FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1378, 26 February 1861, Page 4

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

The Digging Harrow. — Among the latest inventions of agncultura.l implements in America is what is called a " digging hairow." This machine has its teeth upon revolving wheels that dig up the surface as it is> drawn forward, leaving it light as well as pulveneut; the effect being entirely different fiom that of the harrow in common use, which, although it drags and scratches the clods into small pieces, will, if continued long enough m motion, have the effect to compact the soil closely together, just ab tamping the dirt with a sharj) stick in a post-hole makes it more compact than it is when pounded with a blunt maul. This new digger is said to be au excellent implement to put in small grain with, as it covers the soil evenly, and leaves the ground in a good condition for the seed to vegetate. The teeth dig the soil six inches deep, and the machine does not pull any harder than an iron-tooth haiTow, cutting the same width, and nothing like as deep. To dig the surface nine oi ten inches deep will not require half as much power as to plough it the same depth. It works admirably upon corn stubble, tearing the roots out of the ground, and fitting it at once for wheat-sowiug, Of course it will not work among roots, oi stones, and not well upon sod ground.

Pig-Beeedino.— Notwithstanding the fact that more people aie interested in the breeding of pigs than in that of any other class of domestic animals, the attention paid to improvement of the stock is very small. How few farmers know that the bow should always be larger than the male, and that he should always be of the most perfeot form, of good colour, and perfectly sound and healthy, because almost invariably the pigs take the qualities of the sire instead of the mother. That is, his good or bad points willprei>onderate largely over those of the sow.

Pasture— How Many Cows to an Acre. — In Cheshire, England, whioh is a great grazing county, the land that has been under-drained and top-dressed with ground bones, will carry one cow to eaoh awe through the summer, but the laud not thus tieated will only carry one cow to two aorea. The dressing of bones upon pastuie laud is 12 to 15 owt. per acie once in seven years. But even if not rejjeatad at that time, it still continues better than it was before the bones were applied. How many acres of pastuie, on the average, does it require in this country to the cow ? Would it not be economy to improve our pasture lauds ?

Germination op Seeds. — London gives the following table, from which it would appear that the grasses are the most rapid in germination; then, perhaps, ciuciform plants; then leguminous; then labiate; then umbelhfeious ; and lastly, losaceous; although theie are many exceptions to this order :—: — Wheat, millet, 1 day Oiaolie 8 days Spmaoh, beans, mustard, 3 days Puislnno 9 dujs Lettuce ... 4 days Cabbage 10 da>t Mellon, cucumber, oi ess . 5 dayb Paioley . 10 dujs Radiih, beet. . ,~fi days Almond,ohei., peach. 1 jeiu Bailey 7 day« ltoac, haw., Illicit 2yeiu«

Corn — Shrinkage in Drying. — In measuring crops of corn generally, the quantity is ascertained by weight or measure as soon as the ears are gathered from the stalk. This never gives the quantity of merchantable corn, for the reason that corn, as it is often, gathered, will shiink twenty per cent. Expeuraents have been tried where the quantity of newlygathered ears, supposed, sufficient to make a bushel of shelled corn, weighed 75 pounds, which, after being thoroughly dried, only weighed 60 pounds, nine of cobs and fifty-one of grain. The proportion of cob by weight to giaiu will generally average about onesixth. The shrinkage is more in the cob than in the gram.

Mushrooms and Charred Bones —The account given in your last Number of Agancus campestnsis exceedingly mteicsting, of the tiuth of the lemark th^n an excellent kind may be produced from horse droppings, I have practical experience. A few yeais ago 1 collected a quantity of hoi3e and sheep droppings, which I mixed, and covered with a coating of mould, for the purpose of being applied, when thoioughly rotted, as manure ; the heap became literally crowded throughout the whole of the succeeding summer with beautiful Mushrooms, of a bught pink ooloui in the gills, just as if a bod had been regularly spawned. Some years ago I had buined or lather charred about the end of autumn a quantity of bones (in older to make superphosphate of lime). They laid against a bank. The following suinmei, to my astonishment, the spot on which the opeiation had been peifoimed produced vast numbeis of Mushioonis of exactly the same description, so far as I was able to judge, as those indicated in the lllustiation in yom Papei ; the top was of a brownish colour, the gills a deeper led, the size generally laiger, the stalks shorter, and the flavour richei than that of the common field or cultivated sort. For catsup they weie found to be infinitely supenor to any other kind. In foimei yeara, the fields aiound this locality produced immense quantities of Mushiooms, as well as Puff-balls, but during the past season I have not been able to discover any-wheie so much as one of either of them, oi, indeed, hardly a Fungus of any kind. Scarcely a butterfly, too, has been seen, but slugs have prevailed to a prodigious extent, and committed, indeed aie still continuing to do so, sad mischief. Black -jack flies, also, have abounded in an unusual degree, and strenuously co-operated with the slugs in the demolition of all kinds of Cabbages while m a tender state. As for ridge Cucumbers I have had but few, and those of very small size. Vegetable Mairows with me have been a total failure. Tomatoes nearly unproductive, and such as did come to any size I was obliged to gather in a green state, and ripen them m the house. In short, both the farmer and gaidener have had incalculable difficulties to contend against here thiouahout the whole of this extiaoidinary year. — Gardener s Chronicle.