay is excellent, when well cured, especially 
for horses, 
Agrosti8 vulgaris, red top, is also called 
herd's grass in Pennsylvania, burdin’s grass 
in Rhode Island, and in other places red bent 
grass, or summer dew grass, and some other 
local names. It is often sown and thrives on 
low bottom land, though it will grow on dry 
saudy land. It flowers a little later, than 
timothy, making good hay, rather light for 
its bulk. It needs more than one year to 
become well established. It is a native of 
North America. 
Dixchjllx glomerata, orchard grass or rough 
cocksfoot, is a native of Europe, where it has 
been grown over a hundred years, meeting 
with great favor for pasture and meadow. 
Iu many parts of England it stands highest 
of all grasses in value. It thrives very well 
in shady places, but better iu sunny places. 
It starts very early in spring and blossoms 
about with red clover. It starts very soon 
after it has been mowed and fed down. It is 
very nutritious and makes excellent hay if 
cut in season. Stock like it, which is the 
best known test for the quality of any grass. 
It does well in many places in this country, 
and where it thrives, it is much more sensible 
to sow orchard grass with clover instead of 
clear timothy with clover. It deserves a 
good trial by all our farmers. In many 
places, if not on a large majority of Michigan 
farms, I think it one of the very best grasses 
to sow for meadow or pasture. 
Festuca clutior, meadow fescue, succeeds 
well on a variety of soils, heavy clay or light 
sand. It flowers In June or July. It is of 
excellent quality and produces well in many 
places ; extensively used in the old country. 
Not much known in the northern States, but 
by all means worth trying. Very variable 
iu size und form. 
Poa scrolina, fowl meadow grass, false 
red top, late poa, swamp wire grass, has a 
stem which remains green a long time after 
the plant has gone to seed. A native of our 
low lands, making excellent hay and pas¬ 
tures. Tall and slender stems and liable to 
flat down. 
Valamagrostis Canadensis, blue joint, red 
grass, is a large native grass found on low 
lands. It gives a large yield of fair hay if 
cut young. 
A lopecurus pratensis, meadow foxtail, is 
some like timothy in appearance, It is softer, 
shorter, and much earlier to start in spring 
and produces spikes of flowers. 
It is highly prized in England and Scotland, i 
It requires three or four years to get well i 
established. It flowers nearly four weeks 
before timothy. Our little patch at the 
college looks well. Much of the seed bought i 
'b poor. i 
Lolium perenne, ray, rye grass, darnel, 
was introduced from England, where it is 
almost universally cultivated. There it has 
a high reputation for pasture, lawn or mead¬ 
ow. It has not been tried much in this 
country except for lawns. It needs high 
culture and a rather moist climate ; in fact 
these conditions are good for any grass as a 
help to success. It is much liked in some 
permanent pastures where it has been tried 
in this country. 
LoUum 1 tali cum, Italian rye grass, is a 
mere variety of the above, generally growing 
larger and having a greater tendency to die 
out in a year or so. This and the one above 
are both rapid growers and well liked by 
stock. 
TriLicum ri pens, couch grass, quack grass, 
witch grass, quitch grass, twitch grass, 
chadler grass, is one of our very worst, pests 
in field or garden. It seldom seeds. It can 
easily be exterminated In one season by 
thoroughly working as a summer fallow. 
Cultivate the ground well every five to eight 
days, keeping the leaves entirely outof sight 
or not permitting them t o grow. 
Anthoxanthum odor alum, sweet scented 
venial grass, is much admired on lawns 
because of its delightful fragrance every 
time, it is mowed or trampled upon. Stock 
are not fond of it. It is too small to be of 
much use as a forage grass. 
<$ap (F:conomij. 
HOW TO HAVE GOOD CIDEE. 
The careless, shiftless way we have of 
making cider and spoiling it at the same 
time is a sin—as if cider were good only for 
vinegar, and as if vinegar would be good 
enough, no matter how poor the cider ! We 
shake our trees, gather the sour apples (in 
many cases) Into heaps, let half of them be¬ 
come rotten, take them off to the cider mill, 
dump them into the common heap, and take 
the so-called sweet cider which the pressman 
allows us—so many gallons to tho bushel. 
The. apples are ground, and, if no water be 
added directly to the mash, the straw with 
which the cheese is laid up is dripping wet 
with water, and of course the cider is diluted 
by just so much. Water is of course added, 
if the cider will bear it. Such cider is poor 
stuff, anyhow. It tastes of rottenness when 
“ sweet,” has a harsh flavor when at its best, 
sours before it has done sparkling, and is 
“hard"—that Is, vinegar, or vinegary, be¬ 
fore February. 
Try this way ; Sslect sound—that is, not 
rotten apples. Bruises are no disadvantage, 
perhaps the contrary. They may be both 
sweet and sour, and the more substantial 
the apples the better the quality of the cider. 
Insist upon cleanliness at (he mill. Better 
use a hand mill than take apples to a mill 
where you cannot have tiling's done just as 
3 'ou want. Grind the apples and let the 
mash stand some hours before pressing, 
stirring it to get color, and when one cheese 
in in press have another ground and waiting. 
Use no water to wet the straw, but moisten 
it with sweet cider, it requires but little. 
Run the cider or “ must ” directly into clean, 
sweet whisky barrels. If there is the least 
smell of mustiness the barrels should be pu¬ 
rified by burning sulphur in them. If they 
have held either cider or vinegar before, 
wash them out thoroughly with soda, letting 
them stand for some time with water in 
them, rendered alkaline by soda, and swash 
it around in them frequently, so as to remove 
the vinegar from every part. 
Cany them home full and place them in 
the coolest place available. Then draw out, 
perhaps, two gallons, to allow space for *he 
effervescence to work off without overflow¬ 
ing during the active fermentation. Have 
one barrel or half barrel to drink from, if 
you need, and to fill up the others from as 
soon as the active fermentation is over. 
Keep the bungholes covered with pieces of 
clean blanket, with stones laid upon them. 
This will keep out fruit flies and exclude ac¬ 
cess of air, while the carbonic acid gas 
formed during the fermentation will pass 
out freely. The cooler the cider is kept the 
slower will be the working and the better 
the result. In a week or fortnight, accord¬ 
ing to circumstances, the fermentation will 
have quieted down and a considerable de¬ 
posit of lees will have taken place. Then 
rack off into clean barrels, filling them full. 
As soon as the “singing” has ceased and the 
cider is nearly clear, rack again and bung up 
tight. 
It ought really to be racked again in 
March, and as soon as racked ‘•fined” with 
isinglass, dissolved after long maceration in 
cider oniy until it becomes a thin jeily, using 
1}4 to 2 ounces of isinglass to the barrel. 
This will carry with it all impurities to the 
bottom and leave the liquid clear and pure. 
This cider should be nearly as fine as hock, 
and may be rebarreled or bottled. 
There are sundry minutiae which the best 
cider makers lay great stress upon. We 
would be glad of the views of those who are 
really adepts at this simple art. It is really 
a shame that with such an abundance of the 
raw material our people generally should be 
a3 ignorant of what good cider is as they are 
of good cheese. 
- *-*-*■ - 
APPLICATION OF MANUEE IN WINTEE. 
During the New England Fair the Presi¬ 
dent delivered an address on “Manures,” 
after which the general subject was discussed 
by several gentlemen, among them Mr. J. B. 
Olcott of the Hartford Courant. He said as 
follows :—“ Last winter for the first time I 
heard a good deal about the spreading of 
fresh manure in the winter. I had always 
been bred in the notion that we ought to be 
very careful how we handled our fresh ma¬ 
nure, that we ought to keep it as close as 
possible, plow it in, cover it in some way, 
and not expose it to the ail-. I had not much 
of it; 1 was a little choice of it. It was quite 
necessary for me to save what I had. But I 
think the tendency of men’s minds is to 
think that they ought to plow in manure 
quite green and fresh, and 1 had seen very 
much of it done. I commenced in the early 
winter and carted out what I had—perhaps 
100 bushels that was not more than three or 
four weeks old. It was quite fresh (we kept 
it iu the barn cellar trodden by pigs). Five 
or six weeks later we plowed in more and 
we kept on in that routine. It was on a 
meadow. We had occasionally spells when 
the ground was entirely bare that winter, 
und there were drying winds. In looking at 
that meadow this spring I had supposed 1 
should find certain strips where I had applied 
the manure, upon which I should never see 
much effect produced by it. I had marks, 
so that I could tell distinctly where each lot 
of manure was applied, and I also had a rec¬ 
ord of the dates on which each lot was spread 
and the circumstances. There was a good 
deal of sand in this manure. I marked par¬ 
ticularly one strip where the land had lain a 
fortnight without any covering whatever. 
It lay right alongside of a strip that was cov¬ 
ered with snow the next day after the ma¬ 
nure was appl ed to it. I could see no sign 
there of a difference iu the growth of the 
grass ; I could see no difference between that 
which had been exposed to those drying 
winds and that which had been immediately 
covered with heavy snow that afterwards 
melted und washed and soaked the manure 
into the ground. We have had a very wet 
season this year. I have been so much en¬ 
couraged with the result of this experiment 
that I shall try it again.” 
-- 
THE USE OF LIME. 
L have been for a long time looking for 
some one’s practical experience in the use of 
lime for agricultural purposes. Lime can be 
obtained here at from k0 to 25 cents per 
bushel. I wish to know what quantity to 
use, at what season of the year, and whether 
on sod and plowed under for corn, or on the 
top with a crop. If some practical farmer 
will answer these simple questions, he will 
greatly oblige— O. J. Hollister, Susquehan¬ 
na Co., Pa. 
Mr. Hollister evidently would prefer not 
to have the editor’s statement of how to use 
lime. The amounts applied and the manner 
of application, as well as the seasons and the 
crops, are so various that we would be very 
glad to hear what is the actual practice of 
good farmers in different sections. Those 
who respond to these queries (and we hope 
many will, for it will be to their mutual 
benefit) will please describe closely their 
practice and results, stating also the charac¬ 
ter and quality of their soils. 
-- 
EEFUSE CHAECOAL FOE MANUEE. 
Please tell me the value of the fine char¬ 
coal which accumulates at coal pits for ma_ 
nure, how to use it, and for what kind of 
cr p it is best. Will it pay to take it as a 
gift and haul it five miles in large quanti¬ 
ties ?—E. N., Freedom, Wis. 
It is hard to tell exactly the value. It will 
pay hereabouts to haul it five miles. We 
use it especially on grass and potatoes. It 
is, however, good on almost all crops, con¬ 
taining as it does much ashes, besides pos¬ 
sessing the peculiar and beneficial quality of 
the charcoal itself, which acts in a way posi¬ 
tive enough to be better understood than it 
really is. You would do well to experiment 
with it at least. 
