The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-03-21
HINTS ABOUT WORK.

work than would buy another team, and
pay the wages of a man for a year. This
has, at any rate, been true more than
once in our own experience. Have you
not found it so?
Shall we buy more horses and hire
more men? Not if we can help it. It
would probably be better to pillow less
land. This is point each farmer must
decide for himself. All we can say is,
do not get behindhand with your work.
Almost anything is better than this.
The SEASONS DO NOT oHANGE.-We
are quite apt to blame the weather.
And vet it is matter of fact that there
is no change in our climate. There
have always been wet years and cold
years and years of great drouth. We
should be prepared for them.
-Underdraining on all wet soils is
indispensable to real success in farming.
A well-drained and well-worked heavy
soil is rarely affected by drOuth. Every
enterprising farmer will do more or less
draining every spring. If he once COM
mences to underdrain, and does the
work well. he will not be likely to stop
until he has made all of his land dry.
-Top-dressing grassland is a grand
| means of ameliorating the effect of
drouth Spread the manure as early as
possible in the spring, and if you have
Thomas harrow use it freely to break
up the manure.
LET OFF SURFACE wATER.-IhlS IS
always in order. Farmers will let it off
wheat, but very few ever think of let
ting it off bare stubble. IF there is
no crop to kill, they think it can do no
harm. A few hours judicious labor
will often let off more water IN day
than the sun at this season can avapor-
ate in month.
MAKE YOUR WALKS DRY.-Put down
planks or boards if necessary; but it is
| far better to get the water off. You
can do this if you attend to the matter
before the water soaks into the ground.
-Irrigating grassland at this season
| is q capital thing, provided the land
rests on dry porous subsoil or is I'M
derdrained. But irrigating low, wet
land will do no good. Better get off
all the water you can, instead of getting
more on to it.
| DRAIN FIRST, AND THEN IRRIGATE.-
| This will double or treble your grass
crop and not injure the quality. There
are many streams that Nigh be easily
| damned up and the water diverted over
acres of grass land at q small cost. It
is mistake to suppose that irrigation
is only necessary IN dry weather. 1t
does great good on grass land early in
| the spring.
| Sow grass and clover seed on wheat
early in the spring, unless you propose
to harrow the wheat. It is seldom that
the seed is injured by the frost. Do
not spare the seed, and be careful not to
miss any land.
REPAIR THE FENCEs.-This can be
done at times when other work is not
pressing-say after a rain, when the
ground is too wet to pillow
-Piling manure should be done, if
| done at all, early in the spring. Many
farmers prefer to draw their manure out
of the yards directly on to the land.
We will not argue the question here.
All we say is, do something with the
manure Either use it now or keep it
for future use. Do not leave it spread
out all over the yards and premises.
Flowing should not be done while
the land is wet Much, however, de-
ponds on the kind of soil, and whether
it was fall-plowed or whether it is sod.
The latter always seems drier than the
former. As a rule, it may be said that
no land should be plowed when it sticks
to bright steel mold-bOard.
-Three-horsc teams should always
be used wherever practicable. They
are far more effective than two horses
One man can manage three horses as
well as two, and will accomplish half as
much again work For blowing, har-
rowing, rolling, cultivating, drawing off
heavy stones on a stone-boat, and for
drawing heavy loads on wagon, there
is great economy in using three horses. |
Coop IMPLEMENTS. Great loss is
incurred on many farms by using poor
implements and tools The higher Wa
ges are, the more important it is to
economic labor. A good pillow, as COM
pared with a poor one, viii more than |
pay for itself in weeks work.
Harrows should be made heavy |
enough for three horses and should take |
a wide sweep. The old 32-teeth drags |
are behind the age. Get good Scotch |
harrow with 40 teeth and keep the teeth |
sharp. We seldom harrow our land |
enough.
Rollers are best made of plank and |
in two sections. Keep the plank satur-
ated with petroleum. They will last as
long again. Do not neglect to oil the
journals.
The CELLAR.-Whatever you do or |
fail to DO, do not neglect the cellar
under the house. Remove everything |
that is decaying. Clean up. White
wash the walls. Ventilate thoroughly |
and often.
"A Cultivator for three orfour horses
abreast is very effective implement.
The great trouble with them is that |
they are rarely strong enough, and the
teeth are usually too wide and do not |
slant enough forward. At this season !
we want them to stir the land--not to
cut off weeds.
-HoT wATER.-Blessed is the farmer
who at this season can always be sure of
getting gallon or two of lot water
whenever he wants it. This is q lux
ury few farmers appreciate until they
have to depend on ''hired help" in the
kitchen:
-Hay-tea is made by pouring boil
ing water on to chaffed hay. Glover is
best. 1t is an excellent tonic for all
animals.
SWINE the pens clean and
dry. See that they are well ventilated
-"Corn-pudding" is easily made by
stirring corn-meal into boiling water.
A quart or two of this hot pudding
put into pail of skinned milk and
well mixed, is grand food for young
pigs that You wish to push forward
rapidly.
Houses they have been fed on
straw during the winter, it is now time
to give them a little hay or more grain
Work very moderately at first and espe-
cially avoid fast driving. Get the
horses into good condition. To do this,
work regularly, feed literally, and
groom thoroughly. Give tablespoon
full of salt to each horse every day for
week, and then after that give the
horses every day all the salt they will
eat. The only reason that animals eat
more salt than is good for them is be-
cause they have not access to it at all
times. At this season horses are chang
ing their coats and are quite liable to
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