THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
m 
with the ears on, at the rate of a half fitook at a 
time, gorongh his three-horse thrasher, which 
husks the corn, shells it, separates the oob and 
delivers the shelled corn iu the measure, clean 
and fit for market. Ho can average a bushel a 
minute of clean, shelled ooru. The corn is drawn 
from the field as fast as required. The stalks 
and husks are torn into shreds and put into 
good condition to be economically fed, doing 
away with the necessity of any cutting machine, 
aB they are thoroughly broken up, and tho stalks 
particularly are crushed and broken into pieces. 
The corn has to bo spread or kiln-dried, as it is 
liable to mold if put into bins or stored in any 
considerable bulk. This is the only serious ob¬ 
jection to his now plan of husking. He uses a 
common thrasher, a cylinder with spikes run¬ 
ning against a concavo, also Bpiked. He can 
husk and shell corn faster than another neigh¬ 
bor can husk with an improved corn busker. 
the loosened earth, is far greater than many 
suppose. 
The faot, also, that evaporation carrieB off 
moisture, while condensation collects and re¬ 
tains it in the soil, is an important point in the 
matter, heretofore overlooked. A body of un¬ 
disturbed Roil is so compact as to nearly exclude 
tho atmosphere; the water which falls upon it 
sinks but a little way, and is always within 
reach of the bud’b heat, which quickly evapo¬ 
rates it; the earth dries up and bakes, and vege¬ 
tation perishes. This soil is just compact 
enough to render the capillary attraction active, 
and owing to the joint action of this and the 
sun’s heat, evaporation is rapid. But if we stir 
the soil, wo make it so loose that its capillarity 
is totally destroyed to that depth ; we force the 
water in the soil down just that far from the 
surface, and iuterpoBe between it and tho sun a 
blanket so open as to admit tho atmosphere 
freely. At once evaporation is checked, the va¬ 
por risiug from the water below, and that con¬ 
tained iu the atmosphere above meet here upon 
neutral ground and aro both condensed, because 
the temperature of tho open soil is intermediate 
between that of the hard-pan and that cf the 
atmosphere. Evaporation is totally checked, 
the loose Boil is moistened, and the moisture is 
retained until the soil resumes itB compactness, 
when stirring becomes necessary again. And 
this explains why stirring tho soil immediately 
after a heavy, heating rain, is so important. 
To arrive at the amount of moisture con¬ 
densed in the foregoiDg manner and held in tho 
Boil, take a delicate pair of scales, on a hot day 
weigh a tumblerful of oold water to a perfect 
balance, watch the condensation taking place 
upon its surface, and notice how soon the basin 
bolding the tumbler sinks. Measure the sur¬ 
face of the glass, and from tho increased weight 
calculate the amouut of moisture taken from 
the air. This will represent, probably, one- 
tenth of tho quantity which the same surface of 
earth would absorb. - Every little particle of 
earth, evory little grain of sand, is a condenser, 
as any one may prove by turning up a half- 
buried stone on the hottest day in summer, and 
noting the moisture beneath it. The Rubals 
experiments produced evapo ration and prevent¬ 
ed condensation, and have so far opened the 
subieet but not the soil. S. Eufcs Mason. 
is usually a few feet instead of a few inches 
below the surfaco. In tho soil we have two 
kinds of spaces between the solid partioles 
those that are too large to be capillary, and 
which cannot therefore hold tho water above the 
level of tho bottom water, and secondly, the capil¬ 
lary spaces that can hold the water abovo that 
level, tho wider spaces only for a short distance, 
the narrower ones holding it up to a higher 
point. But even the narrowest do not appear to 
have the powor to raise the water more than 
about six feet; and many writers on these sub¬ 
jects assert that if the level of tho bottom water 
is even not more than two or three foot down, 
no capillary spaceB will take it to the surface 
under ordinary circumstances, furthermore, 
in a soil in its usual condition as to moisture, 
not only are tho non-capillary Bpaoea empty, but 
even the capillary spaces are to a great extent 
dry; soils in such a condition do not ooutain 
more than one-tenth to one-third of all the 
water that they can hold in their capillary Bpaces, 
and still plants show no evidence of suffering 
from drought. 
In those experiments of tho Rural's editor, 
tho level of the bottom water was, i infer, no fur¬ 
ther from tho Hurface than tho depth of an ordi¬ 
nary pail; all the capillary spaces wore probably 
therefore tilled with water quito up to the sur¬ 
faco during the whole duration of tho experi¬ 
ment, oven in the pot with loose soil; it was 
simply a question of pumping up the water 
through these capillary spaces by a series of 
continuous columng reaching from top to bot¬ 
tom ; as fast as the water waB evaporated from 
the uppor surfaces of the columns It was re¬ 
placed from below, aud tho evaporation would 
be most rapid in that pot with the freest circu¬ 
lation of water. Rome recent experiments by 
possible. But there will be greater gam m 
hauling out all that is made before the first of 
January. Teams’ aro less busy and help is 
cheaper at this Reason. It will pay to scrape 
scattering manure from by corners, left in the 
hurry of spring aud fall seeding. Rich soil, 
well saturated with manure, may be gathered 
around barns aud drawn on sod. In these aud 
other ways the fertility of the farm may be im¬ 
proved. 
f, REMOVAUOF'STUMPS, STONES AND USELESS TREES.8 
Stumps aud stones Bhould be got out of the 
way now. A good stump-puller will do this work 
expeditiously and cheaply for large stones and 
stumps. Whorover a deep hole is made, it 
should he filled to within two feet of the sur¬ 
face with small stones, thus securing a double 
benefit—preventing a hole and removing an en¬ 
cumbrance. Small stones should ho removed 
from mowing fields, it is best to defer rolling 
until spring, when tho ground is soft and loose 
atones that have been missed will be pressed 
thn anil. Not much can bo done to wheat 
We have butchered a four-year-old Jersey 
hull, and have Ihe testimony of the butcher that 
he never killed a steer which had a hide so soft, 
thin and fine. A velvety skin is an important 
prerequisite in a good cow, and in a dairy breed 
iu an essential point in a bull. A good cow al¬ 
ways has a mellow hide, and a poor cow ouo 
that is thick and harsh to the touch; hence in 
a stock bull the breeder cannot he too particu¬ 
lar iu regard to tho character of the skin. Com¬ 
mon hulls usually have very harsh and thick 
hides. Breeding for a purpose, as in the case of 
the Jerseys, will produce certain results, and it 
is these which make pure-bred stock more valu¬ 
able. The skin of this four-ycar-old bull only 
weighed seventy pounds—tbivty to fifty pounds 
loss than that of a native animal of the same 
age would have weighed. 
While removing stumps, it is worm ^ 
consider whether a useless free, beariDg nothing 
aud not needed for elude, is not equally a nuis¬ 
ance : in other words, whether a stump would 
be less injurious for having branches and leaves 
to shade the growing crops and millions of in- 
iug roots to rob them of needed food and moist¬ 
ure Many a farmer, during this past Feasor, 
has lost from five to fifty dollars from superfluous 
trees in his cultivated fields. Or cou.se, some 
regard may and should ho had to beauty of laim- 
scape; but let those see to that who can aitoid 
to do so. For tho millions or farmers worried 
by debts, working hanl to make a living and psy 
up their interest semi-annually, many of them 
having to stint 1 hem-elves fur money to pay tor 
an agricultural paper, it is the bight of foolish¬ 
ness to cumber their cultivated fields with use¬ 
less trees—the worst and rankest weeds for all 
hoed crops, in the hard struggle fir existence 
and to keep their hemes, which many farmers 
maintain, very often the useless trees on the 
farm turn the scale tho wrong way, and the 
family homestead is sacrificed to an idle and 
silly sentiment. 
CARE OF THE ORCHARD AND VINEYAHO. 
In almost all orchards tho treeB are altogether 
too close, preventing fruitfulness aud inj wring 
the quality of the fruit. It will pay to cut out 
every other tree, aud manure those that are 
left If no other manure can be had, leaf mole 
from tho woods, or sods from the roadside where 
it has the wash of the track, will servo a good 
purpose. This is especially important if the 
trees are in grass. A good covering of earth 
sufficient to check tho grass, wiU keep the soil 
loose, and make tho trees vigorous. Every 
farmer knows that some of his apple t cos a.e 
much more productive than others, oven of the 
same varieties. These should bo saved, nu- 
Mr. Hlewart, in his excellent article on fruit, 
left Spitzenbergs out of his list of apples. They 
sell tho best in market and aro deservedly popu¬ 
lar. They will produce well on new or rich laud. 
He alBO placed Flemish Beauties among the 
winter sorts of pears. Iu this latitude they 
ripen a week or two after the Bartletts, which 
he classes as a summer variety. I would recom¬ 
mend leaving Flemish Beauty out altogether, 
as the fruit cracks badly and has lost caBte in 
market, and I would put Benrre Bose in its 
place. The latter ia a November pear, bears 
heavily, and sells with the best. 
the Rtjbal‘8 experiments the pot with the 
loosest soil appears to have allowed the freest 
circulation ; at least we can in this way, without 
doing any violence to the facta, account for tho 
more rapid evaporation in that case. 
In an ordinary soil, on the other hand, the 
desiccation is not a pumping up of bottom water 
through a multitude of minute pipes reaching 
down to it, but rather a drying out of that com¬ 
paratively small proportion that remains nearer 
the surface and within reach of plants, after tho 
water of tho last rain has fallen to its level in or 
far below the subsoil; we have, instead of full 
capillary spaces throughout, only scattered full 
onus ; aud it is argued that Uuj more we bleak 
up tho connection between tlmm by stffring the 
soil, the less rapidly the water will find its way 
to the surface where the evaporation goes on; 
tho more we stir, the more the water is divided 
up into disconnected portions having no com¬ 
munication with tho surface. Experiments with 
soils in their natural position in the field, appear 
to confirm this view. The record of one of these 
trials comes to us recently from France. G rsn- 
deau, of the experiment station at Nancy, by 
means of a new form of apparatus devised by 
him for measuring the evaporation from plants 
or from the soil, found that while from a soil 
that was beaten down 13 5 grams of water were 
evaporated from a square decimetre in twenty- 
four bourB, only 8 grams were evaporated from 
another like area under tho same exposure and 
in tho same time, the surface of which was 
loosened up. 
Finally, there is one point that does not, I 
! think, get enough consideration in this respect. 
A Boil that is well Htirredhas a far greater powor 
of absorbing vapors and gases from the air 
and condensing them in its pores, than one that 
is compact. During the night the soil ia exposed 
to an atmosphere that is often heavily charged 
with vapor of water, if the soil is loose at the 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD, 
VAN’S VIEWS, 
00L. V. D. COBTIS. 
A farmer in tliin county has been experiment¬ 
ing with corn, beginning with improved King 
Philip and Ohio 24 rowed Dent, and he has now 
a corn which will ripen in ninety days from seed, 
and baa from 16 to 24 rows well filled out to the 
end of the eob. A farmer who has seen the best 
corn region in this country, having resided for 
Borne time in the corn region of Ohio, said that 
ho uover saw a jiuer-looking field of corn than 
that in this variety, and estimated its yield at 
100 buriiela of shelled corn per acre. 
I had some of his curlier ctobb of corn this 
year, which ripened in seventy-four days from 
the time of planting, and as I w i ,o. thei e lies an 
oar be fore mo containing 1G rows of long ker¬ 
nels, which grow over the end of the cob, which 
is ten inches long. There were many longer 
ears, some thirteen inches; but this was a fair 
sample of its yield through the field. 
Another crop that is too much neglected is 
fodder corn. I had a small patch last summer, 
and from its yield, I am euro I could glow seven 
tons to tho aero, aud it heats everything as a 
food for milch cows, makes a good pig feed, will 
keep a team in good order if they are at ligit 
work. Tho variety I used was Pratt's Eiriy 
Sweet Corn. It should he cut with a reaper 
when it tassels; tie up tho bundles aud lot it 
stand till wanted for aso. It cut with a mow¬ 
er, tho ohances are that it will never get cured, 
I but will rot on the ground. 
At tho November meeting of the Brown Com - 
ty Society, there was a discussion on 
SWINE AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 
Mr. Van Auken opened tho suhjoct by reading 
a paper on tho "Pig, from the beginning to 
the barrel,” after which the matter was disouss- 
ed by the members present. 
Mr. H. P. Campbell, of Scott, said that ho 
had tried feeding hogs in tho mud aud on a 
floor, and ouo year ago ho had built a good pen, 
dry and warm, aud he befit ved it was the best in 
vestment he had ever made. It paid in the 
crowth. as well as in the looks of his pigs, am 
MOISTURE-RETAINING POWER OF 
THE SOIL. 
STIRRING THE SOIL IN A DRY TIME—IS IT AN ADVANTAGE ? 
CO UN ELL UNIVEIlHITY. 
DEOFKSSOE O. C. CALDWELL, 
turnips. There wore sixteen loads oi turnips as 
big as the horse could draw. Wo expended ten 
dollars for labor, all told, not counting the use 
of tho team or horse for cultivating. The piece 
of ground was jUHl about a quarter of an acre iu 
size. When wo take into tho recount that a 
heavy crop of tho largo kind of clover was taken 
i ff of the same ground boforo the turnips were 
put, in, tho yield from the quarter acre is very 
satisfactory. The flue growth of turnips is duo 
to tin r .ugh and clean cultivation, stimulated by 
a, di earing, broadcast, of ben manure and ashes, 
which was immediately cnltivated in, aud alight 
dressing of 50 pounds of Manhattan Blood Gu¬ 
ano a couple of weeks previously, when the tur¬ 
nips were quite small. The turnips were not 
put in until the very last of July, and thoy wore 
harvested tho first week in November. The 
crop was such a sucoess that next year we in¬ 
tend to increase it to several acres. As we have 
remarked before, the excessive growth of sum¬ 
mer grass this year, nearly doubled the coBt of 
taking care of this crop. We used ashes with 
tho heu manure, booauae the plaster was all 
gone; hut for immediate ubo and to be mixed 
with tho soil, ashes may ho used without any 
Iosb of ammonia, of any aocouut. 
An ingenious neighbor thrashes his corn and 
husks it at the same time. He runs the stalks 
From tin UVW:1|/ Tribune. 
of the Rokal New-Yoekeu has 
The editor 
given us in “ Notes from the Rural Grounds 
an account of some experiments of hia own on 
tho influence of loosening tho surfaco of the 
soil on the rapidity with which it dries. Three 
flower pots with the drain-holes loosely covered 
woro filled with Sifted loam; iu one o.ufe the 
loam was pressed down compaotly quite to the 
top; in another it was compactly filled up to 
within an inch and a half of tho top and the re¬ 
maining space was filled loosely; in the Ihiid 
case the whole pot was looBoly fillod. Each pot 
was then set into a pail of water, and tho excess 
of water was allowed to flow over tho sides of 
the pail; all the pots and buckets being of the 
same size, the same quantity of water remained 
in all three cases. Tho water disappeared soonest 
in the bnckot with the pot containing tho loose 
soil, then iu tho pot with loosened surfaco soil, 
and last in the compact soil; the difference in 
time between the Grst and last was about four 
days. Hence the editor concludes that the 
teaching now so generally given by tho masters 
to tho effect that stirring the Boil serves to re¬ 
tard its drying, may he erroneous. 
I cau hardly regard these results as leading to 
this conclusion, because they do not actually 
represent the ordinary condition of the soil, 
yvhere the loyel of tho bottom or standing water 
MOISTURE IN THE SOIL. 
I am glad to see the question opened by the 
Rubal’s experiments at River Edge, and hope it 
wilt result in ventilating the subject, if not ihe 
soil. 
In the first place, the editor, aud, as tar as I 
can learn, all previous investigators, have given 
too much promiuouoe to tho idea of capillarity, 
and have not distinguished between evaporation 
and condensation. The extent of the capillarity 
of soils is quito limited under the most favor¬ 
able circumstances, whioh are, that the earth 
shall be in a medium state of compactness. The 
capillary actionciui not take place if the earth iB 
too compaot, from being actually stopped as by 
any impervious substance, neither can it occur if 
the soil.is too loose, bocause the attraction ceaBes 
for want of sufficiently close contact between the 
partioles of earth. Ab to capillary tubeB being 
found in the Boil, I consider that a myth. The 
advantages of stirring the soil are self-evident, 
and the amouut of moisture thus engendered in 
