The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-07-23
Farm, Garden and Household.
SeasonabIe Hints.

each man will have side, and thew car,
go round and round the field after the
reaper. A man will bind one side while
the reaper cuts five sides. III the field
IS large and the crop heavy, a good
reaper will give five men all thew want
TO do. See that the sheaves are of the
proper size and well bound, and be
careful that they are firmly stuck up in
shocks that will shed rain.
1t you thrash as drawn from the field.
the grain must be thoroughly dry and
hard, and even then there is danger of
the wheat heating if placed in large
neap. We nearly always thrash our
own wheat as drawn from the field, but
we are careful to turn the grain eyery
Two or three days, and spread it out as
much as possible on the barn floor.
Rake the stubble between the sbocks
Immediately after the wheat is cut. If
thls is done in the evening or in the
morning while the dew is on, there will
De less grain lost by shelling
The rakings, when you thrash from
the field, should be loaded the night
before and drawn to the machine. A
good man, with nothing but sheaves to
pitch, will send home the wheat as fast
as a ten. power machine can thrash
IL. You require three wagons-one at
the machine, one going back and forth.
and one in the field.
=, Six.rowed barley will be ripe about
the same time as wheat, and you can
cut 1t while the wheat is curing in the
held thrash both crops at one opera
ton, and put the straw of both into one
stack.
Two-rowed barley is rarely ripe for
some days after the wheat, and many
prefer it on this account.
Binding barley into sheaves like
wheat is the better plan, provided the
crop is heavy one.
Oats will not be ready to cut for ten
days or two weeks after wheat, giving
breathing spell. So far as the quality
OF the grain is concerned, oats are quite
frequently injured by cutting too early.
But where the straw is used for fodder,
what we lose in the grain we gain in the
straw.
Oats and Peas grown together, we cut
with Johnston reaper. The machine
throws the crop off the platform into
moderate-sized heaps. These are turned
once or twice, and then drawn to the
barn and thrashed. If the weather is
unsettled and the crop very green, it
may be necessary to put it into cocks.
Ii well cured, the straw is very nutri-
tious, and is greedily eaten by sheep
and horses.
Peas are sometimes pulled up with a
rake. 1t is slovenly practice. 1t in
]ures the fodder and leaves large per-
centage of the peas on the ground.
True, these can be eaten by pigs and
sheep. But at this season we have all
the other stubbles for the stock to
CLEAN. 1t is better to "roll" the crop
with the scythe, unless it can be cut
with reaper.
Cultivating corn must, on no account,
be neglected. The cultivators, with
short whiffletrees attached, should be in
the field and ready for use at a mo-
ment's notice. Then if shower stops
work in hay or harvest field, or while
the dew is on in the morning, start the
cultivators, if it is only for an hour or
two. The ground should never be al.
lowed to crust over, and no weeds
should be suffered to grow. We plant
NO pumpkins with our own corn. and
cultivate frequently as late as the first
week in August. "It is the last blow
that kills the cat," and it is the last
hoeing and cultivating that kills the
weeds and leaves clean corn stubble.
Cultivate shallow-just deep enough to
kill the weeds. If any thistles escape,
cut them with hoe.
Root crops, such as beets, mangels,
rutabagas, must be kept thoroughly
cultivated and hoed. Thin out the
plants in the rows to twelve or fifteen
inches apart. griculturist.
Wheat.
A communication was read in the
Farmers Club from MIR. W. G.. Pad
dock, of Italy Hill, N. Y. Mr.. Pad
dock in previous communica tion stated
that, In the past ten years, he had
grown thirty bushels of wheat to the
acre that in the fall of 1871 he had
harvested $50 bushels of wheat from
seventeen bushels of seed, "and one
acre of that was nearly winter killed
and hardly worth harvesting" and that
in another lot of two and three fourths
acres he had harvested "119 bushels,
and this by weight, not measure, in q
small one-half bushel." He was inter-
rogated concerning the kind of soil
upon which his wheat had been grown.
He replies in his letter that the soil was
loam and clay. The land was formerly
covered with heavy pine timber. Four
acres OF 1T were clover sod, and the re-
mainder barley stubble. 1t was plowed
once, and that was in the last week of
August, and the wheat, sown in the
first days of September, was put in with
a drill one hushe1 and thraa paoke Of
Treadwell wheat to the acre. No ferti-
Izer was used, except very few loads
OF barn-yard manure, which were put
in the poor places after the wheat was
sown. There was no extra labor exer-
cised in the Notwithstanding more
than good plowing and cultivation.
Stall for Horses.
1t is a common thing for horses to
get cast in their stalls in consequence |
of rolling. have young horse that
has bothered me a good deal in that |
way. L tried various plans to prevent
it to no purpose. My stalls are about
four feet wide, and the thought occur.
red to me that if he had only room
enough in the center to lie down, he |
could not roll to either side SO as 70
bring him on his back. Acting on this
thought, cut two boards IA inches
wide, 81 feet long, and nailed them to
the sides of the stall and floor midway
between his fore and hind legs, with |
only 20 inches space between the ends
for him to lie down in. This I find,
after trial of two months, surs cure,
but as soon as he gets into wider stall
he tries the old trick again.