The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-08 00:00:00

SEED SOWING OPERATIONS

Small sowings may now be made in a warm situa-
tion of the following seeds: Farly London, Dean's
snowball, and Veitch's autumn giant cauliflowers;
Snow's winter white broccoli, drumhead and early Ulm
savoys, Brussels sprouts, cottager's and Scotch kales,
and a box of curled parsley (in heat) for transplanting
later on. Make another sowing of broad beans and
peas, and draw a little soil up to those sown early in
January, and stake the latter forthwith. This done,
lay on five or six inches thick of rotten dung on either
side the rows of peas, which will serve a threefold
purpose, viz., that of protecting the young haulms
from cutting winds during the present month, main-
taining the roots in a more equable condition than
would otherwise be the case, and conserving the water
given them during the summer months. Old cab-
bage stumps should be removed forthwith, and the
ground be made ready for potatoes, of which a
small planting of the early kidneys may be
made at once in drills, five inches deep, two
feet asunder, and ten or twelve inches apart in the
row. It will be advisable to defer planting the main
crops of potatoes a fortnight longer, with a view to
their escaping the danger of late frosts. If the ground
has been liberally manured for the preceding crop,
and is moderately rich, it will not be necessary to
manure it for the potato crop; in fact the latter,
under the ciroumstances, will be better in quality and
quantity without it. Onion, parsnip, and carrot seeds
should be sown as recommended in last calendar, as
soon as the condition of the ground will admit of the
work being done. Early plantings of cauliflowers
should, if not already done, have the spruce boughs
with which the plants have been protected removed
and be earthed. up. Seed-beds and seedlings just
coming through the surface of the bed will require to
be protected with a piece of netting from the ravages
of birds.—Guirdeners' Chronicle.

USEFULNESS OF THE BEAN CROP.
In an article on agricultural topics the Daily Tele-
graph says: In districts where beans are largely
grown, a large proportton of the seeding has been
effected under highly favourable circumstances. In
these times of almost unprecedented low rates for
wheat, it would, perhaps, be just as well if the
bean were cultivated a little more generally. It
may be true that the crops had apparently dete-
riorated in yield until the last two seasons, but
this may have been attributable to the good old
wholesome practice of liming strong lands
having been very much abandoned for the
cheaper and easier application of artificial
manures. When limo fresh from the kiln is applied
to heavy clays, the mechanical effect in opening the
soil is far more beneficial than the direct manurial
investment of ealcium—not that artificial manuring is
to be despised—and even bean culture might, no doubt,
be very much advanced if potash in some form or
other were more generally made to promote it. Since
the enlightened views of M. Ville, the great French
chemist, have made headway in England many
potato crops have been doubled by the applica-
tion of potash mixtures, and in all probability
bean - growers might with advantage study his
theory on the formularies of artificial manures
required by different orders of plants. Much more
might also be made out of the bean crop by early-
harvesting, so as to preserve the straw in better con-
dition for utilisation as food for stock. The green
stalk and foliage of the beau are of very considerable
value as such, and in the now order of things it would
probably pay well to strip the beans of their pods ere
quite ripe by hand labour in the fields, cutting up the
stalks immediately afterwards, and consigning them
to silos for conversion to ensilage. Growers of
field peas throughout the county of Essex at pre-
sent go to the labour of stripping the vines of
their pods, that the latter may be marketed in
London, and the silo system ought to be of special
value to them, as when the peas are stripped the
haulm is still green, and if cut at once the siloed
would be sure to prove far more valuable winter food
for stock than if dried and ricked as pea straw. The
late Mr. Mechi was very fond of cropping a oon-
siderable acreage to peas, with the view of marketing
the produce green, and there can scarcely be a doubt
that where a farm is not too great a distance from a
railway - station or large town, the system might
be adopted with advantage, the more so as
the pea crop makes no heavy demands on
the soil. Old farmers, even half a century ago,
always had an impression that the soil was in a better
state of fertility after a pea crop had been taken than
it was previously, and if the views of M. Ville,
and some other high chemical authorities be correct
that plants possess the property of appropriating nitro-
gen from the air by means of their leaves, the cause
is not far too seek; for the broad-leaved varieties of
our field crops, such as the pea and bean, must have
an immense advantage in this respect over those of
cereal grain.

In London, on Monday, at the Southwark Police.
court, Frederick James Knight, 37 years of age, was
charged with bigamy. His defence was that the first
marriage was illegal because a brass ring was used
instead of one of gold. The case was sent for trial.
On Monday the Belt libel case cams' before the
Master of the Rolls and Lords Justices Baggallay and
Lindley on appeal from a decision of the Divisional
Court upon the application for a new trial. Lord Cole-
ridge, with Justices Denman and Manisty, had dis-
charged the rule for a new trial on condition that the
damages be reduced from £5OOO to £5OO. The plain-
tiff concurred, but the defendant appealed. Mr. Charles
Russell, Q.Q., opened the case for the appellant, which
is expected to last some days.
A great fire has occurred at Utica, New York State,
causing damage to the aggregate value of 800,000 dols.
The buildings destroyed include several of the leading
houses of business, a bank, the premises of the
" Observer " newspaper, and other properly. _