Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-05-04

Items for Farmers.

II you would preserve your crops from
destruction by drouth, plow deep, cultivate
thoroughly. During the severe drouth of
the last season, where the ubsoil plow had
gone to the bottom OF things" the drouth
was not materially felt and crops were good.
fact worth remembering -rrrigate your
lands. Turn all the little brooks and rum
ming streams, that are sufficiently elevated
lor the purpose, upon your cultivated fields
IL will add moisture and fertility to the sol
and vastly increase the crops of hay and
grain. Try it, and sec if it wo mt About
cutting timber. Do it while the tree is in
its most rapid season of growth, and near the
close of the growing season. Saw logs, cut
in winter, decay on the outside. Those cut
in summer keep sound for years. Bark for
tanning purposes peals easy in the summer
months and sells high in winter Look out
for four or five dollars per cord for hemlock
next season. The quantity for sale grows
less every year, and the demand greater and
the price higher.-Posts should be set top
end down. if you would have them last we'll.
Salt is n necessary for cattle as well as
a luxury. Four quarts to ton or hay. Ms
moved away, is about the right proportion.
1t makes the hay more palatable and more
nutritious for stock king birds are
beautiful and useful. Don't kill them
'Tis fact that they eat bees, the drone,,
but never touch a ,Corting bee. They pick
out the drones. as all drones should be. and
destroy hem.-Wheat sown in drills is
said to yield ten per cent more than broad
cast sowing, and requires one-fourth less
seed Please trv the experiment on a small
scale, and leave the result to future expert
ence.- Wooden Posts As nuch Of the
length as is to he inserted in tho soil, should
be charred Gather your posts together in
the woods, and having heaped them together
over a pile Of combustible matter with top
ends resting upon each other over the centre
of the mass. heap on few armsful of the
same dry material, and amply fire. The fuel
may be renewed from time to time till the
posts are sufficiently charred. when they NAV
he withdrawn. The bark. Of course. should
be first removed In this way. the work may
be speedily and economically performed. In
setting posts on lands liable to heave. dig
your post holes quite large. and fill it with
spent tanners bark. This does not heave
with the expansive force Of the frost. and will
aid in keeping the fence perpendicular-
All the bark should be removed from
the posts before setting them .-Sones.
As soon as the frost is out Of the
ground, set your bows and hired helps to
cleaning of the cohble stones from stubhe
lands. Do not pick into heaps, but into
cart, and convey them from the field at once.
We should almost prefer not to pick them,to
picking and pilling them into heaps on the
land. Such accumulations are nlwavs in tho
way Of after husbandrv. Besides, the labor
Of constructing stone heaps, is labor thrown
away. You will do we'll to remember this
tact. Seeds. PLANT and SOW none hut the
best. If you discover head Of wheat, OF an
ear Of corn ripening IN advance of the rest of
the crop, watch and save it to propagate
from. In this way the maturation Of many
oh boe r1p1
and in some cases, weeks The largest and
developed specimens from your several field
crops, should he selected and reserved for
seed Attention to this important matter
will cost but little. yet be productive of in
calculable benefits in the long run. Weneed
not give any illustrations to corroborate the
verify of the observation every one can ad-
duce them for himself, doubtless. from his
own experience - Manure keep your
manure heaps covered Ifyou havo manure
shed, or cellar, sprinkle the heaps frequently
in the spring with gypsum or charcoal dust.
In this way you may easily save many dollars.
-Aninals Let the butcher take your
scraggy yearlings and older cattle, your
coarse wooled lambs and slab-sided calves
Like the lean kline of the dreamer OF old,
they will devour the fat, or rather the food
which should be reserved for them, and give
YOU no equivalent in return. \ poor animal
is always profitless animal, and the sooner
one Is rid of such, the better it will be both
for his credit as farmer, and for his purse.
There is no compromising the matter-no
side issues, as the politicians say, to be
weighed or taken in the estimate -Pota-
toes-The best soil for planting is sandy
loan, but on clay soil the ground should be
plowed in the fall and we'll manured, either
in the spring or fall, and plowed in the
spring, the deeper the better. Potatoes
should be planted as early as possible in the
spring.
We should prefer planting in drills, three
feet one way, and eighteen inches the other
using from eight to twelve bushels of seed
per acre, and no potatoes of less size then
hens egg to be planted Wdtehmdn. y.