Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1870-09-09
FARM AND FIRESIDE.


ONION CULTURE. At recent meeting OF
the American Institute Farmers Club, A.
B. Crandell said that at Wether6eld, Conn,
he met gentleman who had attained great
success in the culture of onions. He sald
the soil must be remarkably rich-the rich
err the better. If kept at the proper point
of fertility repeated crops may DO produced
on the same ground He continues to plant
onions in garden shat has been used for
similar purpose for at least eighty years.
and he has found that The finest and longest
keeping specimens came from the Oldest
gardens. His favorite patch is MANFRED
each seaoon at the rate of thirty cart loads
per aero The soil is not less than foot
in depth.
His practice is as follows: AS soon as the
frost is all out of the ground he uses sub
soiler, which goes from one to two feet
deep little later he puts in plough,
which goes down about four inches. He
then makes the surface as smooth and mel
low as possible, and plants as carly as pos
sible in rows from eighteen to twenty inches
apart For this purpose the Wethersfield
drill is recommended, being cheap and eff
Gent. The cultivation commenced about
three weeks after the seed is sown, and one
of the great principles is to keep the onions
perfectly clean Generally three weddings
will be sufficient, and the crop does not re-
quirc attention after the tops shade tho
ground.
The harvesting is done in September, and
the best way is to make heaps Of 40 or SO
bushels each, cover with straw and leave in
the field for month or more. Six hundred
bushels to the is large return. but
under the most favorable circumstances,
800 can be produced. For next years crop,
it is good PRACTICE to ridge the ground in the
Fall, and split the ridges in the Spring
For new land the best practice is to begin
two years ahead and take crop of corn
and afferward crop Of potatoes. The best
manure is that obtained from cattle stalls.
Occasionally. if the young blades look pale,
top-Gressing Of guano may be applied with
advantage. The surest crop is the Red
Wethersield, variety which is large, har-
dy, and strong.
For raising seed the same richness of soil
is required, and the same strict attention to
culture. The onions are set as early as
possible in rows forty inches apart, at the
rate Of $50 bushels to the acre. They can
ae freed from weeds by use of a horse hoe.
When the tops are ripe enough they are
clipped off, dried under shelter, thrcshed
out, and run through an ordinary tanning
mill
Book FARMING There was farmer
once who hesitased not to hurl all manner
of invcctives against book farming, and
those who consulted books for advice. BY
long experience and practical observation be
had become quite successful in the culture
of grapes and trees. His fields were clean
and fair, and highly productive His trees
we're vigorous, well adjusted and profitable
In conversation with friend he related
his experience, entering into the minutest
details, sometimes becoming quite eloquent
when describing his victories over the enc
mics which infest them.
"My knowledge" he said, "was gained
by dint of application, by actual experience
and hard labor. 1t was none of your book
knowledge, written by men who know moth
ing about farming"
"Well," said his friend, eff all this valu-
BILE information, gained by assiduous labor
and observation of so many years, and which
you have so clearly described, were written
out and published, which would you have
young and inexperienced man do, take this
as he finds it from your pen. or 60 through
the same tedious process that you have gone
through, including all the yexations and
losses ?"
The question puzzled him, and he was
silent for moment, but was obliged to con-
fess, after all, there was much that was
valuable in books, because combining and
relating the results and experience Of prac-
teal cultivators.
Do not condemn book farming. You
may criticise certain books very severely,
because written by ignorant theoretical
hands; but there is always good wheat as
we'll as chaf. So there are many good
books as we'll as poor ones. The time may
come when single hint from book or
paper may save your farm or orchard or
add to your wealth, by telling you how to
increase your crops.
FEEDING PouLLRY.-The habit Of giving
much food in a short space Of time to poult-
ry is very bad one. If you notice their
habits you will perceive that the process of
picking up their food under ordinary. or
what we may call the natural condition, is
very slow one. Grain by grain does the
meal get taken. and with the aggregate 40
small amount Of sand, small pebbles and
the like. all of which. passing into the crop,
assists digestion greatly. But in the chem
wife's" mode OF feeding poultry great heap
is thrown down and the birds are allowed to
"peg away" at such a rate that their craw is
filed too rapidly, as the process of assimila-
ton is slow, painful and incomplete. No
wonder that SO many cases of chokod craw
are met with under this treatment.
WEEv1Ls.-The following is a simple
remedy for keeping weevils out of wheat:
When YOUR wheat is housed, cut some elder
sticks. say four for common sized wheat
house. and stick them endwise into the
wheat. The weevils will not trouble it.
Ladies, if they want to keep the weevils out
of their bean seed, when they gather them,
should put them in boiling water for o min
ute, then dry them, and they will keep for
years.
For CouaH Roast lemon very care
fully, without burning it. When it is
thoroughly hot, cut and squeeze it into a
cup upon three ounces Of sugar, finely pow