OCT. 2 
them I was, by some means, prevented from 
finishing the work tor about two weeks. 1 
remember that during this time, in conversa¬ 
tion with a friend, a farmer of many years 
more experience than myself, I expressed my 
regret at being unable to finish diggiug them, 
and my fear that they were rotting badly, and 
he made the remark that he would rather they 
wonld rot in the field than in the cellar. Now 
for the result. When I dug the rest of them I 
found fully one-half or more of them rotten, 
and quite as large a proportion of these rotted 
after being put in the cellar, as of those first 
dug, neither of them rotting badly after dig¬ 
ging. I have long made it a rule to dig as soou 
as possible after the rot appears, aud am yet 
to be convinced that I make an error in so 
doing ; but would be glad to hear from any 
one who, by actual test, has proved this theory 
false. E. J. Brownell. 
The truth of this matter is that these theoret¬ 
ical values are ail we have to guide us, and are 
by no means satisfactory, and never can be, 
although many very elaborate experiments 
have been made to verify them in practice. 
More especially is the difficulty found in feed¬ 
ing milking cows, when the product of milk is 
made the test of these supposed values; for a 
great deal depends upon the manner in which 
the todder is prepared for the cows. 
For instance, last Winter I fed fortwoweeks 
to 15 cows some excellent, clean, Ti-nothy hay, 
bright and green, but consisting almost wholly 
of stalks and heads—just such bay in fact, as 
would be thought the choicest kind of horse 
hay, and worth to sell one-half more than mix¬ 
ed clover hay. But the product of milk fell 
off nearly one-half, and the butter was very 
Inferior. I was surprised, however, to find on 
the last days of the two weeks, that the cows 
were gaining rapidly in milk, and in searching 
for the reason, found It in the fact that they 
were eating up their bedding as fast as it was 
thrown under them. The bedding was sweet, 
marsh hay cut on a swamp and thought to be 
dear at $5 a ton, the price at which I bought 
it. To verify this, the marsh hay was led for 
a whole week aud the Timothy was used no 
more. The tnilk kept gaining the whole 
week, and was nearly up to the former weight, 
when the cows were fed on mixed clover, Ked 
Top and Bine Grass, such as is kuowu as the 
best cow hay. This was fed, cut aud wetted to 
a thin mush with steeped malt sprouts, aud 
cotton-seed meal. This mode of preparing 
the feed produced the most milk i could get 
from the cows. When the same hay was fed 
long aud uncut aud the sprouts aud meal were 
given separately and dry, the milk fell off 
again more than one-third. There is much to 
be learned in the matter of feeding. We are 
as yet only on the threshold of our knowledge 
of the art. I am sure that the feed is better 
digested and made more productive by mixing 
The Vlold's Ennobled Oats. 
Friend Taleot’s criticisms upon Mold’s 
Ennobled Oats, in the Rural of September 4, 
may be all right, but as far as yield Is con¬ 
cerned they are tremendous. From the small 
package received from the Rural office—not 
over au ounce—I have pounds after a hen 
and chickens had got some fine heads that had 
broken over. I planted them in a drill one 
row across my garden, without any special 
care or manure, with the above result- From 
one kernel which I pulled up, with 19 stalks 
and full heads, I had 769 grains of oats. I 
think them very handsome while growing, 
but how they will prove for feed, time will tell. 
So far as I have any recollection I believe Mr. 
Talcot was the first agricultural writer that 
denounced the much-praised Norway Oats, and 
for this he deserves the thanks of the farming 
public. 
Too much cannot be said In favor of the 
Beauty of Hebron potato. a. l. 
Sharon Center, N. Y. 
Jiflii drop. 
SHALL POTATOES BE DUG TO PREVENT 
ROTTING 7 
It is a question which there has been much 
discussion upon, whether, after potatoes have 
begun to rot in the ground, it is best to dig and 
store them immediately, or to leave them un¬ 
dug until they have done rotting. Many claim 
that If dug and collected together they will 
PROFESSOR W. J. BEAL. 
JUNE GRASS—POA PRATEN8IS.—EIG. 815. 
and experience have served to substantiate ing values of certain kinds of fodders as tab- 
this belief. ulated in an article iu the Rural on feeding 
In the Summer of 1878 I began digging my cows, page 520. He seems to have missed sight 
Early Rose potatoes early in September, and °f the fact that in that article I expressly 
found at that time a very few rotten ones stated that I was doubtful of the correctness of 
among them. After digging about half of the estimates of thevalue of the coarse fodders 
How will Potatoes Sell?—“How are 
your potatoes turning out ?’* asked a friend, 
one of our best potato growers, a few days age, 
I replied that we had not dng any yet except 
in the garden, and the yield there seemed fair. 
Onr field crop came up badly from some cause 
and I have heard the same complaint from 
others. “It is pretty general!" said he “one 
of my neighbors had 10 acres, aud they came 
up so badly that he went over the whole piece 
and replanted and thinks it paid him to do it. 
I am almost through digging, and find I have 
not more than half a crop; nor are they so 
large and smooth as last year. I think this is 
generally true in my section and i shall be 
surprised if you are an exception." 
I was, of course, somewhat anxious to know 
whether my friend’s surmises were to be real¬ 
ized in my own case, and two days’ digging of 
onr early planted seems to confirm his antici¬ 
pation! the tubers are less in number and 
more knobby than last year, indicating that 
the rains induced a second growth. I still 
have hopes of a better yield from a piece 
planted June 1, as they made a fine growth 
of vines, and promised well. If this condi¬ 
tion of things prevails to any great extent, 
prices ought to rule higher than last year. 
What are the reports from Rural readers 
elsewhere, notably in the great potato sections 
of the country? 
What Kind op Corn—Tall-Growing or 
Short?— A neighbor has just called to show 
me some corn he is quite elated with. It is a 
twelve-rowed yellow flint, planted Jane 5; 
ripe September 1. The stalks are small, six 
feet high, the ears averaging 10 inches long 
and set about eighteen inches to two feet from 
the ground. Up to the Fourth of July he 
did not think it would amount to anything, 
the drought had pinched it so, and it was 
planted where nothing else would grow; but 
after the rains came he never saw any¬ 
thing grow so fast. The low setting of the 
ears renders it less liable to be blown down and 
the stalk is so small there is little waste in 
feeding, and it will bear planting closer than 
our large-6talk and tall-growing varieties, and 
I am not certain bat the yield of grain will be 
as great. I am not satisfied with the corn I 
have grown for the past few years; the ears are 
large, it is true, and so are the 6talks—10 feet 
high, with from four to six feet below the 
ears; of no use for fodder, though it might 
do for firewood, but will it pay to grow it for 
this purpose ? 
The premiums at our fairs generally go to 
the big ears and the tall stalks; but it i 3 a 
question with me whether this is the best and 
most profitable kind to grow. Even conced¬ 
ing that the large stalks make no greater de¬ 
mand on the soil than the small ones, the yield 
of grain should be greater to compensate for 
the extra labor in handling them, and unless 
the grain increases in the same ratio with the 
stalks, where is the profit? If I were not such 
a small farmer, I should like to put in an acre 
each of eight or ten varieties alongside of each 
other under like conditions, for the purpose 
of experimenting on this one point. The 
reader will say, “ YeB, and a mongrel lot of 
corn you’ll have!" True, there would be a 
good deal of mixing, but that would not inter¬ 
fere materially with the object in view. It is 
just such experiments as these that would 
teach us something. 
Commercial Fertilizers. —In a recent con¬ 
versation with a triend on the effects observed 
from this season's experiments with fertilizers, 
JUNE GRASS, OR BLUE GRASS,-[Poa pra- 
tensis.l 
he fine and bulky together, and adding some 
moisture; perhaps it is better masticated and 
made more digestible, by the mixing. Just 
how I am feeding my experimental cows upon 
cut grass, and I find it makes a loss in the 
milk to give the meal dry and separately in¬ 
stead of scattering it over the grass in the feed 
troughs. 
The value of the food given to cows in a 
year’s feeding is enormous, probabl y equal to 
$500,000,000. To use this to the best advantage 
is of vast importance, because it may easily 
be used so as to lose one-fourth of its possible 
value. Here is a great field for investigation 
by experiment stations, which shonld not be 
alone devoted to the growing of crops. For 
what is the profit if a farmer should grow 
great crops and lose a large portion of them 
in the feeding of them to his stock ? I am a 
strong advocate of entting. grinding and mix¬ 
ing food. I have practised it for 20 years, and 
am satisfied that iu that time it has been a saving 
to me of one-third of the fodder and grain that 
have been need. Now, if this la the truth of 
this matter, it must have a very important ef¬ 
fect on the values of fodder, the coarse fodders, 
especially, of which the indigestible portions 
ure greater than those of the finer fodders. 
Perhaps if “Kit” were to try some salt, or 
fresh, marsh hay by cutting It and mixing it 
with the usual ration of feed, he might find tbe 
pound of fat or of flesh that he has aByet never 
been able to Jay his hand upon. 
H. Stewart. 
In my grass plats, where I have raised from 
150 to 200 sorts of grasses and forage plants 
for the last seven years, June Grass causes 
more trouble than all tbe rest combined. It 
gets into everything. Other weeds can be 
quickly seen aud taken out, but Jane Grass 
must be allowed to grow awhile to be distin¬ 
guished from some of the other grasses. £Jear 
my beds of grasses on dry sandy loam was an 
old lawn seeded with Juno Grass and Peren¬ 
nial Rye Grass. June Grass ran out the Rye 
Grass In about five or six years. Within 
three years the Beeds of Bcveral largo Fescue, 
Orchard Grass and Oat Grass have blown 
into the Junc-Grass lawn and taken a firm 
footing. In several places the Jnue Grass is 
giving up more than hall' the ground to these 
large grasses. No manure has been OBed 
within ten years. This contest is watched 
with much interest, uud suggests the propriety 
of try ing the experiment on a larger scale on 
some of our old pasture or meadows. 
JOTTINGS. 
In tbe Northern States this is also known as 
“Spear Grass,” “Green Grass," "Kentucky 
Bine Grass.” In Kentucky it is often called 
“Blue Grass." It is one of the most common 
and most useful grasses of this country and 
of Europe. The genus Poa, to which this be¬ 
longs, also contains several others of impor¬ 
tance, such as Fowl-Meadow Grass, Rough- 
Stalked Meadow Grass, Wire Grass, etc. They 
are all fine and nutritious. A scientific de¬ 
scription here wonld be passed over or not 
understood by most readers. 
The lower paletis supplied with woolly hairs 
on the back. TheleaveB are compressed, and 
at the tip resemble the end of a little boat. 
The panicle is short—pyramidal; the foot 
stocks run extensively at the base, much like 
those of Quack Grass. The flowers in Michi¬ 
gan appear about the 1st of Jane, and nearly 
all come on at once. It is hard to find a single 
panicle of flowers after the first crop has 
passed out of flower. Inquiries are often made 
in reference to this grasB, although it iB com¬ 
mon almost everywhere. In most places the 
flower 6talks are short and would make only a 
light crop of hay. In strong, rich land the 
crop of hay would be medium in bulk, though 
heavier than most people would estimate. 
The hay, if cut when in flower, as it should be, 
is excellent for all kinds of stock. A little 
forkful goes a great way when compared with 
clover bay. As I mentioned, there is no 
second crop of stems, but the leaves continue 
to grow throughout the year when the weather 
is not too dry or too cold. 
There is no better pastnre than that pro¬ 
duced by June Grass, though some people are 
not satisfied with the quantity. Jane Grass is 
a perennial, and will last as long as any grass, 
or as long as insects or cultivation will permit. 
More than one year is required for it to be¬ 
come well established, heuce it is not well 
adapted for alternate husbandry. 
In the Rural, within two years, I stated the 
result of an experiment at the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College. Seeds were obtained in Ken¬ 
tucky lrom two different seedsmen of what 
they called Blue Grass. In all respects, so far 
as any one could see, they were identical with 
the June Grass at the Agricultural College. 
The Kentncky grass was no larger, no earlier, 
no later. * 
In low or wet ground June Grass is one of 
the hardest weeds to kill out or keep down. 
This every farmer is too familiar with. There 
is no grass of my acquaintance, except Quack 
Grass, which will spread faster from a few 
seeds or roots. Jnne Grass is the best of all 
onr grasses for a lawn, and when sown on 
rich land and cut often, it makes a soft, thick, 
green turf, which is a delight to the eye aud 
to the feet which tread upon it. For a good 
lawn there is no need of sowing auy other. A 
uniform appearance in the grass is desirable. 
Where the grass only Is sought for, and that 
in the shortest space of time, prepare the soil 
well and sow the grass early in Spring or 
September, if not too dry. It is a miatakeu 
notion to sow oats or clover or some rapid¬ 
growing plant with June Grass to shade the 
youDg plants. It would be about as sensible 
to raise pigweeds to shade corn, or some 
coarse weeds to shade wheat. 
continue to rot as badly as if left in the ground, 
or even worse, while others argue that the 
rotting will be checked, at any rate, to a con¬ 
siderable extent, and more be saved than if 
left undug. especially if they are stored in 
not too large quantities in a body, and in a 
cool place. I have always been disposed to 
accept the theory that after the rot has ap¬ 
peared the sooner they ate dng the less rot 
there will be; provided, at least, they can be 
stored in small quantities together, as in bar¬ 
rels or small boxes, and kept in a cool cellar 
or other suitable place; and my observation 
4atm Copies. 
THE TRUTH ABOUT IT. 
In his column of ‘ Jottings," (page 569), 
“Kit” refers somewhat doubtfully to the feed- 
[The object of articles under this heading is not so 
much todeal with "humbugs" as with the many un¬ 
conscious errors that creep into the methods of daily 
country routine life.— Ens.] 
THE VALUE OF FOOD AND FODDERS. 
