Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-03-30
AGRICULTURAL.
HInte FOR AnrIl.

There are certain periods of the yeaI
when farming operations crowd upon the
cultivator and tax his energies to the ut
most. The times of hay and grain harvest
are of this character, and sotllkewise is the
planting season in spring. A well-digest-
ed programme of the crops designed TO be
cultivated, should have been made out in
advance of the planting season, so that the
seeds of each may be committed to the
earth in proper season, for the farmer should
bear in mind that every plant cultivated
has some peculiar habit and luxuriates most
in certain climaticl conditions. For exam
pie, the Irish potato delights in COOL
moist atmosphere, whilst Indian corn re-
fuses to grow an inch per night, and crack
loud enough toibe heard whilst it is grow
ing; until the coming of the hot days Of
midsummer. Crops 9delighting in cool
weather cannot be put ingatoo soon
after the opening of spring. In
| held culture, the labor of pitching
should commence with the oat and pO-
tato i.crop, and during the early part OF
April, whatever of the potato crop remains
implanted should now be finished; and the
farmer growing hemp should prepare to
SOW by or before the middle of the month.
By such a acourse he will nave more leisure
TO putin the leading staple in the great
grain belt which lies few degrees on either
side of the thirty-eighth parallel of north
latftade-the corn crop, in4growing which
good stand. To secure this result great
care should be exercised in the selection of
seed corn, never using that which comes off
a cob diScOlored by moisture. The plant
| ing should not take place too soon, either.
| Corn committed to the ground before the
sun has, warmed the earth, sufficiently to
excite vegetation will, in short time, be-
gin to rot without growing at all. The
best farmers plant corn in this latitude be-
tween the middle and latter end of April
"a little earlier or later, as the season is
more or less forward.
J a.5a KITCHEN GARDEN.
The substantial crops of the kitchen gar
den are biennials, so called because the first
years growth eliminates in product high
| ly useful as food for man and beast, and
that of the second exhausts this product in
| Only the beet and the oyster plant are
strictly biennials. They may, and the oys-
ter plant must, to avoid rOtting down in
hot weather, be sown early in April; and
| If, in midsummer, in the general hurry,
| the weeds overcome them, they may after
wards be cleaned out for a full growth
! without harm. But parsnips, carrots, and
cabbages must be kept growing the season
through without interruption, becaus e
| when once allowed to remain for cOnsid-
cradle time in a state of rest from neglected
cultivation, they will, later in the season,
when excited to growth, exhaust all their
useful properties in efforts to make
seed. Parsnips and carrots, in the Ian
guage of the cook, become sticky, re-
| fuse to boil soft, and cease to be
nutritious or palaTable; cabbages burst
open and throw out a seed-stalk,
while the blanched leaves of the head, the
only valuable portion, 60 hastily to decay
| For this reason winter parsnips should be
sown as late i'm April as vegetation of the
ho hu Of inc
ing their growth, the seed may be covered
deeper than if sown earlier, when frequent
showers are expected to keep the surface
mold of the garden in that moist condition
which favors the vegetetion of light seeds.
| Cabbages, however, for the early crop,
must be set out about the first of April
and carrots, when cultivated, sown little
later. They fail tocome up if sown after
the mild, showery weather of early April
has passed. t-. f
Should the farmer propose to add the
sweet potato to his list of edibles, he must
see to, it that suitable hot-beds are prepared
| to sprOut his seed potatoes and grow his
plants, never putting in his potatoes till
the rank heat has Su0sided, Sweet pota-
toes ought to be put in hot-beds to sprout
by the first Of April and planted out to-
ward the close of May.
| Cttcunebers and Melons The difficulty of
growing cucumbers and melons in old
ground may be overcome in a good degree
1 by raising plants in hot-beds to the size OF
three or four leaves and then transplanting
them. To do this successfully, after hot
bed is formed, take single horse plow and
run shallow turroW in the grass-sod; or
get up sods with the spade; then, with a
sharp knife, cut out squares three and a
half or four inches each way. With these
squares cover your hot-bed, the grass side
downward. Afterwards stick four or five
seed, the pip end downward, into each lit
tie sod, and cover the whole one inch with
woods earth. Such bed, if covered with
boards in cold, bad weather, will answer
nearly as well as glass covering, and if, al
hills not plant will be lost.-We Western
RurGlist. H:. i.