Agricultural.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 23, 17 December 1874, Page 3

Agricultural.

ON MANURES.

Sawdust is worth nothing of itself as manure, although it may be of use in lightening heavy mechanically. . It. is of the most value when made to absorb the liquids from stables ; it then rots, very readily, and makes a convenient vehicle for the .liquid manure.. If you have a large quantity, which cost nothing", and could be cheaply hauled, pile it in large heaps and burn it, and use the ashes. In j this way it would be of immediate and considerable value for any crop, but especially for- grass. I All the methods of preparing bones for manure that can be practiced on the farm are tedious and troublesome, The best plan in general doubtless is to crack. them, up, : and . compost, witft ashes. 4 Whether it will pay to burn bones and use the ash depends, upon the condition. of the . soil,. just, as tbe benefit of giving, ipecac depends upon the state .of tbe.patient, For emptying the stomach ipecac is a good medicine, but for relieving the bowels rhubarb! would.be more appropriate If the soil needs nitrogen and contains surplus of phosphates, obviously the burned bones would be of no use. Whether nitrogen or phosphates are. most needed in the case in hand trial can best determine. It will pay to burn some bones* —crush tbe ash to fine powder, and try the effect.. There are many soils wnich would not be benefited at. all by such an application, many more which j would be but slightly benefited, and a few which would spring from " exhaustion" to fertility by use of mere phosphate of lime. There has been much written as to the value of salt as a manure, and many experiments made, and yet we are very much in the dark. Some experimenters say jt is of great vahuvothers have not been able to see any effect from its use, while still another class, have suffered great injury, from its use., Extensive investigations have proved that these diverse and sometimes opposing results are due to variations in the quantity used, and the manner of using, and the difference in the compositions of the soils on which it has been used. .'• Salt in large quantities entirely destroys the fertility of a soil. In England an experiment made by the " application in autumn of sixteen bushels of salt to the acre, on marshy land showed it to be sufficient to kill the acquatic plants, and late in the following summer a mos,t flourishing crop of rich grass appeared, of which the cattle were remarkably fond—and for many years the land retained and exhibited a superior verdure to the neighboring grounds." Ve.y elaborate tests. were made in 1804 of the value of salt as a manure for potatoes. . The salt was applied at the rate of seven and a half bushels per acre in beds a yard wide and, forty, long, a single row being planted along the centre of the bed. One of these. beds had no . manure; one had the salt alone; the others were treated witli various,,well known manures. Great care was taken $o have tbe whole trial conducted with accufacy. . only, point jof. impend ance that is left out of the account given. is the manner. of. applying the manure.. .Whether it tv,as.put.on the; surface op dug into the ground we are not told, but the results are given. The product of tbe Bait-manured row was to theunmanured row asl9B to 157. Salt combined with other substances gave marked improvement, and alone it proved itself superior to, everything." Of all the twenty-five rows, only those treated . with lime at the- rate of 121 bushels to the acre, and sawdust at the rate of .363 .bushels, to \ the acre, fell below the unmanured row. This trial of salt brought out this singular fact, that it is of value when combined with other substances, so far as they were used in these experiments. The soil oh which the trial was made, is described as a ferruginous sand. . Other experiments have been made that gave no benefit from the use of salt, and after wading through the reports of a great many of them,., we come to this: , Some soils have enough salt in them, and more added does injury.., Such lands may be found along the sea-coast, and where; salt springs appear, while other lands are greatly benefited by ,light dressings of salt, say about two bushels \ to the acre.

Fall 184$ i cradled a field of oats which was peculiar in the grc?;thof the crop. I asked my boss, "Why are your oats so much better, in rthe; centre of .the field?''. «' Are &ey ,betjter there V ** Yes, sir.; very much better and riper." " How T' " They are taller and stand thicker." "Well, I ploughed that strip last Fall and cross ploughed it in the Spring ?" This raified my curiosity relative to fall-ploug;hing; hence I have experimented with clay, clay loam and sandy loam lands, and have found it an advantage in every instance that I have tried. Hence, I claim that fall-plough-ing is advisable not only for spring crops but also for summer fallow, especially for fields in heavy sward. However, ; all my neighbors do not agree with mc in autumn-ploughing. Hereinis,.the, difficulty; clay, soil, rer quires the best of management in its cultivation. If worked when too wet it dries out and bakes; if uncultivated until too dry it is lumpy and in bad condition. In Michigan, the farmer

who has fall-ploughed his fields for spring crop?, the growing season being somewhat short in said State, he commences cultivating said fields in the spring as early as possible, in order to drive his work; but if the land be cultivated when too wet, said cultivation will destroy the friableness of the soil; the Spring rains, if too abundant, will add to the damage, and the crop will be a failure. Whereas, if the soil be worked at the proper time, neither too wet nor too dry, the Spring rains will settle the soil, and the crop will have an early start and keep ahead in growth and maturity the entire season. Fallploughing is especially advisable for clay soil in heavy swards, and I prefer late ploughing in Fall and cultivating with a wheel cultivator in Spring, just before planting time, to early Fallploughing and cross ploughing in the Spring.

Potatoes for Seed.—The following 1 are the ideas of an old Farmer in Maine on seed potatoes, as given in the Lewiston Journal:—' We use too ripe seed when we propogate from tubers that have lain in the ground till dead ripe. Plants that are proppgated by tubers require different treatment from those propogated by- seeds. Our corn and grain that we use for seed we like to have stand a little longer than the main crop, and become perfectly matured. On the same principle our corn is selected from the ripest, best developed ears and kernels. But potatoes for seed should be dug and placed in a cool, dark cellar just as soon as a majority will slightly crack open when boiling. This is most invariably while the tops are yet green an I growing fast. The tubers are then in their most vigorous state. Disconnect them from the parent stalk at that time and they retain their vigour. Instead of deteriorating, as most of all of us know the older sorts have, their vitality is increased, and they yield better, with less tendency to rot. As long ago as 1815, and subsequently, observations led him to make some experiments to test the theory, and he finds it the proper course to pursue. It is not often said that the late planted potatoes are better for seed than those planted early ? The lateness of their planting, prevents perfect ripening, hence the principles of the above reasoning would be in force.

The Dangers of Wild Trefoil—Two working bullocks were put into a small paddock were wild trefoil, commonly called v clover" was growing luxuriantly. When admitted to these promising pastures the animals were very hungry, so they forthwith commenced to eat voraciously, and the consequence was that they were soon found dead, having become " blown" with the weed. We have been told by those who have a right to speak with authority on the matter, that cattle are always more apt to be hurt in windy weather than in calm. This is in some degree attributed to the fact that the wind has a tendency to wither the leaves somewhat, and in that state it is believed to be more readily convertible into gas. It has also been observed that a beast sel- , dom or never bursts in the fore part of the day, but always rather late in the evening. The "Bursting" takes place inwardly, and causes instantaneous death as soon as they drop to the ground. It is thought that the fact of the animals drinking water after having gorged themselves accelerates death. It is generally found that they can be cured by stabbing.if taken in time. ■ But in order to keep the opening made to allow of the free escape of gas, it is often necessary to use a trocar, an instrument which leaves a tube in the wound made, and keeps the passage open. Sometimes it is sufficient merely, to...use a ppnknife. instrument of this description might De kepi with advantage by owners of cattle j their cost is 12s 6donly.