St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1863-03-05
JD STEARNS CO., MINNESOTA, THURSDAY; MARCH s. 1863 @

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but the general rule aay be stated in the
precise la6glage of several farmers ~: rs
sson as she ground will admit Of it, -.
- 1n thu southern lart of the State most
Of the seed is sowp as carly as March ii.
the centrra;il counties aboutfhe first Of April
while in our northern districts, and in. Wis
.consin and. Minnesota, from the 25th OF
April to the 10th e& May, is carly enough
paaenefaliy:st .'r"ek g N,e.asl~~ n. .ean
= Having prepared the ! 81 ground as before
stated, SOW broadcast, taking pains to dis
tribute. The seed as evenly as possible
The quicker The. seed germinatcs and APP
pears above ground the better and there
,toresits should be- covered slightly with a
light;harrow or brush, and then rolled
The largest crops raised in this State have
been By farmers who never harrow after
sowing, but merely roll it IN. The sroll-
ing is at, i,hportant matter, as2it will tacilt
itate Interpretations Of the. reaper. aud ena.
Bile .youilo secure, greater length Of straw,
whichaads to its value.
The: quantity Of seed per atre to bc
soWn, VIII depend upon the leading OBJ ject
Of the Notwithstanding the crop. Ktbs
seed is the main thing. with him, then two
pecks to the acre is the almost unanimous
testimony of those who have grown it long
est and most largely. If: fibre is the 90
jcce!thcn Of course the seeding should be
heayier.H For the present, the safest rule
for our. Western farmers is, from two to
three pecks to the acre, the leading idea
beirs as yet to secure the greatest amount
Of seed. = -. n !: .,,.,,; '...,
. 80. J QUALITY OF SEED. ~..
Too much pains cannot be taken to get
that which is full lnatured, and perfectly
clean, free frorn all foul seeds, both Ito Sc
cure good mcrchantable crop, and to
preserve the land on which it is sown from
troublesome wcedsa Farmers, often expe-
rlencc great difficulty in procuring such
seed, as no ordinary tanning mill will re-
move some Of tue worst enemies of the
farmer and good fax. i ,.....
1T was this fact, more than any other
that led to the system Of ;''loaning seed
and contracting. the CROP which has:
heemso long tractiscd ip Ohio, Indiana
and elsewhere. Tie linseed oil manufac-
turer who receives the crop of:a large Sec
tion of country ls enabled to select choice
lots of seed and reserve them for sowing,
aid then by machinery too expensive aud
cumbrous for ordinary use, to clean it so
thoroughly that he can give out each year
an almost perfect article of sowing seed -
OF the superiority of such seed over what
can ordinarily be obtained in the market
and even at seed stores, VIC are convinced
by examining sample before us Of that
which E.tW: Blatchtvrd, ESQ.,, proprietor
Of the" "Chicago Lead and Oil, Works." is
preparing for bis customers for sowing the
coming spring. Of course when manu-
facturer furnishes such seed year after
year, requiring for it only the return Of
an equal amount of merchantable quality,
he cannot be expected to stipu]ate price
for the 'balance'of the crop, beyoud the Or
dinary average, taking aseries of years In
to the account--and it is upon this basis
that the business has been conducted hith-
erto, and it is still continued to the ac-
ceptance of majority of the farmers in
the largest fax growing districts. In this
connection we would add, that with good
seed 80 SOW, there is nothing like flax as
preparatory crop for wheat The tcstimo-
ny Of Ohio farmers, where fax has been
extensively grown for over quarter of a
century, is explicit on this point, and to
this fact we would call the especial atten-
tien Of our Illinois and Wisconsin farmers,
whose wheat growing tor some time has
been SO discouraging.
TIME OF CUTTING.
Flax should be cut as soon as the bolls
bagin to turn brown, and while the stalk is
yet green. If left standing too long there
will be, a, great loss Of seed in harvesting:
il: ..ctt MODE OF CUTTING.
= A few farmers answered our question. on
this head, "with CRADLE" but a large ma. jor-
ity said "wi,h machine" And from the
number of reapers mentioned as working
we'll. we are persuaded that almost all our
standard machines can be used to advantage
in cutting fax: When it is raised princi-
pally for the seed there is no necessity for
binding it Ga. great saving in time and ex-
pense as compared with harvesting wheat,
when five or six men are required t. bind
after the reaper but may be simply raked
off into gavcls and lie until dry, when it is
ready for, stacking or. threshipg, AS
while standing it is less liable to. damage
from heavy showers than wheat, so now
when cut it will boar a severe rain with lit
tie detriment, if turned oyer afterwards, so
as to- oprevent tie bolls from getting into tue
dirt. Should the weather continue wet, it
can be quickly dried in an interval Of sun,
shine (tbere being no leaves to retain mois.
ture) and then stackcd,j using hay for top
ing off, in which shape it may stand, il
necessary, until cold winter weather, before
thresh;ng, though it is betteritis is better t
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