a tired horse, quioker than this practice. They 
should always be rubbed until the blood obtains 
a free circulation, or until they feel warm to the 
hand. 
DESTROYINC STUMPS. 
Mr. MrNER, in a recent article, suggests 
blowing up stumps.” We have hoard" of a 
better way, if it proves all that, it is recom¬ 
mended. Bore a hole with a two inch auger, to 
the depth of six or eight inobes, into the stump 
o bo operated on, and place therein one or two 
ounces of saltpeter, then fill the hole with water 
and plug it up perfectly tight. Next spring take 
out the plug, pour in a gill of kerosene oil. and 
set it on fire. It is claimed that the stump will 
bo entirely oonsumed even to the smallest roots, 
thus doing away with the trouble of removing 
the debris, which would be scattered about by 
the other method- Let some of the Rural 
readers, bothered with these unsightly nuisances 
try the experiment. It is inexpensive and can 
do no harm, if it does no good. There is noth¬ 
ing upon a farm that detracts so much from its 
good appearance as stumps ; especially when 
they are, as is too often the case, embowered in 
a rank growth or briers and bushes. 
PIASTER AMD ASHES. 
Our Agricultural Society held an animated dis¬ 
cussion recently, on the benefit to bo derived 
from the use of plaster. Homo recommended 
its use in a dry season, some iu a wot one. One 
claimed it should be applied to the seed before 
sowing or planting, another would sow it broad¬ 
cast, or apply it to tbo growing plant. A per¬ 
son wishing to learn the comparative profit 
obtained from the application of a toteef plaster, 
would have beon as mnoh m the dark after, as 
before he had listened to the discussion. Onr 
own experience is that it is utterly worthless 
during a wet season, and hardly profitable in a 
a dry one. Wo never saw any good effects from 
its use on grass, unless that perhaps the after- 
math was somewhat thicker. The clover crop is 
increased by its use, yet if our land is in passable 
condition, clover will do well enough without it. 
We have tried it upon potatoes, but vrifhmit re¬ 
duce nice fruit and most of it. Light seeds may 
sprout quicker, but produce weaker plants. Pro¬ 
fessor Carmen of the Loyal Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, England, foundThat seed-wheat of the 
greatest density produces the densest seed and 
yields the greatest amount of dressed grain. The 
seed-wheat of medium density generally gives 
the largest number of ears, but the ears are 
poorer than those of the densest seed. Seed of 
medium density also produces the largest num¬ 
ber of fruiting plants. The densest grains are 
CORN ACCOUNT. 
As this is the season of the year in which it is 
supposed that wo poor “ Mud Sills” take time by 
the fore-lock and lay out our work for the com¬ 
ing year, is it not also a time to look up past ex¬ 
perience and see where we may profit by it, 
either as it has been a success or a failnre ? And 
how can wo better accomplish this object than 
by conversing with one another through the 
medium of onr agricultural papers, thus getting 
up an exchange of ideas which may prove of 
benefit to many of ns ? r will open the ball by 
giving my experience with a crop of corn in 1874. 
The field consisted of forty acres of Michigan 
sand. It was a timothy sod in the Bpring of 
1872; planted to corn that spring, sowed to 
wheat the following fall, and seeded to clover in 
the spring of 1873; but it failed to catch, so that 
it was a bare stubble in the spring of 1874. In 
the figures used here, enough U charged to cover 
the board of man and team with each day's work. 
No value is placed upon the manure, the only 
charge being for the time spent in handling it, 
as it is considered that this crop did not receive 
all the benefit, but that part of it should be 
charged to future crops. 
ACCOUNT WITH FIELD HO. 8. 
1874. 
May 6 , To drawing manure to dato. ft5u 00 
5, spreading ” . Vn nn 
8 , 1 » days plowing @ 45 00 
10, 8 daysi dragging ” 2-1 on 
Jo daya marking M . .] 50 
{«' o , iyfl » man and team planting. 9 00 
}o‘ 8 days, man dvoppkiif.. . 4 50 
and if yon refer to them as marks of slnft- 
lessness, he baa only to point to his bul¬ 
ging corn-cribs or wheat stacks to refute the 
charge. And the smile with which he does it, is 
musi oiuer seeds. The proper 
depth for planting seeds depend on the texture 
of the soil and the state of the weather, or the 
climate in which they are to grow. No fixed, 
universal rule can be given for any species of 
seeds. 
Very small seeds start best with ouly a verv 
slight covering of finely pulverized material, and 
then a slight screen to prevent destruction by 
excessively dry weather. In sandy soil, seeds may 
be planted deeper than in clay soil, iu a dry cli¬ 
mate deeper than in a moist climate. Iu ti e 
light soil at the College Farm, the late peas do 
best if planted live to seven inches deep, while 
for the early crop, two inches is the proper depth 
for planting. 
Dr. Newreruy has given an account of the 
planting of corn by the Indians in Colorado and 
surrounding country. The soil is subject to se¬ 
vere drought. To secure germination, they plant 
twelve or fourteen inches deep and often raise 
good crops. At onr farm, peas usually come up 
if planted ten inches deep, but the plants will 
not thrive so well as when planted at a less depth. 
Finely pulverized soil is quite important to se¬ 
cure tho host results with seeds for field or 
enough to make you resolve never to try to open 
-’s eyes while you live. What mat- 
another man’i 
tars a few burdocks anyhow ? If you object to 
them as something particularly obnoxious, he 
will tell you with another smile, that the way 
burdocks grow on a piece of land is the best 
way in the world to tell what that land is good 
for. Show him a farm where burdocks grow as 
if they had uo business on earth, and he’ll show 
you a farm he don’t want to own. 
If his wife complains that she can’t stir out of 
doors without having to put her skirts through 
a picking process to rid them of burs, he has a 
smile for her, too, with the information that 
country folks can't expect to have everything as 
slick as they do in cities, which, may be, she 
believes and may be sbe does not. Women, now- 
ft-days, as a rule, are given to exercieo their own 
opinion on such matters, and, if it was not that 
they likewise ■•exercise” butcher knives, corn 
cutters 4i»d such like implements occasionally, 
the traveler along country roads would see moro 
burdocks, thistles and mulleins than roses grow¬ 
ing in farmers’ door-yards. 
Now a word abont those sarao door-yards. Why 
is if that they are so generally neglected P The 
fauR may rest in a great degree, but not alto 
get her, '.nth the women. Flowers and shrubbery 
are c;t of the question whore tho yard is used 
as it frequently ia, us a sort of convenience for 
the passage from the road to the barns and sheds 
iu the rear, of everything brought in, from a 
load of hay to a drove of pigs. Fancy a tulip or 
a pansy trying to open its tender petals among 
the litter of such a door-yard! Nothing but 
" Live-for-ever,” Ribbon grass, or Devil’s flag, 
eoukl make a pretence of growing there. And 
Battle Creek, Mich 
SHIFTLESSNESS ON THE FARM 
MRS. A. E. STORY. 
Tumble-dow 
fences or fences clumsily 
propped up and patchod, hero and there, with 
bits of broken boards and rails; gates hanging 
by one hinge, or leaning forlornly against tho 
posts, with none at all—these are some of tho 
signs by which even he who runs may read the 
story of many a farmers unfitness for the calling 
he has chosen. Tliero surely can bo nothing iu 
agriculture, as a pursuit, calculated to make 
mou shiftless, caring nothing for beauty or 
older, aud yet shiftlessuess crops out oftonor, or 
at least is more glaringly apparent here than 
anywhere else. 
If there can be any oxcuso for pride iu a 
world whore so little of what we have to enjoy 
is owing to ourselves, tho man who can lay 
claim to, not merely earthly possessions but the 
possession of earth, has tho best right to feel it. 
Iu a limited sense, he is monarch of all he sur¬ 
veys, and that he should prefer, iu this survey, 
to behold ugliness whore might be beanty, dis¬ 
order and general topsy-turvinoss in place of 
order aud neatness, is matter of wonder. 
Fields, whose fences are hidden from siirht nr 
B u 10 rmr tIark ‘eg* are a slight 
objection, yet their good qualities overbalance 
all their little defects. 
LOOK AHEAD. 
Every farmer who has timber, should get a 
cw l°o's to the mill for drag-timber, wagon 
ongues, and the like. Have them sawed and 
piled under cover so that next season, when 
work is crowding and a piece of seasoned timber 
is needed, you will know just where tho desired 
article can bo found without being obliged to 
spend the whole day iu a search for it." Each 
one should have a choBt of common tools, such 
as are necessary for repair work on tho farm. It 
is much easier if wo have the materials, to .re¬ 
pair a broken harrow or other utensil, than to 
tiavel four or five miles to a shop for the pur¬ 
pose of hiring done what we could do just as 
well ourselves. Any articles that are liable to 
oreak, had bettor be attended to at unco, and not 
laid aside with “I guess lean make that last 
us season, well enough.” it will be sure to 
woriLT w eU i yOU A, '° m “ Thero is !l 
world of wisdom in the old maxim, “ProcrasU- 
na ion ,s the thief of time,” and to no one ia 
season PreC1 ° U9 ay t0 th ° farmer at th0 busy 
THE CHINESE YAM 
The Chineso Yam possesses merits that should 
commend it to tho agricultural classes of the 
United States, yet there are many who don’t 
even know that it is grown in this county, al¬ 
though it is more than twenty years since its in¬ 
troduction here, from China. The difficulty all 
new beginners have to contend with in the cul- 
is a proper understanding 
I have grown them for twelve or 
tnre of this esculent, 
of its wants 
fifteen years, and will give the readers of the 
Rural the benefit of my experience : 
Iu the first place, select a soil that is modera¬ 
tely dry, deep and rich, and prepare it by spad¬ 
ing or plowing deeply: then plant tho tubers 
eight inches apart each way. They will need to 
be cultivated a few times the first year, to keep 
weeds down and soil loose. After the first year, 
keep the weeds hoed off or mowed down, as you 
prefer. Tho Y r ams are perfectly hardy, standing 
iu the ground all winter and growing again when 
Bpriug oomes, increasing in size for a number of 
years. They increase naturally from the small 
tubers that grow ou tho vines just above each 
leaf. These should bo saved iu tho fall, and 
kept during winter where they will not freeze, 
as freezing injures their growth, and planted in 
tho spring as soon as the ground gets warm. 
As to the product per acre, iu the best of soil, 
with three years’ growth and tubers planted eight 
inches apart each way, we could safely calculate 
NOTES ON SEEDS 
PROF. W. J. BEAL. 
Weak seeds produce weak plants. This has 
been shown time and time again. The seeds 
may be weak on account of small size, or be¬ 
cause they were immature when gathered, or 
because their vitality had boon impaired hy keep¬ 
ing a long time after they were gathered, or by 
keeping them in an improper place as to moist¬ 
ure, or great extremes of heat aud cold. Most 
seeds wilt grow if they are not fully ripe, as most 
farmers know to be the case with corn and wheat. 
As a rule, the feeblest specimens of a lot of seed- 
liog plants are most likely to produce the choic¬ 
est flowers. 
In England, it is believed that old seeds of 
melons and cucumbers are most likely to pro- 
avo read in agricultural journals during 
i wo months tho advice with slight modi- 
’ ;° " st °P 11 P the cracks in tho barn” 
. iraos ! Wo aro growing qnito in. 
iu the subject. 
