The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1869-10-29


Walks and Talks on the Farm.
One OF my ncighbors was taking
load OF wheat TO the city this mornin
and stopped ut the pump to pour som
water on The wheels OF his wagon.
told him il he would put petroleum OF
il would swell up the wood just a. wei
a. water and would not dry out. d,
not know how could get along witholl
petroleum. My implements and ma
chimes Get lett out ia ii manner do no
approve. but am incapable ut present o
preventing. and ii il was not TOR retro
lcum The rain. sun. and air would war,
and crack and swcii and shrink ant
ruin them. keep AL the wood-Morl
saturated with il. and give the il~n M
occasional souch with il. We hasc no.
vet found out half Of its virtues.
have received several letters aIsprov-
ing of my remarks in regard 10 Tx, ne
cc~sity OF improving our hairowS- am
glad so much attention Is directed to the
subject. Mr.. Ball. OF Rensselaer, county.
New York SAYS he is using Il loddes
l~r,ow with 50 teeth OF ] iron. with
timber !, Inches square. He sometimes
noses TO make Scotch harrow, with
bars inches wide by y inches deep.
and 10 inches from centre to centre. with
six teeth. 10 inches apart. in each bar.
of ! STEEL. which he thinks will be
quite rs stiff rs iron. OF course the
finer the teeth and the closer together.
the more thoroughly will they pulverizc
the soil. prev ided the harrow is heavy
enough to keep them in the soil and the
teeth are not so close as To c;lllse the
harrow 10 clog. 1t is not necessary that
the teeth should 20 VERY deep into the
soil. for when this i requircd. cultiva-
tor is much more effective Implement.
Since the general Introduction OF the
Il ill. we seldom use harrows to cover
the seed. Its principal uae is 10 pmlver-
izc the soil more thoroughly than it can
he done by the plow and cultiyator.-
When the sods 10 not Interfere. we can
make very tine >eed-bed by first plow-
ing. then narrowing. then rolling. then
and again narrowing with Il
finer harrow. BIT of course a good
deal depends on the character of the
land. Some light soils do not require
half this labor. while the clays frequent
IN require good deal more. 1t is for
tunate that those soils which require the
most labor TO get them finely puverized.
are the very soils most benefited bv the
operation. Mr.. H. asks "IIow would
it do to set the steel teeth slightly rak-
ing. say one inch in five. and have the
harrow so a to hitch to either end
Where il would answer TO have the
teeth slanting forward. they would cut
better than when perpendicular. Where
there was rubbish that the teeth would
gather. hitch TO the other end" This
plan is well worth trying, but some
means of keeping the teeth from being
driven up when they strike hard lump
Dr. stone would be required.
| suppose i'm less than a dozen wears
We shall do our blowing. cnltivating,
narrowing. etc., by steam. but in the :.
mean time. farmers who keep six. eight. y
II ten horses, want implements that can
&c used with four horses abreast. am
ired of seeing strong. active man
Walking over the clods after a light pair
# horses. when he could just rs easily =
rive fonr, and do donble the work. +
With no more fatigue to himself We :
omplain Il good deal Of the high price
# Labor. but do very little towards ma :
ing il more effective. Even i'm the busy :
eason Of having and harvest. | know ,
armers who actually waste half their Z
imei Three men will go into the field p
or a load ofhay, two pitch and one load. $
md those two men will wait longer be- d
ween each cock. for the the loader to Z
tart his team than il takes them. or even !
me man, to pitch the hay! have, on Il
several occasions, timed them watch e,
N hand and found this to be the case. i
They put on a little over half ton of
nay, and then drive it to the barn all
he men going back and forth.
Most people over-estimatc the weight \
IF their loads. thashed my wheat
his year as we drew it from the field
A man and team from neighboringl $
farm helped us te draw, and l told him ,
[ wanted big loads. He brought on y
what he thought "as heavy as q team !
ought to draw" asked him how much
he thought his team could draw at s
good pace. 1.-TWO TONS" he said. He 9
pitched off the load to the machine and 1
had on nine bushels, or say $40 pounds
Of grain, ard certainly not over $50 lbs. .,
Of straw. So that his "big load did y
not weigh half ton! And yet that same 4
man would think nothing Of drawing