176 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
must be plowed within one year from the 
■date of entry ; the second year five acres 
must be cultivated and another five acres 
plowed ; the third year the first five acres 
must be planted in timber, seeds or cuttings, 
and second five acres cultivated ; the fourth 
year the second five acres must be planted in 
timber, seeds or cuttings, making at the end 
of the fourth year ten acres thus planted. 
These must be carefully cultivated and pro¬ 
tected for four years more, at the end of 
which time, on making due proof that at 
least 2,700 trees were planted on each acre, 
.and that at the time of making proof at 
least 675 thrifty trees are growing upon each 
acre, a patent for the land may be obtained. 
Perfect good faith must be observed. If the 
trees, or any of them, are destroyed one 
year they must be replanted the next. If 
grasshoppers or drouth destroy the trees, 
seeds or cuttings, for one year or a term of 
years, the time for planting is extended one 
year for every year that they are so de¬ 
stroyed. The Land Office fee for entry of 
160 acres is $14. Only Western prairie and 
treeless lands may be taken by this method. 
The trees planted must be those properly 
called timber trees, and among these the 
cottonwood is recognized. 
By Purchase. 
It has been the policy and practice of the 
Government to place upon the market all 
public lands so soon as they are surveyed 
and the conditions seem ripe for settlement. 
This is done by proclamation of the Presi¬ 
dent, followed by advertisement of the lands. 
The sale is either public or private, and by 
sections, half sections, and quarter sections. 
If public, the price is that offered by the 
highest bidder. If. private, the price is fixed 
by the Government at usually $1.25 per acre. 
Any person can buy all be wishes to. No 
credit is given—the sale is for cash only. On 
payment to the local land office the purchaser 
receives a land certificate, for which a patent 
is substituted later. 
The certificate is as good evidence of title 
as the patent. Not all public lands are thus 
for sale, and there is a growing sentiment 
against the system. At the present time it is 
deemed wise to withhold from sale some of 
the Western lands, among them those in Da¬ 
kota. This is done to prevent speculators from 
obtaining and holding large tracts, and to en¬ 
courage actual settlers who can proceed 
under the other methods above described. 
Lands valuable for their mineral resources 
are not subject io any of these provisions. 
Larger and More Powerful Horses. 
In Europe one often sees three or more horses 
attached in single file to a plow. In conse¬ 
quence of this, when approaching a fence or 
other obstruction near the end of the land 
to be plowed, the two forward horses are 
obliged to turn one side and leave the hind 
one alone to finish the furrow. This not only 
gives him much the hardest part of the day’s 
work to do, but prevents the end of the fur¬ 
row being perfectly turned; in fact it is neces¬ 
sarily left shallow, and the soil is not half 
stirred. The hind horse, although he may 
be more powerful than either of the other 
two, is unable to accomplish the task re¬ 
quired of the whole team. Americans adopt 
the better practice of harnessing three horses 
abreast; but this is more or less troublesome, 
and extra expensive, and the turning of the 
horses at the end of the furrow is difficult. 
It is often better for the farmer to have a 
pair of horses as stout as an ordinary three- 
horse team, for several kinds of farm ma¬ 
chinery have latterly been much increased in 
size and weight, in order to accomplish com¬ 
bined operations by the labor of one man, 
where formerly it took from two to four, or 
even more. This is exemplified in the adop¬ 
tion of the two or three-share plow, instead 
of a single one, the combination of reaper, 
raker, and sheaf-binder, and uniting the 
threshing, winnowing, and bagging of grain 
at a single operation. Other things might be 
mentioned showing the convenience, and 
especially the economy of using a more power¬ 
ful class of horses for heavy farm and road 
work. Some contend that large horses are 
not so active as smaller ones, but this depends 
entirely on their breeding. They may be 
bred to walk easily with a heavy load at the 
rate of four miles or more per hour, and trot 
six or seven on fairly level roads, which is as 
fa9t as smaller horses ordinarily travel. 
Important Experiments with Oats. 
Not the least valuable experiments at 
Rothamsted, England, are those upon the 
growth of oats year after year, on the same 
land, without manure, and with different 
kinds of fertilizers. The area under the ex¬ 
periment was three-quarters of an acre. The 
first experimental oat crop was produced in 
1869, the last in 1878, making a term of ten 
seasons. The results of the first five years 
are here considered. The area under experi¬ 
ment (f of an acre), was divided into six plots 
and each tested in a different manner as to 
the fertilizers used. 
Plot 1 was unmanured during the entire 
time; plot 2 received at the rate of 200 lbs. 
sulphate potash, 100 lbs. sulphate soda, 100 
lbs. sulphate magnesia, and 350 lbs. super¬ 
phosphate of lime, per acre. Plot 3 received 
at the rate of 400 lbs. ammonia salts. Plot 4 
received at the rate of 400 lbs. ammonia salts, 
200 lbs. sulphate potash, 100 lbs. sulphate soda, 
100 lbs. sulphate magnesia, and 350 lbs. super¬ 
phosphate. Plot 5 received at the rate of 550 
lbs. nitrate of soda. Plot 6 received at the 
rate of 550 lbs. nitrate of soda, 200 lbs. sul¬ 
phate potash, 100 lbs. sulphate soda, 100 lbs. 
sulphate magnesia and 350 lbs. of superphos¬ 
phate. This is the annual treatment of each 
of these experiment plots which continued 
through a term of five years. 
In 1869 plot 1 produced at the rate per acre 
of 191 cwt. of straw and 36f bushels of grain, 
that weighed 361- lbs. per bushel. The use 
of the different fertilizers very materially in¬ 
creases the yield of straw, grain, and weight 
of grain per bushel. Plot 2 produced at the 
rate of 45 bushels per acre, the grain weighed 
381 lbs. per bushel, and the amount of straw 
produced was 241 cwt. per acre. Plot 3 shows 
a greater amount of grain and straw, but not 
so great a weight of grain per bushel. The 
grain was at the rate of 561 bushels per acre, 
weight 371 lbs. per bushel, and the straw was 
50 per cent, more than in plot 2, being 361 
cwts. per acre. In plot 4 we reach the max¬ 
imum yield of straw, grain, and weight of 
grain. The grain produced was 75J bushels 
per acre, weight of grain 39£ lbs. per bushel, 
and straw 54 cwt. per acre. Plot 5 produced 
621 bushels of grain per acre, weight of grain 
381 lbs,, 6traw 42J cwts. per acre. Plot 6 
produced 69$ bushels of grain per acre, weight 
I of grain 381 lbs., and straw 491 cwts. per acre. 
The crops produced from these six plots pre¬ 
serve about the same relation during the five 
years, 1869 to 1873, except that plots 1 and 2 
show a marked decrease in the yield of straw 
and grain, and in the weight of grain com¬ 
pared with the remaining four plots. A brief 
examination of the report of the average for 
the five years will be sufficient to establish 
this fact. This average shows that plot 4 
produced more grain, more straw, and a 
greater weight of grain per bushel, than any 
other plot. This is the same result that was 
obtained in 1869, the first year of this series 
of experiments. The average of these dif¬ 
ferent plots for five years was as follows: 
Grain. Weight. Straw. 
No. 1 averaged hush. 33 3 /, lbs. 10 3 /s cwt. ^ acre. 
" 2 “ 
“ 3 “ 
4 “ 
“ 5 
“ 6 
247a - 
35 “ 
137a “ “ 
47 
35 7 /a ‘ 
287a “ 
59 
37 
417a “ “ 
477a “ 
357a “ 
277a “ “ 
577a “ 
357a “ 
35 “ 
The plots maintained about the same rela¬ 
tive position as in the first year of the ex¬ 
periment. If the six plots were of the same 
fertility at the commencement of the experi¬ 
ment, and it is safe to assume that they were, 
then the experiment was very valuable. Plot 
1 shows a remarkable decline, even in this 
short term of five years. The value of fertil¬ 
izers is very clearly shown in the results of 
the treatment of the other plots, and more 
especially in plots 4 and 6. The result in plot 
2 can not be termed very satisfactory. 
F. R. Moreland, Ogdensburg, N. Y. 
Hungarian Grass. 
This is a valuable crop supplying good green 
fodder, as well as hay, and a large quantity- 
can be obtained from a small area of land. 
It can be sown late in the season, after the 
ordinary hay crop is pretty accurately esti¬ 
mated, and the demand for fodder known. 
Hungarian grass may be sown after rye, or 
on sod ground. Plow the land to a moderate 
depth and make the surface very fine. A 
liberal dressing of fine manure, or some 
commercial fertilizer, is essential, if the soil 
is not already pretty rich. If the crop is 
wanted for feeding green during the summer, 
the seed can be sown at intervals from the 
last of May (at the North), to the middle or 
last of July. If for hay, delay sowing until 
about the middle of June, as the plants will 
not grow rapidly until the nights are warm ; 
this will give plenty of time for a full growth. 
Use fresh and well ripened seed ; one bushel 
per acre is sufficient, though a bushel and a 
half is sometimes used. The crop should 
be harvested before the seed ripens, but not 
until the heads of the grass are well formed. 
A writer on the subject of laying hens 
says, he began with a flock, the average lay¬ 
ing of each hen being only 65 to 85 eggs per 
annum. By selecting for hatching, from 
year to year, the eggs of those hens that laid 
the greatest number, he brought them up in 
process of time to lay from 190 to 210 each. 
We have well authenticated instances of hens 
laying 250 eggs in a single year, and even 
more than this number is guessed at. It is 
highly profitable, under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, to keep hens which lay 150 to 200 
eggs per annum, but quite the contrary if 
they produce only 60 to 80. The non-sitters 
are such as give the former; but the sitters, 
when of a good breed, will generally reach 
about two-thirds of this number. 
