Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1879 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Fall Work on the Farm. [From the American Agriculturiat for September.] Apples. —lt does not pay to market inferior specimens; but, in this season of scarcity, it will pay to send smaller fruit, if fair and sound, than in years of abundance. Assort and pack with unusual care. Turnips.— The cultivation of turnips and rutabagas consists of keeping free from weeds, and thinning out to a proper distance. One good root at every 9 inches is far better than two or three poor ones in that space. To have good sound roots of any kind, sufficient room must be given. Buckwheat. —This crop, being easily injured, thould be cut after the first light frost. Low grounds should be cleared first; upon high ground the crop will not be touched by light frosts, and here it may be left later. The grain shells so easily that it should be harvested early in the morning, when moist with dew. After lying a few days to cure, it should be raked up when it is moist. Smut and Rust.— These troublesome diseases of wheat and rye may be prevented by pickling Uie seed. The pickle may be made of strong brine, or of a solution of four- ounces sulphate of copper in one gallon of water. Sprinkle the seed grain, stir thoroughly to wet every kernel, and spread to dry. Either of these will destroy the spores, which are the seed of the parasitic fungi, known by the above names. Beets and Mangels. —Early-sown beets and mangels may be harvested late this month. If left later, the roots may become hollow and stringy. An overgrown root may be large, but its size is no indication of its value. We harvest our eirly-sown mangels as soon as the larger ones become hollow, and find they ripen in the pits as well or better than if left in the ground later. The tops may be led to cows or sheep with benefit. Cider.— While the best cider is made from late-ripening fruit, and in cool weather, the inferior apples and windfalls may be made profitable by making them into cider for vinegar. Even those who have a cider-house, furnished with a mill and press worked by power, find it profitable to keep a hand-mill and press for the purpose of working up windfalls and inferior early fruit, before the cider-making season, on a large scale, begins. Drying Fruit.— The - primitive way of drying apples, peaches, etc., exposed sun and air, also exposes it to insects. Excellent dryers are now to be had, and at a cost which the "increased valuo of the dried fruit will meet in a single season. These dry with artificial heat rapidly, turning out a handsome light-colored product. In drving in the old way for home use, protect the fruit from insects by netting, and provide some arrangement to dry by the heat of the stove in a rainy day. Smut in Corn. — Smut is poisonous, or at least very injurious, and care should be taken to prevent its being eaten with fodder. It is becoming very common in corn. It might be well to pass through the corn-fields with a sharp knife and a basket, and cut eff all the bunches of smut and smutty ears and carry them out where they may be burned. As one square inch of surface may contain 4,000,000 spores of smut, and every spore is capable of producing a smutty plant, it is important to carefully destroy every ball of smut. Pitting Mangels.— ln pitting mangels lifted this month, care must be taken to manage them so that they xvill not heat. If a cool and well-ventilated root-cellar is provided, there can be no safer place for them. In pitting them in the field, we gather twenty rows together, which makes a long heap, not large enough to cause heating. The roots may be covered with the tops, or with straw, held down by a few rails. Afterward these lews may be gathered together into pits and prepared for winter. The Use of application of lime will be found useful upon any kind of soil, at least once in five or six years. It is generally used at this season, with a fall-grain crop. But where lime is employed it will be useless to apply superphosphate, as this combines with the lime, and becomes simple phosphate of lime, which is insoluble. Many farmers who have applied superphosphate without effect may find the explanation in the fact that their soils were filled with lime, which rendered it inert. Late Sowing for Spring Fodder. - It has been usual to sow rye as late as October or November for green fodder in the spring. This is not a profitable practice. The rye comes up very thin and poor, and makes but a light crop. In the writer’s experience, it has been found better to plow the ground in the fall, top- dress through the winter with' fine manure, and as early in the spring as possible harrow in four bushels per acre of spring rye, spreading the manure at the same time with the disk harrow. Unless there is some good reason for the late sowing of rye, it should be avoided. Fall Grain.— This ’month is the time for sowing wheat and rye. From the 10th to the 15th is the most popular time, but it is a question if it is not better to sow earlier. On any but very rich soils, it takes some time for the crop to get thoroughly well rooted and tillered, and, if tillering is not effected before winter, it will rarely take place to any great extent in the spring. As the yield depends on the tillering, the promise of an early-sown crop is better than that of a late one. Exceptions to this rule occur with very rich soils, where an excessively-long growth may be looked for, and the attacks of the Hessian fly must be considered. These hintp, it is obvious, cannot be made to meet every case in a wide range of localities; we give general information, which the intelligent reader will adapt ■to his own circumstances. Fertilizer for Wheat. Every year’s experience proves the value of superphosphate of lime as a special fertilizer for wheat. An experienced wheat grower informs us that he has used 500 pounds to the acre, and that the crop this year has paid handsomely for the outlay. Where a smaller quantity was used, the yield was unsatisfactory. A frequent mistake is made in supposing that, if a certain quantity of fertilizer will have a certain effect, this effect will be doubled by doubling the quantity of the fertilizer. This has led to much waste and loss. The greatest possible effect is produced with a certain quantity, varying according to circumstances ; and each one must discover for himself what this quantity is. In the case above quoted, 500 pounds per acre is the most useful quantity. Others have found it best to use 600 pounds, and others again use only 300 pounds. As a rule, the largest applications may be most safely made on soils well filled with barn-yard manure, or vegetable matter.