The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-07-26
AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

EoRTY SiA 1saR's ExPERlEscE.-A farm
er who has had experience as farmer for
forly.six years. gives to the american 4gri
citUatist some notes on his farming practice,
Among other things he remarks;
.'Some men say that corn will degenerate
and run ont. My father got kind of yellow
twelve-rowed corn in the year of the great
eclipse, IN 1906, which remember very well.
/ took ii from him III the spring Of 1920, and
have il now. 1t is an early, sound corn, very
easy to husk ! can raise eighty bushels of
sheiled corn to the acre with no extra labor,
planting three and halffe apart each way.
/ have another kind of eight>rowed yellow
corn. which got in 1928, which will grow
and ripeu in ninety or hundred days Wheat,
oats and potatoes will degenerate and wear
out with ordinary culture.
eve do moi harvest our grain and cut our
hay early enough in this country. When i
commenced farming | was closely watched by
my neighbors, who said | plowed too deep,
cut my hay too early, aud cut my grain too
green have since then iarmed on twelve
different farms. and the result has been that
/ have iripled the crops on an average.
Or SHErp.-Itis frequently asserted that
pnfe red Marino sheep are not as tough nor
a. long. lived as coarse wooded or common
sheep Dr. Boyn,on, of Woodstock, has re-
centiy examined a Meriuo eve raised by ".
r. sanford Of Orwell, Vermont, in 1850.
and which Is consequently sixteen years old
this spring. She has been owned the past
three or tour years by Ira Mower, of Wood.
stock. Vt, aud has produced each spring a
smart and thriving laiab. The Doctor says ::
80 be sure she looks "a little thin and care
worn. aud evidently feels the weight of ad
vancing Years, yet she bears the honors OF
her great age with dignity and composure.
She has several generations OF her progeny
around her. There is one very remarkable
fact about this ANIMAL she has not yet lost q
single tooth; aud more, too. they are all tight
in her jaws aud Judging from them alone one
would not suppose her TO be more than seven
or eight years old. If any one can beat this,
send on your facts"
On AS REMEDY AGAINST INSECTS. Ma
nv wears ago we were interested in some ex-
periments made by some medical students on
the destruction OF insect life by oil. The
slightest drop OF sweet oil. put on the back
OF a hornet beetle. bee, or similar thing
caused It's instant destruction. We were
told that the breathing pores were closed by
the oil, and life was literally smothered out.
In after life, greasy water was always H.
vorte mode with us of destroying insects.
and we have repeatedly urged it upon the
readers OF this Journal. Yet we are astonish
ed 10 find how little the hint has been acted
on. Almost every day we meet people whe
ask how to destroy this insect or that, and
our drawer is filed with similar inquiries
and to all the idea of grease or oil seems as
new a one as if we had kept the matter pro
found secret.
OF the millions of people in the United
States, how few are there who would moi
give anything, as they say, to know how
70 keep away the cabbage>fy from their seed
beds, yet about tablespoonful Of coal oil
put IN common garden waterproof, sprink
led over the seed-bed, when the little jump
ing beetle is noticed as having appeared, vii
instantly destroy the whole brood.
correspondent Of this Journal recent,
gave US an article on the virtues Of coal OIL
IN killing scale insects. We have repeated
the experiment on some Daphanes with en-
tire success.
la short, We have no doubt that coal oil
ell diluted with water, is death 10 all kind
of insects, and there is no reason why j
should not be in as general use as tobacco
for killing aphides--more valuable, in fact
because il can be applied in 20 many case
where sm oks cannot.