Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1873-04-12
FARM HINTS For April
By Practical Farmer, Regular A. ros
tursl Contributor to EVERY Evening
and the Delaware State Journal"

You cannot get your oats, barley
spring wheat In the ground too carly
provided the ground il not 20 wet as tn
prevent Its falling to pieces when plowed.
You can commonly. II not afraid Of the |
cold, get your sod for corn turned over |
before oat ground Is 1T 10 plow. This Is
clear gain. As soop "a the sod Is over
apply cauHtlc lime, I. 4. unslacked lime or |
Stacked with brine made of common cheap |
selt potash or soda ash potash is best.
Zen bushels of nnslacked lime will do as
much good for one year as fiftv. Ten
will do good, fifty might do much harm
by liherating the ammonia of the organic
matter too rapidly forthe plants use, and
also by making the heat too great for the
growing corn during the dry weather Of
summer. The evil effects Of our exces-
sive Application of lime lasts for years
Better far apply a light dressing fire.
quently than heavy dressing at a time,
except in drained marsh lands when there
is a great depth of black organic meter
which has heen occurred hy stagnant
waters. In such case thirty or forty
bushels of unslacked lime will do no
harm.
Pure sandy knobs require very little
lime. The more organic meter the more
lime the land Will bear. Having spread
the lime over TIE sod. pass a harrow over
so as to distribute II as evenly as possible.
aud let the sod lie I'LL nearly time to
plant, when n should he worked with y
two horse cultivator or plow 10 within
about two inches of the Underlined sod.
The sod will then remain moist and 20 To
decay In time for the supply NJ muir iment
} to the forming ear, and will cause the
end OF each car to all ont with well
, formed kernels.
When the ground IL good, no apTllca.
, tion In the hill will he necessary; better
/ make all your applications broadca St.
D well worked In but where the ground Is
!. thin the application of a handfnl of well
e prepared compast which every farmer
ought to have prepared, nr II YOU canno'
procure that. half or third Of a hand
ful of some good commercial phosphate
e which has heen known to do WE'LL IL
g yOir vicinity, will, In ordinary seasons
I be Of great beHefit IN helling the struC
gliug plant out Of the wav Of worms and
insects. But TO depend upon phosphat
10 make crop IN land which has herr
exhausted for years, and then hlet
z again and again, is simply expecting To,
Z. much.
d Fertilizers, composed chiefly Of salts
If as potash, soda ard phOsphoinus may b,
applied at Or near the surface. hut am
4, moniacal fertilizers, composed largely %
h organic matter, ny meat, fish. king crabs
If leather clippings, muck, peat and SCI
Of weeds require to bdreovered by sol
" enough tc keep them slightly MOST, O
D. else their virtues will remain inactive.
n Planting Coi Put Your fertilizer.
.e of the latter kind, under the com an.
AZ well scattered if the former Kind. ne4
il or on the surface, they will work down
ofi The depth to which corn shoul hi
ie planted will vary with the soil. IN ligh
sandy soil, in average years, seed doe
is well an inch ard a half deep, and posi-
In bly, two inches. In iandy loan, one inch
r in clay soils one half an inch, and tn
10 soil should, by some means, be alwayi
pressed upon the grain, To detain tn
A. moisture and make II more difficult fD
"A insects to disturb il. The foot is to-
iy heavy; the spatting with the hoe is be.
,e In hand planting. A roller six or eiph
Ne inches long should follow the horse drll
n aud Of sufficient weight to gently pacl
(. the surface. Plant none hut the hes
" seed, often exchanged, aud put on,
re enough m the hill-from three to nv
N grains. The trouble of thinning will b.
IA greatly lessened.
le By shallow planting you can plan
80 easily tcu GAYS or even Two weeks earle
at than If you cover a furrew deep, and tn
8. corn will come up before ii is proper T.
N put the seed In the ground il YOU txpec
re to cover IL three inches deep. Two o
IN three weeks are thus gained. Last yea
,y | planted sweet corn, tCrosby's early)
Of very delicate ana tender variety, on Il.
Ne 18th day Of April, and only planted
Sc one-quarter Of an ikch deep. four grain
o. In hill. ! did not have q single Hill L
roplant. My neighbors who planted tw
IN weeks later complained Of theirs rottiu
of IN the ground. In thirty years plantin
he | have never had to replsni, and hay
be uniformly planted as mere suggested,