Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1874-03-13
agricultural.

who resides near Philadelphia and has a
milk trade tells us that for the past four
years he has cut oats for hay and has found
SO much good to result from the practice,
that he Is thinking of making it complete
substitute for hay for regular COW feed, as
far as other circums4 4ances will allow. He
cuts the oats just while the grain is form
Ing and while the whole plant is yet green
and takes rather more pains in the driving,
as the oat is rather more likely to mould
than the ordinary grass. He claims that
he can get Il heavier crop ofat least as good
from the same space of ground in a shorter
I time in this way than he can from an ordi-
dairy bayfield,.
! This may be so, yet there seems to be
some objections. In this part of the coun-
/ try, at least, if March be wet, or the season
late, oats cannot be got in Till the middle of
April. and it is one of those things which
requires TO be in very early in order to do
certainly well. Again. the oat is more
fastidious in regard to soil than grass is.
1t often happens that land which seems
favorable to good crop of oats 80 far as
the grain is concerned, makes very little
straw ; and field of oats not much over a
foot high would not be very profitable as a
forage crop" Then again animal labor
must be spent on an Oat crop, while on a
good stand of timothy, the same sowing
will do always for two, and sometimes for
three years. This saving of labor alone
seems to us to be very strong item which
ought not to be overlooked
Yet it seems quite likely that this Oat hay
idea might very often be taken advantage
of to good purpose. and so as the corre-
spondeuts often mOdestly say, we offer it
for whatever it is worth Germanto,rn
Telegraph.
DRYING OFF COws.-A Vermont far
mer says that at the period of drying off
cows he has found, particularly with
such cows as are in the highest condition.
that clOtted milk is very apt to co lect in
one or perhaps all the quarters of the bag,
after milking has been discontinued, and
sometimes even much later, after have
supposed the flow Of milk to be entirely ar
rested and the bag quite dry. AS this Sc
cretiOn goes on, unless the clotted matter
is withdrawn, the teat and udder become
more and disended, inflammation ensues
and putrefactinn of the contents sets in 1
make no question but that neglect of this
matter is the cause of permanent mischief
to the udder, and particularly Of that con-
tracted condition of the muscles which re-
gulate the passage Of the milk from the
bag into the teat, a condition discovered
not unfrequently, and with surprise as well
as regret when cows come into milk in the
spring, and which ever after renders the
milking of such cows very irksOme"
. PEANUT CULTURE. - Peanuts require
. very similar cultivation to beans The
ground requires to be well plowed and har-
: rOwed, and either thrown up into ridges
or furrOwed in:o check rows. The drills
may be "a to p inches apart. and the seed
may be dropped Is inches apart in the
rows. Two nuts should be dropped in
each place. These must be carefully shell.
ed by hand. without breaking the skin.
The cultivation consists in blowing as they
! grow, and keeping them free from weeds
When they begin to blossom cultivation
must be discontinued, and wedding be done
by hand. The plants then strike into the
soil to seed, and the soil must previously
be kept loose and mellow to facilitate thi.
process. When ripe the sides of the row,
are split with the plow. and the nuts pull
ed up by hand. and left to dry upon the
ground.-A South .JerSeyman.
WORK FOR FRUIT TREEs.-The follow
ing is wash used by William Saunders
: of the government gardens at Washington
Put half bushel of lime and four pound
of powdered sulphur in a tight barrel
Stacking the lime with hot water, th
mouth of the barrel being covered with
cloth; this is reduced to the consistency
| ordinary whitewasE, and at the time of ar
: plication, half an ounce of carbOlic acid
added to each gallon of liquid. Mr.. Saur
b. ders says: Il generally apply it in th
(
pearance, but am convinced that it woul
be more effective if applied later but the
it is difficult to do SO when the tree Is in f
liaSe." Mr.. Saunders applies the wast
not only to the stem of the tree, but, t
some extent, to the main branches.
How TO DESTROY NOxIOUs INSECTS
4 small black flea, in great swarms, ea
: the leaves of cabbage plants after the
come up from seeds sOwn in the ope
ground, and also early cabbage plants aft,
: being set out in the open ground from ho
beds. \ slight dusting of fresh slackt
: lime over the plants in the morning. viii
l wet with dew will drive them off or
, them. Dust the plants one morning, al
again the second morning after that, thu
the Job is finished. The ''iea'' is mo
fond of pepper cress" than cabbages,
that if the cress is sown thinly along wi
the cabbage seed it will save the cabbage
A greenish mealy louise in vast numbe
. attack cabbaGes when nearly full grow
, Two dustings of fresh lime will kill them
\ black grub. which lodges in the groun
! eats through the stems of young cabbag
after being transplanted, causing the hea'
to drop off. Whenever that is observe,
search around the plants cut off and fiji
the grub and kill it, 1t is only a quart
of an inch under the surface. After it ca
off one plant it gets tO another, so thaty,
must search around the neighboring PAN
if not found where it has been devastatir
They are always in pairs, so that aft
finding one, search for its mate. 1t ms
be several plants from the other.
The wire worm lodges in the grOund,al
is destructive to the seeds of Lima n
Pole beans and Indian corn. Plant tw
as many seeds as you want plants. VIII
they begin to push through the GrOun
draw the soil from the seeds gently,
see ;hat there be nOwOrms in them. 1ft
worms are there pick them out with
or needle and destroy them.