Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1881 — AGRICULTURAL NOTES. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Frost will not penetrate bo deep when the ground is dry as when it is very wet. Thebe is no crop raised which yields so large an amount of food and with so Little labor as Indian corn. Fabxebs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are giving considrable attention to the culture of jute plants. Decayed grain of any kind is highly injurious to stock. It has a paralyzing effect upon the animals fed with it, oftentimes causing death. Spent tan-bark has been plowed into a compact clay soil with the best results, as it rendered the soil mellow and increased its warmth. Ewes in lamb are very liable to take cold, and when exposed to wet and cold weather, or allowed to lie on the ground, are likely to suffer abortion. Pastures that have been fed a fev» seasons will generally produce more milk, or make more fat, than those which have been newly seeded down. Ashes are, for many soils, a standard fertilizer. Places where a tree or brushheap has been burned off show the effects of the manuring for years. It is an old saying, “ The land never forgets ashes.” A Wisconsin farmer, twenty-three years ago, planted a piece of land unfit for cultivation with black walnut trees. The trees are now from sixteen to twenty inches through, and have been sold for $27,000. Snow melts away from drained lands sooner than on those undrained, hence the drained soils are ready for plowing much sooner. In Scotland it is claimed that the harvest is from ten to fifteen days earlier on drained than on undrained lands. The moisture in which one kind of seed would flourish would be destructive to another class, causing them to rot instead of forcing growth. The heat necessary to start one class of seeds would dry up and utterly destroy the gum of another class. The application of rules requires a mixture of common sense and observation. We have noted, from time to time the constantly decreasing area in Great Britain devoted to cereal crops. Tin agriculture of the country is gradually changing from grain growing to stock feeding and dairying. From the iuval liable agricultural returns of Great Brit ian, published by Mr. Giffeu, it appears that since 1870 there lias been an increase of 2,500,000 of acres in permanent grass. No bbanch of husbandry furnishes more agreeable occupation than forest culture. It affords pleasant diversion from tlie protracted labors of the field, and employment for long winters that without it might prove monotonous. Intelligently and systematically managed, our forests will yield profitable returns, not only to our own, but to all succeeding generations. Farmers should be careful not to be in to i close competition with each other, and above all things not to compete with themselves. We once knew a farmer who, not wishing to trust too much to one man, consigned three lots of a particular product to each of three different commission houses in the same oity. It happened to be the only consignment of the kind offeiod. Unfortunately for him he proved to be his own competitor in the market.

Proportion of Cream in Milk. —The first fifth portion of milk from the cow cc&.ains about one-twentieth part of cream; the second fifth, one-twelfth; the last fifth, one-sixtli. How important then to get the last and richest drop, even if it were not true that cows are quickly dried up by a slovenly practice of leaving a small portion in the udder. Cows will continue to give a flow of milk at a much longer period when milked dry. Farmers, it will be seen, receive a double benefit by such a course. First, there is more cream in the milk, and second, the flow will continue longer, two requisites in all dairy countries. Ewes in lamb should, as far ns practicable, bo fed and sheltered separately from the non-breeding animals, as the crowding and more rapid movements of the latter are apt to result injuriously, while such separation makes more convenient certain little attentions to which breeding ewes are entitled as the yearning season approaches, and which may be profitably accorded to them. Advantage will be found in subdivision of the several ages and sexes into as many smaller lots as circumstances Will admit of, as such course lessens tlie liability to crowding and over-feeding of the ‘stronger animals at the expense of the weaker ones. It also brings each animal more directly under the eye of tlie attendant, wlio will the more readily detect the first symptoms of deviating from tlie desired thrift. Selecting Seed Corn. —Professor A. E. Blount, of the Colorado Agricultural College at Fort Collins, gives these views on selecting seed corn: “If the stock be a healthy one and free from injury by insects or weather, the topmost ear is always the largest, and best formed, and has the best filled grain, provided the parents from which it came were perfect. Every variety of standard corn produces its best ear nearest the tassel for reasons that are quite evident. Being nearest it receives the pollen first and in greater quantity than those below it; another reason is that it is tho natural distance from the soil, etc., etc. A careful examination of the stalks in every stage of their growth always shows that the lowest ear lias the longest shank, the next has a shorter one. and so on to the topmost one, which sets close upon tlie stalk. It shows also that the lowest ear is the smallest and the top ear the largest, as above stated. ” Bedding for Cattle. —There is no farm Work, considering the outlay, that pays so large dividends as the procuring of some sort of bedding for the cattle, for it not only keeps them clean—a great aoint in itself—-but also promotes their growth and thriftness, and the additional accumulation for tlie manure pile will more than pay for the labor. There is usually a large amount of litter that goes to waste that if thus utilized would be of great service. Straw, oats, cut corn butts etc., are valuable, and fine sand is not objectionable, for in itself it is one of the most cleanly of beds, and as it is a large absorber of liquids, and is of real benefit to clay land, there is no solid reason why a few loads of it may not be judiciously used. A farmer of our acquaintance late in tlie fall takes his trucks, puts in long stakes, and makes a four-foot-deep box and gathers forest leaves. One man gathers them with rake and basket. These leaves are stored away in an unused stable, and what can be crowded into a bushel basket make a fine bed for a stable of cows for a couple of nights, and are fine absorbants. There is no farmer but that can provide bedding of some kind, and also have dry, wholesome stables for his cattle, and if he consults his interests, and once fully tests the value of plenty bedding, he will always in the future practice bedding his cattle and stock.