Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-10-14
AGRICULTURAL

FALL PLowING.-The most bigoted farmer
Will admit that fall blowing is beneficial You
cannot convince him to the contrary He is
as stubborn in his belief as he is against
book-learuing. Whatever errors he may
possess gencrally-and they are numerous
his experience of fall blowing is right. He
knows the frost makes the turned-up soil mel
low: he knows this as a fact, as he has had
abundant experience. Hence, fall blowing
is practised extensively, not only by him but
by all, or nearly all.
Yet this bigoted farmer, who has luckily hit
upon good thing, carries the matter too far.
We all apt TO disagree here. Fail DloU-
ina IS good only ter stubborn soils. For sand or
gravel it will not dc. For clay, or any
lumpy soil, it is just the thing.
And the later the blowing is done the bet
ter, if the ground IS not too wet. 1t may be
moist, or even wet, but should never be mud
dy. Avoid mud in all places and at all times
Avoid it in the fall as far as you can. To
pillow late is to prevent the grass from starting
towards the surface and leaves the soil com
paratiyely loose and thus the better fitted for
the penetration of the frost. To ''stand up"
the burrows, as some plows are said to do,
though considered fault generally, is here
just the thing. The more points or ridges
that are presented to the action of the ele-
nents the bcttcr-thus leaving a sort of hOl-
low condition of the plowed ground, not only
that the frost may work in, but the water
pass off, leaving it comparatively dry in the
spring.
If plowed early the ground will become
more or less compact preventing the water
from draining off and the frost from penetra-
ting as effectively as il would otherwise. Be
sides the grasses and weeds VII get started
and show in the spring, making compact
grassy soil, just the thing untitled for crop;
and II requires blowing over, with n,HiGy
7gder SOIL which cannot be endured for mo-
ment, as this Will give you a brick-taced sur
face, and the effect viii be visible for years
the ground will receive almost fatal injury.
There will be Jumps for years and the frost
cannotrestorc them, nor the clod-crusher. The
combined action of both with the aid of the
sun and the rains and SHOWS together with
lime and other appliances, and time-these
are necessary TO overcome the injury which
an iujudicious handling of the soil has caused.
Set up the soil, then, and make it as po-
rous and hollow may be; and pillow it as
late as can be, consistent with the late rains
of autumn.
This hollow and porous condition Of the
ground when plowed as we have recommend
ed, viii also favor the application of manure
Manure thus plowed under will get the action
of the elements and add wonderfully to the
productiveness of the field will improve the
mellowness of the SOIL and, in a word, will be
just the thing for all kinds of grain, corn, roots
everything.
We have never seen better fields than
those treated in this way with manure-mel-
low and productive. Thus rigid soils, cold
clay soils NAV be redeemed, and it is difficult
to redeem them in any other way.-Bostoaa
Cu2figator.
SALT AND Cold WATER FOR SwINE-It is
| Il, D..
to swine occasionally, while every farmer
would consider it a prime duty to offer it to
his neat stock, horses and sheep, as often as
once i week To be sure the swine get lit
tie compared with the amount given to other
| animals. In proportion to their weight, why
do they not need as much salt as the other
stock on the farm
We find an article going the rounds of the
papers upon the use of salt for TIte7l5tq s305te.
| The writer states that he " selected two pairs
of barrow hogs weighing 200 each One pair
received with their daily allowance of food,
two ounces Of salt; the other, similarly fed,
| none. In the course of week, it was easily
seen that the sated pair had a much stronger
appetite than the others, and after a fortnight
| 1t was increased to two ounces apiece. After
four months, the weight of the sailed hogs
| was $50 pounds, while that of the unsalted,
five weeks later, reached only 800 pounds.
The experiment was repeated with almost
precisely the same results.
If such should prove to be the general re-
suit, most farmers have not gained all the
good advantages they might have done from
the food fed out. From the example cited
| there is no Indication that the salt excited a
| morbid appetite, and produced unnatural flesh
and fat. Of course a sound judgment must
be exercised in the use of salt, as well as of
grain or any other food.
Another neglect of swine-and sometimes
il must be cruel one-is that of not giving
them plentiful supply Of palre cold ocater Why
it is supposed that the hog should not need
water as well as the COW and sheep-is more
than we can tell. They do require it. When
water is not given them, although fed with
swill, they Will drink heartily of the water
collected in the yard or barn-cellar, after visit
| ing their trough several times, and finding it
empty and dry. Nothing is more grateful to
| them in a hot day than bucket of cold water,
| drank from a clean sweet trough. We trust
4 that farmers will give attention to the matter
! and ascertain for themselves whether our sug
| gestions are valuable OF not