JULY 30 
THE RURAL 
NEW-YORKER. 
the surface in search of warmth, and possibly 
as corn grows on thin soils in the East* Corn 
has as much natural instinct as an animal, 
and accommodates itself to the season, if itB 
changes are not too sudden, and to almost any 
sensible mode of cultivation, if steadily pur¬ 
sued ; but the work of a fickle-minded farmer 
will demoralize a corn crop more quickly than 
any other crop X know of. "The great crops of 
Indian corn produced by plow cultivation and 
hilling up” were no doubt grown on the cold, 
heavy 6oils of the Illinois bottoms, and if flat 
culture had been employed there would have 
been no corn. "The narrow belt” in drill 
corn, on which the plants grow, must be kept 
clean by horse culture; our corn cultivators 
do that nicely. We never use the hand hoe in 
any field crop. There is a wonderful amount 
of good, solid schooling to be had at the tail 
of a corn cultivator in a 60-acre corn patch. If 
economy is a valuable item In life, there is no 
better place to learn and practice it; it doesn’t 
pay to be extravagant while growing corn to 
Bell at 10 cents per bushel. Corn is an ex¬ 
tremely Biieculent plant, a too great profusion 
of rootB grows a large, delicate stalk, very 
watery, growing late, setting Its earn late, get¬ 
ting caught by frost and yielding a Bmall crop 
of soft nubbins. " Root-pruning ” obviates all 
this, if practiced at the right time with great 
juderment. We " corn-crackers” don't believe 
that much practical or useful knowledge can 
be obtained from the limited area of a one- 
half-acre corn field. 
Dodge Co., Neb. 
- — -♦♦♦-— 
TOBACCO NOTES. 
Tobacco, being by nature a tropical plant, 
requires hot weather to produce its best devel¬ 
opment. When grown in the Northern States, 
therefore, it is important that the growth 
should be stimulated as much as possible in its 
earlier stages, in order that it may accomplish 
its development during the hot weather of mid¬ 
summer. 
An experienced tobacco farmer stated, at a 
recent meeting of the Chemung County To¬ 
bacco Club, that he was told, when he first 
commenced to grow the weed, that " he must 
draw all the soil from between the rows, 
around the plants, at the second hoeing.” He 
followed the plan for a number of years, but 
finally tried the effects of level culture, and, to 
his surprise, he found the plants not hilled 
grew fully as well as those hilled up at great 
cost for labor. Of late years he has done 
away with the "hilling-up”process. 
A tobacco kaiser ought always to bear in 
mind that there is quite as much in the quality 
of tobacco as in the quantity. A small, poor 
plant will usually be destitute of many, if not 
of all, desirable qualities, and must bring a 
correspondingly small price, which sometimes 
is below the cost of production. A large, 
healthy plant, grown with an abundance of 
suitable food, will generally produce leaf of 
desirable qualities that sells readily at a price 
which will he remunerative to the grower. 
A good crop of tobacco cannot be grown 
without thorough cultivation. Clean and deep 
culture is essential to success. The roots of 
the tobacco plant are naturally very fibrous, 
requiring a loose, mellow soil for their natural 
growth ; therefore it is clearly to be seen how 
important it is to keep the soil in a loose, mel¬ 
low condition with hoe and cultivator. A 
common mistake is in not cultivating deep 
enough. The B'nares of the cultivator should 
be run deep into the soil- Thus not only the 
surface proper is pulverized, but the soil to a 
considerable depth, which allows the rootlets 
to spread out and penetrate a greater area of 
soil than could otherwise be possible. 
I have the past season used a small quantity 
of the Maryland " Tobacco Food”—a special 
fertilizer for tobacco. Two hundred pounds 
were first applied upon the first half-acre pre¬ 
pared for the plants. It was scattered along 
the rows evenly, after which it was covered by 
the ridges. I am now able to see a decided 
gain iu the growth of the portion of the piece 
where the first lot was applied. The first set¬ 
ting consisted of about an aero, set May 27, 
about half of which was treated as above 
stated with the fertilizer. The rows thus 
treated show a marked difference in size of 
plants, in favor of its use. Another sack of 
200 pounds was applied to another portion of 
the field, but later, bo that Its effects are not as 
yet visible. I have also applied the Swift- 
Sure Superphosphate and some hen manure to 
portions of the field, the effects of which I 
will speak of in due time. 
Tobacco does not deteriorate iu quality 
when the same soil is used for many success¬ 
ive years, if enough manure is annually ap¬ 
plied. Mr. John Brand, a noted tobacco grower 
of Chemung County, has planted a field with 
tobacco for 12 consecutive years, each suc¬ 
ceeding crop proving to be of better quality 
than the previous one. He manures with sta¬ 
ble manure, applying it at the rate of 15 large 
two-horse loads to the acre each year. The 
soil, however, in this field consists of alluvial, 
sandy loam. With clay soil the case might be 
different. For the benefitof the farm it is usu¬ 
ally advisable lu change the tobacco field every 
three or four years and substitute a rotation, 
ending with a seeding with clover. Thus, the 
various fields of the farm pass through the 
same thorough cultivation, which destroys all 
noxious weeds and reduces the soil to the finest 
possible tilth. G. G , JR. 
Chemung Co., N, Y. 
-- 
TBITICTTM REPENS, 
Couch, Quitch, Scutch, Quick, Quack or Kye- 
Gratm. 
I noticed in a late Rural an application 
for seed for Quack Grass! As I have j ust had 
a sweating job digging out "Quack." along 
the garden fence, as it was encroaching rather 
too freely into the vegetable department. I 
again read the article asking for seed of the 
pest. I was amused that any person in a sane 
state of rniud, should waut "two sacks or 
bags of the seed, and offer to pay therefor 
the price of timothy seed ! " I don’t believe 
that any respectable seed dealer would allow 
it to be brought to his warehouse, if it should 
growing grass might take root, I foolishly took 
up some roots and transplanted them on this 
barren spot, to keep the ground from wash¬ 
ing. Of course I did not then know what 
"Quack” was; but I have found out all about 
it since to my cost. On this barren spot It 
flourished and in a few years spread round 
more than was " bargained for.” It got into 
the orchard, meadows, and along fence rows 
and in clearing ditches ia the meadow it was 
dragged to low places, etc. 
flower.—fig. 357. 
If your correspondent really desires to have 
this pest on his ground, his best plan would 
be to go where it is growing, dig tip some of 
the roots, run them through a straw-cutter— 
as Mr. Meehan, Editor of Gardeners' Monthly', 
recommends for propagating the blackberry— 
sow the cut root3 oii freshly plowed ground, 
harrow the ground afterwards, and I’ll war- 
when it is so intensely green—the greenest of 
our grasses ? Poa compressa is fitly called 
blue in comparison with P. pratensis, being 
but grayly virideecent, and parching on dry, 
thin soils in hot weather about equally with 
it, never dving out, however, and supporting 
grazing animals as long as they can nip off 
the Jeast bite, green or dried. We call the 
pratensis "Spear Grass” here (Pa ), probably 
from the round, erect, cleanly, tapered culm, 
and the trim lanceolate form of the panicle 
at its summit. Juue Grass and Green Sod ate 
other names for it. An enterprising neighbor 
sent to Kentucky for seed of their famous Blue 
Grass, and sowed it on carefully-prepared 
ground. Grass spires shot up quickly, but 
when they bloomed next season they were pre¬ 
cisely the green grass of every road-3)de and 
common in the neighborhood. IPs first con 
elusion WA6 that the Kentucky seed had a'l 
failed, and that native grass appeared in its 
stead, and he was a good deal exercised in mind 
over the substitution until he was 6hown Ken¬ 
tucky Blue Grass and Pennsylvania Blue 
Grass, as both were on hi6 own ground. The 
only hnrttiat Poa pratensis takes here is from 
shade. It does not flourish out of sunlight. 11 
will even kill Itself by a thick mass of second- 
growth blades left unpastured or uncut too 
loDg, in August and later. w. g. w. 
Tyrone, Pa. 
-- 
Uompregaeri Oat-Gras* —Danthonla compressa. 
This is not very common in many localities. 
It grows in dry bilh in New England and 
farther south. As the illustration shows, it is 
taller than the other species heretofore men¬ 
tioned. The leaves are fewer and very long 
and narrow. It forms a good turf and makes 
a fair pasture. I cannot learn that any one 
has given this grass a thorough trial, and it 
may be questioned whether it Is worth much 
notice. Pb?f. W. J. Beal. 
The Rural Branching Sorghum —I sowed 
a few seeds in a box in March, in the green¬ 
house, and planted them out after danger of 
frost was past. Etch plant now has a main 
stem four to five feet high, tasseled out and in 
full flower. These will ripen seed, no doubt, in 
good time. There are plenty of sprouts, or 
suckers, from the roots also. t. b g. 
Columbia, Pa , July 8 
[The dwarfeess of the plant is due to its hav¬ 
ing been started in a box in the greenhouse. 
If not cut back, the stalks will grow at least 
nine feet high before blooming — Eds ] 
COMPRESSED OAT GRASS—DANTBONIA COMPRESSA—FIG 356 
be offered to hint gratis. I doubt vety much 
If seed of this " pest." has ever Been collected 
or offered for sale, unless some scamp would 
offer it as some new forage plant far superior 
to the "Rural Branching Sorghum,"as It may 
be cut half a dozen times in a season and yet 
only grow the more vigorously, and last former 
and a day. I would much preter to have patch¬ 
es of Canada Thistles in my fields as these I can 
easily destroy. All 1 would have to do would 
be, when the fields were in pasture, to sow 
some salt over them and the cattle would 
soon make an end of them. 
Many years ago, receiving some trees from 
Flushing, Long Island, 1 saw a strange-lock- 
ing grass come up from the roots of a Pyra- 
cantha shrub. There was at that time iu the 
meadow a hill-side on which no grass would 
grow to make a sod. Thinking this vigorous- 
rant he will get enough plants to satisfy him, 
and he will have enough to last him a life-time, 
I consider this " Quack” the worst pest that 
was ever created. t. b g. 
Columbia, Pa. 
[We are much obliged for the opinions and 
experiences of our readers. We do not agree 
with our friend as to this grass—as we shall one 
d ly attempt to show —Eds.] 
Foa pratenat*. 
Mr. Hillgard makes a handsome showing for 
Poa pratensis [Kentucky Blue Grass), and 1 
rejoice to hear that this eminently excellent 
and beautiful lawn and pasture grass carries 
its usefulness over so wide an extent of our 
vast territory, and that It can be so well sup¬ 
plemented in the hot season, in the South, by 
Be rmuda Grass. But why do you call it ‘ ’blue” 
Jarm fogies. 
PRESERVATION OF BREWERS’ GRAINS. 
PROFESSOR F. H. STOKER. 
Some cheap and easy method of preserving 
brewers’ grains has long been needed, and 
striven for; an 1 during the last few years re¬ 
newed attention has been given to the sub j set 
by European inventors. Several plans have 
been suggested and some of them appear to 
have found favor in the eyes of competent 
critics. There are good reasons why these 
endeavors should be welcomed and encoui- 
aged by farmers as well as by the brewers, for 
the discovery of a really economical and effi¬ 
cient method cf preserving this kind of fod¬ 
der would be a decided gain for agriculture. 
The amount of brewers’ grains actua’ly pro¬ 
duced in the world ia something enormous, 
and, as things are now. much of this " waste 
product” cannot be utilized to the best advan¬ 
tage, during the warm weather of Summer, 
at least. 
Many farmers living at a distance from 
breweries will naturally derive immediate 
benefit from the use of the preserved grains 
as soon as they are to be had; but, more than 
that, the mere fact of their being procurable 
would undoubtedly serve as a spur and encoiu- 
Bgement to the use of other kinds of concen¬ 
trated foods. It happens to be a well-known 
fact, admitted by cveiybody, that brewers’ 
grains are excellent fodder for many purposes. 
They are used freely by farmers wherever they 
can be bought. Indeed, little if anything, can 
bo said agaiust them except their liability to 
spoil, and the fact that, in the fresh state, as 
ordinarily sold, they contain more than 
three quarters of their weight of water. It is 
true, withal, that the milk of cows fed with 
grains that have become sour t6 itself pecu¬ 
liarly liable to turn sour on keeping; hence 
any process which may serve to keen the 
grains sweet in hot weather ought to be wel¬ 
comed both by the producers and the con¬ 
sumers of rni.k. Furthermore, there can be 
no doubt In anyone’s mind that the merit of 
the grains mast depend upon the nitrogenous 
eonetituteuts of the barley from which the 
starchy portion has been well-nigh completely 
removed by the operations of the brewer. 
There is consequently good reason to believe 
that if the dried grains were to be had at a 
reasonable price they might sexve an impor¬ 
tant educational purpose by familiarizing 
