American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-08-24
The farmer's department.
Farm Work for August.

Wnere tHlS lS HOI JeI OolIPiN'SS
fer to the direction of last month.
Oats in many places yet remain to
be cut. This should be done while
the straw is yet slightly green-the
straw will be more valuable, and the
grain not shell out as when fully ripe.
The gleanings of all grain fields may.
be secured with horse rake
STUBBLE GRoUND.-To destroy
the seeds Of weeds, harrow all stub
BILE ground as soon as the harvest has
been secured, or pigs have eaten all
the gleanings-the first rain will then
cause all seeds to germinate, and the
next plowing will turn under the green
crop as manure.
HARVEST TooLs.-These are often
neglected, and suffered to remain
weeks exposed to the weather, to
their serious injury, by. the rustlng
of metal and the decay of wood, Let
them all be carefully housed, after
having been thoroughly, cleaned, and
the bright metal parts rubbed slight
ly with lard, oil or melted grating
wax.
SEED WHEAT.-In order to keep
up the highest quality, or to improve
the seed of wheat, select the very
best portions of the field, and exclude
the seed of every weed, and especial
ly of that notorious intruder, chess.
Many careful farmers, by continued,
attention for years, have succeeded
in entirely cradicating chess from
their farms. To improve the quality
of seed wheat, the largest and finest
heads may be selected by hand the
process repeated, year after year, will
give very encouraging results. A
half day spent in thus selecting the
best heads will furnish considerable
amount, and all weeds may thus be
kept out. The best winnowing ma
chimes may alsob be used for this pur-
pose, separating the largest, best and
earliest ripening grains from the
rest.
WEEDs.-This is the season Of the
year when many seeds ripen and scat
ter their seeds. A days work now,
properly applied may therefore save
half dozen days labor another sea-
son. Clear all the weeds out of corn
and potato fields, root crops and gar
dens. Briers cut during this month
will be severely checked in growth,
and sometimes destroyed. Plow in
deeply the ox-eye daisy dig up all
scattered plants which appear before
winter, and follow next year with a
hoed crop.
DRAINING.-On lands which were
too wet to underdrain last spring, the
work may be now done to advantage.
Muck swamps, which may be reclaim
ed and brought into cultivation, or
which may afford muck for compost
heaps, should now be thoroughly un-
derdrained. The muck for manure
should be thrown out and formed in
to large, well-shaped heaps, and they
will become dry in the course of
few months. To prevent rain from
soaking these heaps, they may be
neatly covered with boards or thatch,
or if even made with smooth sloping
top, beaten hard with a spade, muck Of
the rain will be thrown off from the
surface. The disappointment which
many meet with in the use of muck
with manure, is owing to the amount
of water which it already contains,
preventing the absortion of the liq-
uid parts of the manure. Wet muck
is usually about nine-tenths water;
and if rendered perfectly dry, will
therefore absorb about nine times its
own weight of liquid manure; hence
the Importance of using it in yards
or manure heaps as dry as possible.
MANURING WHEAT.--In most of
our best wheat regions, unless the
soil is already quite rich, the most
effective use ofmanure is a top-dress-
ing after the land has been plowcd.
1t has often increased the crop eight
or ten bushels per acre, and sometimes
given good yield of the Mediterra-
mean variety where the winter has
nearly destroyed undressed fields.
The manure for this purpose should
be fine or well rotted and well broken
by narrowing. To prevent the ma
nure wagons from hardening the plow-
ed soil, it is a good wayto plow and
then dress a strip ON the further side
of the field, and then repeat the pro-
cess on successive strips till the
whole is completed. If the soil is We
ry dry, bring the moist portions up
by deep plowing, and drill in immedi-
ately.
STACKS AND sTRAw.-Every far
mer, where practicable, should pro-
vide barn room for all his hay and
straw ; but where stacks become nee
essary, much may be done for secur-
ing their contents in good condition
by retopping them. A load of straw
neatly placed upon the top of large
hay-stack, and neatly raked down
wards, or what is better, matched top,
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