Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-10-25
Timely Suggestions.

SoILING STocK.-We simply re-
fe: to our former urgent hints on
this subject, and would say that our
advice is to sow thickly of rye, and
manure heavily, also, if not already
done, dress early. Sow rye with
finely divided manure to ensure
food early in the spring.
Potatoes yet to be dug, should be
taken out only on dry days, allow
ing them to remain on the surface
long enough to dry, and Immediate
ly transferred to bins in well-venti-
lated, dry cellars. They should be
handled as little as possible, and
also be kept from the light after
storing.
Hogs are fattened very rapidly if
fed on cooked sweet apples or
pumpkins, through which is divided
the amount of corn meal thought
necessary for them. We have long
practiced sowing peas broadcast on
spare ground, and, moving them
close to the ground, feeding the
whole to hogs, and thus commenced
the fattening process without any
expenditure of corn.
Pick and handle fruit carefully,
especially the portion intended to
be kept. Good cider can only be
made from the most mature apples,
and the better they are selected and
handled the better will be the cider.
If you prize your trees, have all the
fruit picked, that the buds prepared
for next season may receive no in
jury.
Tree setting should be attended
to as early as possible, better if
done just as the leaf is ready to
drop, rather than later. Above all
things don't seek chow not to do
it" by placing them in badly made
holes, poor ground, or with an over
dose of MANURE. Particularly do
not make it point TO kick the trees
about in the cold wind some hours
before setting.
Drains should be examined, the
outlet properly secured, and fields
that need drainage should be in
spected. a good plan in practice
is to dig holes here and there, say
four feet deep, and making obser-
vatiors Of the rise of water in them,
note the conduct Of the land under
different states of the weather up to
the time of commencing drainage.
With knowledge gained in this
way, only partial drainage may be
made to answer very good pur-
pose.
Winter grain should have all
been in the ground last month, but
some farmers were belated in their
work of preparation. Late sowing
with rye can be more safely prac-
ticed than with wheat-though on
good, dry, warm soils the latter
grain has been known to do W ell as
late as the end Of the month. One
farmer records the fact that he
sowed, late in November, a five-acre
field, finishing the narrowing with
snow falling, and already three in
ches deep. The crop was equal to
that gathered from field sown six
weeks sooner. A greater amount
OF seed was sown on the late
piece.
DEMONSTRATING on the farm
if let alone, becomes worse more
easily than better. 1t is especially
SO with open bitches on reclaimed
swamp lands. Tlde-drains, by the
way, are greatly superior to open
bitches for the general purposes of
drainage. Still there are situations
where open drains are preferable
If you have any Of these, now is the
time to clean out the mud, and to
deepen them, if necessary. The
bitches should be cleaned out fire.
quently. Such lands were made
good by much labor. 1t is bad
economy not to keep them good, by
a little labor once in a year or two,
as may appear necessary to keep
the water running freely, in order
that the sour, unnutritious grasses
may give place to those that are
sweet and nutritious