Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / July 14, 1886, edition 1 / Page 2
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2 THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER, 14, 1886. i PLANT PEAS AND BEANS A TIMELY SUGGESTION, f "Can't you advise your readers to plant peas and beans before it is too late for this season? There is more money in them than in cotton. There is machinery now to gather them at a nominal cost at least the cotton and corn crop should be largely sup plimented by them. Yours, &e., J. W. Mayo. Whitaker's, July 1, 1886." Our esteemed correspondent will find elsewhere, some suggestions on the, above subject, .which were in type when his communication was received, and we are gratified to know that they accord so well with his views. The corn crop, on much of our richest bottom land, is ruined by ex cessive rains. As soon as these lands can be plowed they should be put in peas or beans, or both. It is not yet too late for these crops to mature, and the farmer who will be short in corn will find fifty or one hundred bushels of peas or beans a wonder ful help next winter. Do not neg lect it raise all the peas you can and take care of them. It will pay you in more ways than one. SEED CORN FOR PLANTING. Mr. Powers writing to the Coun try Gentleman concerning the proper selection of seed corn, maintains that that which has been exposed to severe freezing is not reliable, espec ially that which has not been kiln dried, I want, says he, an ear that is heavy in the hand, rather long, with straight rows of kernels (for crooked rows seem to denote mon golism, or poor breeding.) not ta pering, but nearly of the same diam eter throughout, well filled and rounded over at the ends, kernels long, smooth and thick, whether broad or not, and not too flinty or too soft, and rough or dented at the outer ends. - - - Corn is probably the most variable of cereals, hence I consider it impor tant to aim for uniformity. This is more necessary to be sought after than in any other kind of grain. The best crib of corn will be the one which has the greatest number of eaiM exactly or very nearly alike. The farmer may pronounce an ear of corn a good ear, and be disposed to pass it in his perhaps hasty in spection of seed, when it may be a wide departure from the standard . which he should keep before him self. : It may be a deep kerneled and with long cob, yet be decidedly ob jectionable on account .of its sharp taper and its rough kernels. Years ago, while I-still followed; the-now abandoned practice of selecting seed corn from the crib in the spring, I used to search out an ear which ex actly suited my ideal and lay it before me as a model for constant .comparison. Some persons will tell you that seed corn should be selected which produces two ears to the stalk. This is an error which ,the practical far mer will soon abandon, if he has not already done so. , The type of the race is a one-eared stalk, just as the type of s the , ovine race is to bring fourth one lamb.. Now every exper ienced shepherd knows that it is not desirable to breed twin bearing sheep as his standard. What he wants to do is to fear a race so vigorous that .they shall frequently flower out in twins as a sort of symptom of re dundant strength, but to choose twin bearers specifically is undoubt edly an, error. So I do not want a two eared variety of corn, but I want a variety which shall grow so strong that a stalk now and then I do not care if one in ten does it shall develop one good ear and a nubbin. . , The point to be considered is this: A uniformly two-eared variety of any kind of corn desirable for our latitudes cannot be developed. We shall have either an ear and a nub bin or two nubbins. Pop-corn will produce two ears or more; so will sweet corn. But a robust, powerful field corn which, shall be the counter-part in vegetable life of the short horn in animals as well as . the feed er of it, 'will not bo found in a two eared (or i two nubbined) variety. This is no bare assertion .with me. Of the 23,000 acres in the town of Newtown, Lpngjtsland, 1,849 are occupied by cemeteries. , A million -bodies are nowburie'd inthese places, anaine annual intorments amount to "V " , i GRASS NOT A FULL . RATION. Excellent as pasture is for many purposes, there are others tor which it is inferior unless supplemented by something else. It is doubtful .1 I f . A. A.i whether aione it is a perieci rauon for any stock excepting milch cows, and then only for a brief time. Early in the spring the grass is too watery. .Late in bummer the seed stalks appear and then it is coarse and hard. BREEDING SHEEP. - The ram must be kept from breed ing ewes from now until the time for them to commence breeding. If this is not done flockmasters will be having lambs at all times during late Fail and Winter, and it will be im possible to properly care for them as could be done if lambs were drop ped when expected, and after proper arrangements had been provided for them. RICH SOIL FOR CABBAGE. It is impossible to make land too rich for cabbage, but it must also be moist. It is always a forced crop, in which success requires an unnat ural development of the leaves, called the head. If left to itself a cabbage plant would grow few leaves and from these send up a seedstalk as quickly as possible. On poor land poorly tilled seed is sometimes formed the same season as planting. BREEDING COWS FOR THE DAIRY. The Jersey cow is a specimen of what careful breeding exclusively for butter and cream can do. Its small size is due to the fact that for successive generations the breed has been bred very early, and thus its vitality is turned to other uses than to building up itself. Jersey heifers will breed very early, many drop ping their first calf when a little more than a year and a half old. THE TURNIP CROP. The idea that turnips need no hoeing is a great mistake. If sown in corn or potato fields that have been well tilled up to this time the shade of these crops will partly ob viate the necesity of hoeing. But enough more per acre can be grown to sow in drills, and run tho, hoe through them. Thinning turnips is very important. They are always sown too thickly and, the turnip, like most roots, i its own worst weed. GROWING TOMATOES IN FIELDS. The tomato is almost the only garden vegetable that succeeds bet ter without the richness of soil of the garden. Too large growth of vines make tho fruit larger and more liable to rot. . In field culture? the fertility sufficient to grow- a good crop of corn or potatoes is ample for this crop. The yield is generally more than that of potatoes on sim ilar soil, and the price averages higher, making it a profitable crop to grow. ) '..; ... CLOVER AFTER HEAVY MANURING. Market gardnors and others who manure heavily find it pays to seed clover frequently. Some of the ex cess of manure necessarily used is leached into the sub-soil, and the clover roots better than any other reach this, and not only save it from loss, but bring it in reach of the other crops that feed near tho sur face. Potash and phosphate nat urally sink into the soil, and when it is cropped with only surface feed ing plants, these valuable fertilizers are wasted. HILLING POTATOES. The almost universal practice is to make some sort of a hill about potato plants. It at least saves the tubers from becoming sunburnt, which makes them worthless for cooking. The hilling should be done when the tubers have set, as break ing the roots after this may cause a second crop to form, and neither crop wi 11 be of marketable size. Early hilling also saves labor. After potato vines begin to fall down, the cultivator cannot be got through them without covering many leaves which late in the season seriously injures the crop. ; STEALING CHICKENS. v Fortunate are those farmers whose poultry yard is not exposed to the predatory excursions by lawless bi peds intent on plunder. This is one of the drawbacks to success in many cases where otherwise all the condi tions are favorable. There are no meaner ' pilferers than those who steal chickens, and since so many have made poultry breeding a busi ness this sort of petty larceny becomes meaner than ever. Poultry, which used to be only an incide in farming, has become with ,mar their entire avocation. Wherever cauerht the chiekeri thief shojfld be given the full penalty of thor law. HIVING BEES. Old beekeeners learn to handl e bees without fear, and more espec ially at swarming time, when the bees are engorged with honey, and not likely to sting uniessattacked. The avoidance of fear is the best means of avoiding danger. A timid, nervous person soon enrages the bees by parrying fancied assaults, while one who keeps cool soon learns that the thousands of bees buzzing around him are on no hos tile intent. If a new, or at least clean, hsve is offered the bees, and the swarm shaken down in front of the entrance, few swarms will refuse their new home. FARMING IN SCOTLAND. Winter-feeding hill sheep was in troduced many years ago, and as the practice gradually became known so did the severe Winter losses grad ually pass away. Until within the last few years, dairying as a branch of farming was rather looked down upon by the farmers of the greater portion of Scotland. Recent years, with their accompanying simple ap paratus and low prices, have dis pelled that idea. Dairying for the production of butter is principally carried on outside a six-mile radius of Glascow. Around Ayr and Kil marnock considerable quantities of butter are made. In almost all cases the butter is absolutely fresh or but very slightly salted. Considerable cheese is also made in the county of Ayr. ENSILAGE IN SCOTLAND. The result of inquiries issued by the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland on ensilage is very favor able to the system. As regards ensil age for dairy stock, those who have used it as fodder for the purpose speak very strongly in its praise. The almost unanimous opinion is that while it may or may not in crease tho quantity of milk, it has a marked effect in increasing the quan tity and also the quality of cream and butter. The quality of the lat ter is considered little, if at all, infe rior to summer butter. With proper precautions no taint is communi cated to milk or butter from the use of ensilage. Ensilage, it is thought, is the coming winter feed for hill sheep. TURNIPS NOT A RENOVATING CROP. We do not grow so many turnips as do English farmers, nor is it neces sary to goud farming that we should. It has been said, and truly, that tur nips were the basis of good farming in England ; , but this is mainly be cause they require, or at least.admit, the feeding of so much else. Turnips may furnish the bulk of winter feed for sheep and fattening cattle, but oil cake and more lately Indian meal make the fat and the manure pile. A poor farmer might grow turnips forever without enriching his land. More than most other crops they take from the soil its scarcest ele ment of fertility, phosphate of lime. In fact, English farmers .commonly use phosphate on their rutabagas, and have the second use of it for wheat. THE GROWING CORN. Although something may have been applied to give the corn a start, the most important period is when the ears are "springing up." Hence, an application of 200 pounds of super phosphate and fifty pounds of nitrate oi soua, ai ine last worKing, will largely increase the yield and ena ble the corn to produce heavy, well filled ears. On many farms the plant food does not decompose as fast as it is required by the corn, which is a gross feoder, and those farmers who find the crop backward will be greatly benefitted by giving an ap plication of fertilizer as suggested above. The growth of the stalk re quires a large amount of material from the soil, but if a small auantitv of fertilizer be applied at the last cultivation it not only serves as an invigorator, but supplies just the kind of food required.- Farm, Field and Stockman. ; i ; There is a familv in Glascock county consisting of a man. his wife and three children, whose aggregate weight is less than 200 rounds- There is another familv that alto gether weigh just 2,000 pounds more than 'the first family mentioned. Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle. - " Agricultural education. The agricultural colleges and the' rWnrf.ments devoted to agriculture in the severalMnsytutions of . learn ing, endowed byJCongress, have ac v v ' . complished a itwnygooa worn m the years tha have passed since their establishment The Michigan Agricultural AJollegs stands as the nioneerm tMis direction, having had an independent existence since 1863. This was some years prior to the act of Congress donating lands for ag ricultural education. It still leads, and has furnished many professors to the later institutions. Iowa eany developed this education at Ames, and Prof. Budd is now aonsidered an authority in all that relates to trees and plants m the continental climate of the West. At Champaign, Prof. Burrill has made important discoveries in vegetable physiology. At Cornell University, Prof. Xaw has done much to elevate veterinary science. Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana in the North, and Kentucky, Ala bama, Mississippi and Georgia in the South, are among other colleges that come to mind as doing good work in the direction of agriculture. Colorado has an excellent agricul tural college at Fort Collins, and Oregon at Corvallis. Canada has but one agricultural college, that near Guelph. The school .is prosper ing well and sustains a high reputa tion. With the thirty-seven institu tions of like character in the United States, by concert of action, by which experiments do not run in the same channels in each, very much valu able work outside the training of students is yearly accomplished. This will be broadened and become still more valuable with the increase of true experiment stations at these several seats of learning. Mistakes have been made :may possibly be made in the future but these schools are yearly rising on the plane of valuable achievement in the direc tion of progressive agriculture. Farm, Field and Stockman. SUGAR BESTS. There is no better food for stock than the sugar beet. No root is more certain of a crop, and none yields more food. They are excel lent keepers, nutritious, and ; great promoters of the flow of milk in both cows and ewes.': The seed in the Northwest should be sown in drills two to two and a half feet' apart. About four pounds of seed will be sufficient for an acre, and it will sprout quicker if put in boiling water before sowing, and afterwards rolled in plaster to dry; They are best sown by means of one of the nu merous seed-drills now to be found in every implement' store. The seed should be sown thick to save the trouble and necessity: of transplant ing to fill any vacancies, and : after wards thinned so the beets may stand about eight or ten inches apart. To grow the crop the land must be deep, rich, and well cultiva ted.? The soil best adapted to them is a good, strong loam, just such as abounds all through the Northwest. The -ground must be kept light and well and deeply stirred. We have often urged the importance of rais ing more root crops in this section, and only refer-to-this matter at this late season of seeding so that: those who have an acre or two of unoccu pied tillage land can make the expe riment. While the seed should be sown as early as practicable, we be lieve with the proper care and culti vation the crop would reach matu rity if the seed is deposited in the soil by the 20th of this month. Farm, Stock awl Home. SPIDERS AND FORESTS. Br. CJ Keller, of Zurich' claims that spiders ? perform an important part in , the preservation of forests oy aeiending the trees against, the depredation of aphides and insects- He has examined a great many spi ders. Doth in their viscera and by feeding them in captivity, and has found them to bo voracious destroy- era oi inese pests; and he believes that the spiders in a .particular for est do more effective; work of this kind than all the inaect-eating birds that inhabit it. He has verified his views by observations on coniferous trees, a few broad-leaved trees, and appie trees. . ; ( s In Walla Walla. Wash fnati' Territory, may be seen eighty miles of wheat fields along the foot-hills of the Blue mountains: '""i'n-,vvt-.. ITEMS OF INTEREST. -A new gold country i saj(j ! have been discovered by l wrecked French sailor in Pata, between the Straits of Magellan ami the river Gallegos. The "man had collected from the sands a little f0r tune when taken off the coast l,v steamer. a -Great rivalry as to sptrd exists amongthe sailing ships that annual) v take grain and flour to Englaml fVfi Oregon and California. The tance is 18,000 miles and three r i .i. '4 ships competed this yearT thein. ner, Lucknow, making the vya,r(J to Southampton in 100 days, ijjj the second best reaching Qeenstown in 116 days. The- wealth of Alabama m inAfl is to be estimated fwi l s fatftTiiftnt, that the availalil . - - ' v v Vtll i it 1 1 - J , Vl jmvvkiwaT cuiicticu in ine lop would be forty-five mile long by twenty-fiive miles wide and ten feet thick. A breaking of 5,0M) tons daily from, the lump would leave a part of it untouched at the expira tion of G,00O years. Ordinary whitewash, a fre. quently used, has very little effect except to disfigure the trees. To destroy the insects and eggs hidden in the crevices of the treesT very much stronger application have to be used. Soft soap reduced to the consistency of a thick paint, rith the addition of a strong solution of washing soda, makes one of the most lasting washes. A solution of one pound of commercial potash, in from two to four gallons of watery is good. ITT 9 CANNING CORN. A correspondent of the Detroit Free Press gives her receipt for can ning corn, with which she nays she has had great success: "Use Mason's glass jars. Take nice green corn, cut from the cob with a sharp knife Avith the back of the knife serape the cob to get all the sweetness pos sible see that your jars are perfect, no cracksy put in the corn with the small end of you potato masher and pack it in. A quart jar will take twelve or thirteen ordinary ears. When the jar is plump full, put on the rubbers, screw on the-corers almost perfectly tight. I strew it as tight as 1 can with the thumb and finger. Put hay or cloths on the bottom of your wash boiler, lay in the cans any way you please put little cloths in to keep them from hitting each other fill the boiler as full as you wish, cover over with cold water, set it over the fire. When it begins to boil, boil three hours without- ceasing. Then take out' and with your tightener make ' as tight as possible immedi ately. After the' are cold, tighten again if you can. Put away in a dark, cool place. I keep mine in a dark closet in the cellar. Peas and succotosh are fine put up the same way . WATER IS FATTENING. It ha.Vhftan nhafiWftd that water is fattening," and that those who drink 1 1fft ' rt1 iJrkci ftp' ! !Vrlfr n tPll- dnf!V tn fillings and rotundity. That thp.rA is nnnsidfvrn.h1fl truth in this observation ithe Medical and Surgical Reporter fully substantiates. That excessive imbition of very cold iced water ' especially when one is very warm) is not to be com mended, yet we have reason to be lieve that the "" unlimited use of pure snrinff water: st its natural tempera ture, is tibt only conducive to health, but has an nctnal findennv to favor a fullness , and roundness of body. Whether this is the result of a better action on the ' part of the digestive, assimilative. r: and ' Vlvniirative func tions, owing to the internal clean ness or flushing of the human sev ers produced bv large quantities of water, or whnfKoy wfttflr has some specific action in producing this full- we ao not Know, neunui it signify since observation confirms as a fact that the free use of water does have this effect. ' j . t THE DYING. A leading physician says that a Eatient who is lying dying ot ex aUfltion is creneraHv dvinfr of starva tion. We give him beef tea, calf foot jelly,: seltzer and milk that is. a small quantity of the sugar oi nu and 4 some fat. : Knt. the iellv is ffte poorest sort of food; and the beef tea is a mere stimulant. The popu belief that beef :tea contains terrible error; it has no food value.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 14, 1886, edition 1
2
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