S" T&T E A G H 2 C U t T U HAL OH R XI.4 .
,., Luceme. --'"-" - - ..- -Editor
State Agricultural Jbvrnal
. I read with pleasure yur article in the last
number of your paper upon "Grass Culture,"
particularly that portion of it concerning lu
cerne.' !..''!..'--',.. j
-Having been acquainted with the culture el
lucerne from my boyhood, I can affirm that
my experience with it confirms all that yon
hare said in itt favor." It is, without doubt,
the beat forage plant that we hare, as it will
yield more forage per acre, and that for a
longer aeries of years, than any other, as it can
be est from three to six times daring the sea
son. . With nroner care and manuring, it is
or
said that it will flourish from tea to twenty
years from one seeding. Under my observa
tion it has yielded for. twenty years from one
seeding. , . . . ' .. "
.. . . w svjmiva m gvvU uveas ivi sitv ivii muw
bountiful manuring, in order for t to flourish
well. It ought to be sowed in drills,, about
eighteen inches apart, and kept clear ef all
grass and weeds for the first three years after
rvlanriticr hv mtini nt fhn linn and nlaw. Bo-
l -j - r -
ing such a rapid grower, it ought to be ma
nured every time that it is eat. The beet
time for planting is September or early in Oc
tober, in order that it may get a good start
before the grass puts oat in the Spring. I am
acquainted with an acre of lucerne, sowed
last Fall, that was from 22 to 26 inches high
where it had not been cut, up to May 23d,
anil if wo 1Q in.lka fittvh nvlkaFa t aA VtAAfl
out once and liberally manured."
It is good for all farm stock horses, unlec,
cows, sheep and hogs-and will pay better,
for the attention and manure bestowed npon
it, than any forage plant jjith which I am ac
quainted. The yield per aere, when thorough-
1 1. . J 3 L , ' 'j
ij cumyaiea ana manarea, is asioniBning anu
almost ineredible. It ought not ever to be
grazed by any kind of stock.
.' Farmkr. ;
.. Cutting Forage Green.
Chatham Co., N. C, May 25th, 1874.
Editors State Agricultural Journal :
Dear Sib :l have been thinking of wri
ting to you ever since I made your acquain
tance. I saw an invitation in the Jocbnax
for any to write who may feel disposed to do
so. ?
f ievltii wtmw gTOT Hgpoii MHWf the
farmers to recommend cutting-forage green
for stock. My experience with herds grass,
oats and corn fodder, is that they should not
be cut or gathered too green. Oats and herds
grass should begin to turn yellow before they
are cut and corn fodder should begin to thiok
en up and get brittle where the corn is doing
well before it is gathered.
Who would think of recommending cutting
tobacco green, or gathering apples, or peach
es, or watermelons, green, to mako them bet
ter or more of them ? I see it recommended
to cut corn for forage as soon as it shoots and
tussles. " I think it continues to improve until
the stalk gets too hard for the animals to be
fond of it, or refuse to eat the stalks. 1 know
ft'fl irerv craaA wliiln in roaatintr-ear atata for
horses and hogs.
I am troubled in my garden with a mole
or some kind of growth in the soil, which
looks uae lime wnuisn roots, pervaaing ue
entire soil, and it perishes out the turnips,
stopping the growth of tops and roots. I see
seme of it this Spring. What will prevent
its coming, or destroy it after it does come !
I sowed some salt on the land but that did no
good that I could see.
My garden is inclined to get green moss
ever it whenever it rains, and is cloudy a day
or so, ana tee longer it is wet tne worse it is.
.Is there asy remedy for that, but stirring the
soil, which is injurious when wet I
,
Yours truly,
... . Luther Qmcgo.
Thoughts for the Month of Jane.
. i- ; . (Southern Cultivator.)
The present month we have to
to urge prompt, incessant and judicious pra
tice of the rules laid down. There is no place
"now " for hesitation, halting, delay. Grass
and weeds must be "strangled in the birth,"
and the surface of the ground kept stirred,
to insure healthy, continuous growth of
the crops. , Every one with the least amount
of farming experience, will admit the gene
jral propositions laid downut in: practice
there is great room for judgment, and one
man will accomplish the results with much
rless'labor and more perfectly than another,
Que great drawback in Southern farming
is the imperfect training of plough animals.
The negro seldom has either tho patience or
the requisite interest in the matter, to render
an animal so tractable that he can place the
plough just where it ought to run ; or if the
animal is tractable, will himself take the
trouble to shift the plough about according
to the exigencies of the case, v A good an i
mal, a skillful ploughman, and a judicious
ly selected plough, ought almost to banish
the hoe from our fields, and with it a large
part of the expensive labor we are now called
upon to pay for. The selection of plough
hands is a most important matter. In old
times with small plpughs to run round and
others to break out middles, "chaps" might
be employed to do the latter but with the
sweep or cultivator or harrow, the running
round does all the work, and the very best
hands should be chosen for the business. , A
strong band, to hold and guide the plow in
presence of rocks, crooks in drill, or devia
tions of the horse a reasonable one, who
will not lose his patience and get angry be
cause the horse does not understand every
word he speaks to him, and does not obey
him to the letter--a careful one, who, by na
ture, dislikes to do anything in a careless,
slovenly manner. Such a hand will soon
train a horse well, and if previous prepara
tion has left the bed in good shape highest
in the middle and an implement having
the part running next to the plants properly
arran'god to throw little or much dirt, as
the case may require, is used will pass over
a field leaving almost nothing for hoe hands
to do. Especially will this be true if the
plough ings are .repeated at short intervals,
and before weeds and grass have time to ac-
quiro size.
Progress withPrudence, Practice
. with Science.
'. (Rural Carolinian lor June.)
; We advocate progressive farming. Im
provement is tlie order of the day in all trades
and professions, and the Agriculturist must
keep abreast with the forward movement, or
ho will fall hopelessly under foot - But with
progress should always come prudence. Hast
en slowly study carefully the path before
you, lest you make faleeateps or go astray.
All old ways are not bad, nor are ail new
ways good. Look with a good deal of cau
tions scrutiny at any system ol cultivation in
which tho experience of centuries' passes fur
nothing. Jf a theorizcr Jtell. jon-roii wlja.
have been planting" cotton all vonrTife that
you know nothing about cotton culture, but
that your mode is wrong from beginning to
end, it is not worth while to li.ten to him;
but not less foolish is. the talk of those who
think, because theyrhave bea planters all
their lives, as their fathers were before them,
that there is nothing more to be learned and
ao improvement to be made. So, Science is
good; analyses of soils are useful; geology,
vegetable pnysiology, entomology and meteor-1
ology have their bearing npon the planters'
art, but neither of these, nor all of these alone,
will make a man a good farmer. Practice
must be combined with Science. Farmfhg
must be learned in the field. Looks and pa
pers help us in our lessons.
Aversion to Manual Labor.
(Oermantowa Telegraph.)
The practice of edacatiag boys for the pro
fessiens which are already overstocked, or for
the mercantile business, in which statistics
show that ninety-five in a hundred fail of suc
cess, is fearfully en the increase in this coun
try. Americans are annually becoming more and
more averse to manual labor; and to get a living
by one's wits, even at the cost of independ
ence and self-respect, and a fearful wear and
tear of conscience, is the ambition of ft large
proportion of our young men. The result is
that the mechanical professions are becoming
a monopoly of foreigners, and the ownership
of the finest farms, even in "New England, is
passing from Americans to Irishmen and
Germans. Fifty years ago a father was not
ashamed to put his children, to the plow, or to
a mechanical trade ; bat now they, are "too
feeble" for bodily laborjone has a pain in his side,
another aslight cough, another "a very delicate
constitution," another is nervous ; and so poor
Bobby, or Billy, or Tommy is sent off to the
city to, measure tape, weigh coffee, or draw
molasses, It seems never, to occur to their
foolish parents, that moderate' manual labor,
in the pure and bracing air of the. ceantry, is
jast what these puny, wasp-waisted lads need,
and that to send them Jo tho crowded
and unhealthy city, is to send them to
their graves.- Let them follow the plow,
swing the sledge, or shove the fore
plane, and their pinched chests will be ex
panded, their sunken cheeks plumped out,
and their 'lanes, now "cabined, cribbed, and
confined," will have room to play. Their
nerves will be. invigorated with their muscles;
and when they shall have cast off their jack
ets, instead of , being thib, pale, vapid cox
combs, they shall have spread out to the size
and configuration of men. . A lawyer's office,
a counting room, or a grecery, is about the last
place to which a sickly youth should be sent.
The Value Of Guinea Grass as a For
age Plant. : j
' v- v-1 TRnral Carolinian for June.
' An estoemcd correspondent in Alabama,
Mr. A. Goelzer, of Mobile, observing the note
on Guinea Grass in unr. April number, sends
us the following nt.-reftin statement, made
at his request by Mr. J J. Dolehafiipe", of
Mobile, who has for several year bt en oxper
upenting with this valuable forage plant. Our
friend writes : ! , A , ; V,
' "An uncle of Mr. Deluhampes imported
roots of it from Jainaicit in 1835, but tho wud
being neglected mid plants destroyed during
the recent war, Mr. Dolchampos tried to in
troduce it again Co the notica of the farming
community.. Besides himself, who is only
propagating it for the benefit of his neiehbors,
in a small way, and myself, Mr. II. Coriner, a
rerr intelligent farmer, planted it last year,
nd finding it valuable, has enlarged his grass
plot to a considerable . size this spring, and
thinks very highly Qf it. It ig nndoubtedljr
the most profitable soiling plant yet intro
duced, and promises also tobejp?anforour
Southern ha v stacks, provided can ha ant
verv tWn-ir..ionr wpL-a "
Y Iicre are air. De
re Mr. DelcTi..Uacts and fignres
inicated for the benefit onne Tearer-
. n 7 n i: .
lus communicated tc
v oi ino Murat varoanan :
In accordance with the request of Mr. A.
Goelzer, I herewith make out a resume of the
results of the several cuttings of Guinea Grass
made by me last year. The grass was cot,
dried arid given to Mr. D. Campbell, at whose
place of business Mr. Goelzer has seenjit. :,.
Tho cuttings were made from one square
yard of land accurately measured, and it was
a 1'aie.average of the entire plot in grass.'.! eit
'" 1 ' lb. oz.
lst'cutting May 16th, weight of dry
hay 19th, 2 j8
2d cutting June 16tb, weight of dry 1 '
hay 23d, " 1 wll
3d cutting July 17th, weight of dry
- hay 20th, .. , 1 7f
4th cutting August 18th, ruined by .
rain, weight of dry hay 30th, 0 ; 8
1st September, cut by a friend thro' , 3 -
mistake without weighing. ' " r
L5th cutting, October 1st, weight of -
dry hay stu, : 0, 10
Total, . 6 .- 3i
Reckoning tho acre at 4,840 square yards,
for convenience, the result is over fifteen- tons
of dry hay per acre, twelve days growth be
ing lost by an accident, and the season not a
very favorable one. . :(':.:.;
I dug the roots from tho Same square yard
of ground in January, and the weight was 2
lbs. 10 oz , equal to 6.45 tons per acre. , Hogs
dovour these roots as eagerly as they do sweet
potatoea. Si and a half tons of hog feed
tfti4-iftuan aanaoi' good bay X ahouldXfigajjl
as a vary good result from one acre of land. . ,
It may be well to add that on the square
yard of ground from which I dug the roots,
the grass is as thick now as on any other part
of the plot.- - -: , . ;, 1
Making Sheep Profitable. . 1
, Cultivator and Country Gentlman.J 1
All flock masters have in view the? object
of making the flock pay, but each goes about
it in an entirely different wav. One cares
well for the flock, and makes them-aa-cons-fortablo
as may be at all times ; another lets
them take care of themselves. These last are
usually looking for some better breeds, and
imagine their sheep are "run out," or tbey
have bad them too long;; I have a great deal
of sympathy for a flock of sheep ia this situa
tion. They are placed very much as the Israelites
of old, when commanded to make brick with
out straw; much is expected from them, and
very little done for them. The probabilities
are that ene-half of the sheep kept ,ia( this
country are cared for in this slipshod manner.
Their owners consider them poor property,
and neglect them in every possible way, only
waiting for a chance to sell, which they do
not get, as their sheep - are not in a condition
to attract buyers. When the cold fall rains
and snows come, tho owners know them to
be severe storms, but imagine the sheep can
stand it. The consequence is that when win
ter sots in the sheep are low in flesh 5 they
are not thought to be doing well, but the
owners expect to havo some early Iambs ' to
sell at a good price, to make' up the loss for
all former bad treatment and negleof. !- When
the early lambs appear, many eWes have
twins ; none have nourishment enough - for
ne lamb, much less for two; many die from
want ot Bnitable shelter. By the time grass
comes, the lambs are stunted, the ewes are
poor beyond description; on many, the wool
is entirely off the belly and neck. ' Shearing
tilhes arrives, the average is from 2 to 8 lbs.
of inferior wool, the lambs are not fit for the
butcher, and the profits from the early ' lambs
vansh. These farmers naturally, conclude
that the sheep business is unprofitable ; they
thinkydairying would pay better. This is the
way tfcmako the flock not pay. ' . 1 ,
The otther class of flock masters ' keep . as
many shtep, (or a few less) as they have good
feed for hV summer, and comfortable accommo
dations forVin winter. ! If the aim is to breed
pure bred stoipk, they select the best speci
mens of the blveed to be foand, whether long
or fine wool, weeding out all such as do sot
come : np to 'Who standard of what mat be
called excellent If. on the other hand, it is
fl llO. . '
ft
uvBzas Treirc - -
ior wooi ana mutton, sad lambs for the butch
er, they select from the beet natives of the
country, ewes of good age, sajr fro We to
three years ; avoiding all those. disposed! to
bare of wool aboat the belly, face'or UU : then
crossing them with a pure bred W-wooled
ram, even if he costs , from $2(5 . to $50.. , I
know of nothing better than a vCotswoId,'as
the lambs will have almost twice th amount
of wool that their dams had, and carcases in
proportion, and the second cross, in the same
direction, wil produce stock that to the cas
ual observer, is not inferior to ths pure bred ;
but no as certain to breed- from: as , regardi
detcenaSt,ne 'fK.
t70"lu' dobt' lf! ' W veil tor
them, to. keep them from the eohl , rains: and
when the weather is cold, to keep s then dry
and sheltered. From the .nature of .ihefr
elothme they wet easily and dry slowly, It
is aimed to avoid 1. rr' si. t
uosu u uunaiQie, since
"f?g e'we. to
forther butch "WW.mfljr-
PrH'
-f"
l"2 to
probability will brine- more thin tfi.,5f v.t
I f.ll ti
nil; iuu im 10 Drenn wn 1 i m
of twentv vears. I hv nm-a ..-k:
that led me to think so, providing this flesh 5
1ua wi wuu gaofl pasture iff summer, and a
pint of oats a day per headland a tew roots,
with good hay, in winter. 'The fatter sheep
become under those circumstances, the more
valuable I should, consider them. There is no
time of the year when it pays better-to feed a
small allowance of grain daily, t-haW in' the
fall, after the feed gets froze, and if is 'not
necessary to bring the flock to the barn. It is
an old saying, a sheep well-Novembered it
half wintered." Keep the ewes fat and the
lambs will be tat and the fleeces heavy..; It
' I do not say whether it is beet, to have
lambs come early or late, but Ild say it is
beat to nave thefn fat; then, whether early or
late, thev are aalabla. All .ht- with
good care, will not raise a lamb and shear four
ponnus wasneu wool, anould be sold. 1 I have
them in my flock that will shear nine pounds, '
and raise a pair of twins, and it costs no more
to keep one than a sheep that shears only
three pounds. I think a one' : will bear the
man that treats his flock in this way complain
ing because his sheep are "run out" and do
not pay, and the like. , . '
, Ticks must be kept out of the flock' ;! they
are the worst enemy of the ' sheep. If they
are not killed they will destroy the sheep. For
killing them I have never tried anything bet-,
ter than strong tobacco juice. Give the lambs
a dip before they are turned to' e'rass and
again a few days after shearing,-as they leave
the old sheen thn a.nii nn nn tlial.mk. 1 TL!a
wm tin yhwiVjI them. II an' un.4lu jj
VlfltHF ft V a n m L. i ! 1 1: ' .
I v . -" fH in, . a 1,
.viiiu luu.ctu juice, maae warm,
"u kvu "long uie oacK, ana let it soak in
the wool, and moat of. tho tlpt.-wtft mVv a
stroyed. If hese directions are' followed, no
one need apprehend any serious difficulty with
ticks; but at best there will always be some.
J. V. W., Schoharie Co:, N. Y.
' 1 1 " ' ' ,11 sm! '
How to Manage a Fraction Horse.
We find the following in hi ' lr.nSJ!fjyl:
Journal; A beautiful and ;hi4p?ritWLrso
would sever allow a shoe to'be pst'n hjs feet
or asy person to handle his feet. . Is attempt
ing to sooe sucn a horse, recently, be resisted
all efforts, kicked aside everything bst as an-
vil, and came near killing himself agaiast
that, and finally was brought back 'to his
stable unshod. This defect was" iaai on tha
eve oi consigning hinrte the plow, where he
might walk baretoot, when as officer in our
service, lately returned from Msxieo. took a
cord about the size of a common ' bed-cord,
put it in the mouth of a horse like a bit, and
tied it tiehtlv on the animars heaiiaiiu'an
his left ear under the string!' Bot" parnfully
.n fl l,Kn eoougn to keep, tbe ear, .flown
and the cord in place. I This: done, ha: batted
the horse gestly bit the side or the "head and
commanded him to follow, and instantly the
horse obeyed, perfectly ssbdnad and aa o-aittltt
and obedient as a dog, suffering his feet to be
1 :A. lft. J 1-11 ,
""" "u .uumtj avu4 ciiDg in.au reapecia
like an old stager. The gentleman who this
furnished this exceedingly simple1 means; of
subdaing a very dangerous' Propensity, inti
mated that it is practiced in .Matlcn and
South America in the management of wild
'.' ''' , w .JVotes Tor Horsemen.' i . :,t
l.k,orreiponaenee new iera jrltrana.) .
listula Cured.--! send you a recipo for the
cure of fistula, or sola-evil. Iii hnrua j T hm
used it in two instahoes with' great success :
40 grains iodine, 20 drops oil' cedar, 30 drops
oil sassafras, 50 drops spirits turperitine, 1 oz.
gum eupnoroium, t oz. epantsa Siet t est the
iodine with alcohol : mix all ' together then
stir in hog's lard ' to the desired thickness.
Then cut away, the hair ovr the swelling
with sharp scissors for some incies around,
even if it has gone into a running 'ulcer, and
spread the salve with a small ; mop. Every
second or third day wash off clean with strong
soapsuds, and repeat. the application. A per
manent cure may be expected in a short time
unless the treatment has been too long do-1
ferred. . f