Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1892 — AGRICULTURAL TOPICS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL TOPICS.

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. Work Should Always Re Done In Season —An English Writer on the Management of the Horse— Simple Feeding Rules—louitry Notes— Household. Doing Work in Season.

There is no* more fatal habit among horticulturists than that of tardiness. \ Some men are . \aUvays behind in A .-itheir work, and this bad i /habit, for it is IhAB really nothing but a habit, gets in its work on spring planting the result is a very serious one. ""k More trees and "**3 plants are lost

from late planting than from all other causes put together, and when a tree or plant, owing to some favorable conditions, does manage to survive transplanting, its growth for the rest of that season is but a very trifling and miserable one. For complete success, trees and plants must be put into their places while dormant and before the buds start, and to do this other and preliminary operations must be performed early, such as preparing the ground, etc. Thus, he who is behind in the first steps of his spring’s work is, as a natural sequence, behind in the last, and he is fortunate indeed if he catches up by the close of the year. A Big Help in Clearing Land. I have invented an attachment to my stone-bbat by which the team is compelled to do the loading of heavy stumps, rock, etc., which facilitates the moving of large quantities of rubbish, the leveling of knolls and filling of cradle holes. As will be seen in the engraving, the right-hand rail is removed from the common stone-boat and the boat-plank is attached to the boat by a heavy hinge. This extra plank is drawn toy a cbairn attached to the team the same as the main boat. We will suppose a heavy rock has been pried out of tbe sod or earth. The chain of the wing is loosened and attached further back on the main chain, while tbe tollocfk at A is Inserted to separate tbe wing

from the boat. The boat is then driven beside the rock, and as the team proceeds it will frequently take its place on the boat without effort on the part of the driver, the wing tending to force it in place. If, because of its shape this is not readily done, a very little prying while the team is in motion will set it where it is desired. Meadow land which is to be leveled must first be plowed, when the attachment will quickly take up a load if the boat be weighted. If there is very much of this scraper work to do, the edge of the wing should be shod with a strip of steel, like an old cart tire or piece of saw blade. The outside rail of the wing also should be higher than for stone. The hinge should not be too loose. It should keep the wing on the ground by the weight of the boat.—A. (J. West, in Farm and Home. Keep the Cultivator Going;. Whether weeds appear or not there is great advantage in constant use of the horse and cultivator, and if it meeds weeds to remind farmers of their duty to stir the soil, then blessed toe the weeds, they may well say. How cultivating warms the soil may be noted by the much larger surface which is exposed by the rough ridges tbe cultivator leaves.after it has gone through. Besides it turns the warmed soil on the surfaoe two or three inchs deep, where it is in just exactly the position to feed the roots. This, when the cultivation is done on a hot June day, affords no inconsiderable amount of heat to the roots of eorn in the middle of the rows. Some of these roots may be cut off, but enough more will start ont to more than' make good their loss, especially if the soil be rich and moist.