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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[November, 
A Good Sect! Used, oji Sward Laud. 
—“F. W.,” Morristown, N. J. “How shall I harrow so 
as not to bring up the soils anil make a rough surface ?” 
A good seed bed upon sward land for winter grain is a 
matter of great importance, especially if the seed is put 
in with a drill. A good deal depends upon the plowing. 
With the Michigan plow, which entirely buries the sod 
and brings to the surface 4 or 5 inches of loose soil, there 
is no difficulty. The swivel plow, turning the furrows 
all one way, also makes a smooth seed bed, if the har¬ 
rowing is skillfully done. The harrow should first be 
run lengthwise of the furrows, to press down and level 
the sods. Then harrow crosswise in the direction in 
which the furrows are laid, and go back in the same 
track. By this method no buried sods will be brought 
to the surface, and a good seed bed will be prepared. 
Wliesa to Thrasli and Sell Grain, 
“ L. D. B.,” Northampton, Pa. “ What are the prospects 
for the grain market the coming winter?”—About all 
that can be said now is that we have abundant crops, and 
there are short crops in Western Enrope. As a rule, a 
farmer does well to thrash and sell his grain early, if he 
can get satisfactory prices. Few farmers can afford to 
speculate in articles so liable to waste as grain. It is 
liable to be damaged by the weather while in stack and 
by rats and mice both in stack and in bin. If changed 
into cash it begins to draw or stop interest at once. 
TSie Frost Improving' Soil.— “ Is there 
any proof that the soil is benefited by frequent freezing 
and thawing?” “B. F. M.,” Vineland. This is easily 
tested by ridging a few square rods in the garden either 
with the plow or spade, thus exposing about twice the 
average surface to the action of the frost. If land thus 
treated is more productive than that which lies undisturb¬ 
ed, the frost makes the difference. We know it to be 
beneficial, and especially so to heavy loams and clay soils. 
Alsalce Glover. —“N. T. S.,” Colchester, 
Vt. “Can you recommend Alsike clover as a forage 
plant?”—We have not sufficient acquaintance with the 
article to do this. It was introduced into the country by 
the Patent Office in 1863, but seems to have made very 
little progress, catching something of the spirit of the 
officials that introduced it. It is said to be best adapted 
to strong, moist soils, sows its own seeds, and will 
last a dozen years or more. If the seed sold for a dollar 
a pound or upwards we should stand some chance of 
learning more about it. 
Stone or Wooil Fences.—“ G-. D. C.,” 
Lyme, Ct. “ I have occasion to build about 100 rods of 
fence this fall and winter, and have both stone and wood 
upon the farm. Which will pay best in the long run ?” 
Stones, unquestionably, if they are in the soil and need to 
he removed from the surface. This has been the opinion 
of Eastern farmers from the first settlement of the coun¬ 
try, and it is still better economy now that we need 
smooth fields for improved implements of tillage and 
harvesting. A well-made stone wall with the foundation 
put below frost will cost more than a rail fence, but it will 
last many times as long without repairs and when 
these are needed the material is still good for resetting. 
The wood fence needs attention every spring and after a 
few years is only fit for fire-wood. We have quite too 
many fences upon our farms, but if they must be built, 
use stone and make them permanent. This looks as if 
we meant to stay while we live and to leave our farms 
to our children free from the expense of fence-making. 
Muclisiess of ff..aBnU .— 11 How much land 
ought a farmer to own?" “A. H. L.." Spencer, Mass. 
“ Ten acres is enough ” for some people, and is more for 
them to manage than a thousand acres for others. A man 
may safely own just as much land as he can make pay six 
per cent and upwards on the capital invested in it and in 
its cultivation. Six per cent is the lowest legal rate of 
interest in any of the States, and probably it is a fail- 
average of the profits of all kinds of business. Some 
men have skill enough to make their land pay ten per 
cent and upwards. But the great majority of our farms 
do not pay five per cent, and many of them not even 
three. We recently visited a district of cheap lands and 
poor farming, in one of the older States, which furnishes 
good examples of “ muchness of land.” One farm of 
250 acres of land rents for $200, and the owner pays $60 
taxes on it, leaving only $140 for the use of the farm. It 
is valued at $7,000, and is probably worth that to any man 
who knows how to work It. But the owner gets only 
two per cent on his capital, or 56 cents an acre for the use 
of the land. The tenant keeps a dairy and sheep, pays 
his rent easj-, and gets something more for his labor than 
he would to work by the month, but is not doing a very 
profitable business. The farm might easily be made tQ 
clear a thousand dollars for its owner, for it is a good 
grain soil, and has admirable facilities for making 
manure. Another owns a farm of a thousand acres, 
which he rents for $1000. The farm was purchased some 
15 years ago for $20,000. Deducting taxes, the owner gets 
about four percent for his capital and one dollar an acre 
for the use of his land. The tenant keeps a dairy of 38 
cows, and a good many young cattle and working oxen, 
in which he trades, perhaps a hundred head in all through 
the grazing season. He clears perhaps $2,000 a year, mak¬ 
ing rather more by his skill as a cattle trader than as a 
cultivator. This is a shore farm of very good soil, with 
unrivalled facilities for gathering sea manures. Its prod¬ 
ucts could readily be brought up to $20,000 a year, paying 
a profit of four or five thousand to the owner. Close by 
these farms a man owns 42 acres of land which he values 
at $8,500, or over $200 an acre. It is naturally no better 
land but much better managed. A single item is 1000 
bushels of potatoes from five acres of land. We want 
more skill and capital concentrated upon the land. 
Selection of Seed Corn.— This should 
be attended to at the husking, if it has not already been 
done. Select the ears from stalks bearing two or more 
perfect ears, and if the corn is not already well cured, 
tie the ears in strings of a dozen or more, by braiding the 
husks, and hang them in a room with a fire to dry. The 
quicker they are cured the better, if they are not damaged 
by the heat. In the Northwestern States, where the corn is 
liable to be damaged by the frosts, the best farmers select 
seed ears before the kernels are glazed, and, after partial¬ 
ly stripping off the husks, kiln-dry them at a temperature 
not above 150°. Corn thus treated is said to germinate 
much quicker, and to mature several days earlier, than 
that cured in the field. Much seed fails from want of this 
seasonable attention, and the fields have to be replanted. 
A few hours of labor now may save weeks in the spring. 
Improvement ofSandy Land with 
Clay Subsoil. —“R. H. S.,” of Dnnbar Station, Pa., 
says he has a hundred acres of this kind of land, overrun 
with blackberry bushes. “Can you tell a sure method 
to get rid of them? How many bushels of lime ought I to 
put on to an acre ? Would it be good economy to plow 
under clover, sow wheat, seed it down with clover, and 
the next season plow it under and sow wheat again ? 
Would the land improve, following up this rotation for 
years, or would it grow poor ? What condition ought 
clover to be in when plowed under, green or dry ?” The 
persistent mowing of briers the last week in August and 
feeding the ground close with sheep will gradually reduce 
and exterminate them. A more rapid remedy is plowing 
and the thorough cultivation of hoed crops. Wheat once 
in five years is often enough unless you apply animal 
manures. From thirty to fifty bushels of lime to the acre 
is enough to last in the soil for five years. The best usage 
now is to plow in clover after it has been partially fed. 
We would recommend the common Pennsylvania rotation, 
often referred to in back numbers. See vol. 26, page 288. 
If a summer fallow is adopted, improve it by harrowing 
the land every two weeks, after it is plowed in the spring. 
S'coji Berry. — ( Phytolacca decandra). 
“W. S.,” Stoystown. Pa., says he has a piece of new 
land covered with young plants of this weed. “I am 
plowing it again before I seed it, but I cannot get all the 
plants plowed out, as the ground is very rough and rooty. 
Will the weeds interfere with the wheat?” If it were 
practicable we should advise the drilling of the wheat 15 
inches apart, which would admit of cultivation. The 
wheat will probably smother a good many of the 
small plants, and it will pay to go over the piece in the 
spring, and with a hoe cut off the crowns of the large 
ones, if any are left. It is not a difficult weed to eradicate 
with hoed crops, or with a summer fallow. 
Farming- l»y Proxy.— “W. S. R.,” Manor- 
ville, L. I., asks if he can run a store, and at the same 
time oversee the working of 17 acres of land, and make 
it pay. That depends altogether upon his business ca¬ 
pacities. If the land is near his home, so that he can 
plan the work on the land and have an eye to it at morn¬ 
ing and evening, and he can secure a faithful laborer, he 
might safely try it. He is near good markets and proba¬ 
bly has good facilities for making manure—two items in 
his favor. Put at least thirty dollars’ worth of manure 
upon every acre in hoed crops. 
Ego veil and §orglium. — “N. S. C.,” 
Flanders, N. J. “ Can any one tell whether the leaves of 
sorghum cane, when green, partially or wholly dried, have 
been known to be injurious to cattle when they have been 
eaten ? One of my neighbors in stripping his cane allow¬ 
ed the leaves to become partially dried, and fed some of 
them to a cow ; the next morning he found his cow lying 
by the pile of leaves dead.”—If the leaves had anything 
to do with the death it was probably a case of hoven. 
This is likely to be caused by any kind of succulent food 
fed in large quantity to an animal not accustomed to its 
use. Sorghum is as wholesome food for cattle as com. 
Breed, from. tlie IBest. —It was stated 
in the recent address before the Vermont State Agri¬ 
cultural Society, that the State was losing its reputation 
for fine horses on account of the constant sale of its best 
animals,—a ruinous practice with any kind of stock. 
Cooked Food for lEog-s.—“Have any 
experiments ever been conducted to show that it pays to 
cook the feed of swine ? Mine do very well without it, 
and I do not wish to waste any labor or fuel.” “C. N. T.,” 
Thetford.—The best farmers all through the East cook 
the greater part of their feed, after the swine are put up 
in the fall, and we think this practice is gaining ground 
in the West, as corn increases in price. Samuel H. Clay, 
of Kentucky, conducted a series of experiments in feed¬ 
ing corn to hogs, with the following results. One bushel 
of dry corn made 5 lbs. 10 oz. of live pork; one bushel 
of boiled corn made 14 lbs. 7 oz. ; one bushel of ground 
corn boiled made 16 lbs. 7 oz. There are other experi¬ 
ments upon record showing quite as great a difference in 
favor of cooking. If we save more than half the corn, 
we may as well invest in a cooking apparatus at once. 
We shall save labor, or its equivalent, money, by doing it. 
Tine Secret, of Cheap Pods.—“ H. 
G.,” Auburn, N. T. “What is the secret of making pork 
economically ? Mine always costs me more than I can 
buy it for.” There are several of these secrets known to 
the initiated. First. A good breed. You may stuff any of 
the land pikes with any quantity of corn, and he will not 
fatten. Suffolks, Chester Whites, or grades of any pure 
breed, will show their keeping. Second. Good housing. 
A pig wants a nice, clean, dry pen to sleep in. The yard 
may have muck and plenty of litter for manure making, 
but the pen, or sleeping apartment, should be warm and 
well strawed. Third. Early fattening. Pork is made 
much more economically in warm weather than in cold. 
Fourth. A variety of food. If cooked Indian meal is 
the staple, let it be varied with green food while it lasts, 
com stalks, weeds, purslane, and clover, and in winter 
feed enough cabbage and roots to keep the bowels in 
good condition. Fifth. Regular feeding, three times a 
day. A fattening pig should never . squeal, and he will 
not if he always finds his food ready at the regular time. 
Calculate to have your pork worth no more and perhaps 
a little less than the feed costs, and look for all your 
profits in the grand heap of rich manure which the dying 
porker leaves as a legacy. These secrets make cheap 
pork in our pen, even at the present price of corn. 
Slaing-Bater Sloaise Matiiiare.—“ B. B. 
S.,” Newark, N. J. “My farm is situated near a slaughter¬ 
house, and I can purchase the manure. Is it worth any 
more than common stable manure ?”—If pigs are fed upon 
the offal, and the calves’ and sheep’s heads and legs are 
thrown into the yard, as is frequently the case, the ma¬ 
nure is worth twice as much, at least, as common stable 
manure. The bones and blood, and refuse flesh, hair, 
and wool, are all powerful fertilizers, and the manure of 
swine fed upon animal food is much richer than that of 
the common sty. If you compost the slaughter house 
manure, use six times its bulk of peat or muck. 
JPoiiil Mud. —“Is there any way to prevent 
mud from settling in mill ponds ?” “ J. C.,” Fall River, 
Mass. None that we are aware of, and if we owned land 
in the vicinity we should not desire it. The best part of 
the soil is carried off in the current, mingled with leaves 
and other vegetable matter. It is the same material that 
is deposited upon meadows subject t .0 overflow, keeping 
up their fertility. It is a good article for the barn-yards, 
compost heaps, or to spread broadcast as a top-dressing 
upon mowing lands. If there is much clay in it, spread 
it upon sandy and gravelly lands ; if much sand, spread it 
upon the heavy soils. The more organic matter the better. 
Self-Filling lce-BIoiase. — “ S. E.,” 
Alexanderville, O., writes: “It is stated that ice-houses 
are constructed and frozen full of ice by means of intro¬ 
ducing water from a spring at a point of sufficient eleva¬ 
tion. Is the plan a practicable one ?” There is no diffi¬ 
culty in freezing a solid mass of ice in an ice-house in 
the winter, either when the water is thrown from a jet, 
or otherwise. We have seen no experiment, but presume 
it will keep quite as well or better than when packed in 
the ordinary way. The difficulty is in removing the ice as 
it is wanted in the summer. The ice packed in cakes is 
easily cut of any desired size. The other would have to 
be chipped with an axe, which would consume as much 
time as the ordinary way of storing. Ice on the large 
scale is stored for about twenty cents per top. 
