The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-05-26

| the farmer, than In treatment Of the
ground about his home. First OF all,
| il be received proper instructions In
| his younger days, there will be
grass PLOT about the house, and through this,
or alongside, walks and carriage-way, In
neither of which will grass or weeds be per-
| mitted to grow. / know that some farmers
will say that this Is all nonsense, and 30 Is
backing your boots and putting on stif
collar when you go to church on SUNDAY.
No one ever put on such thing as Sunday
clothes in hot weather for comfort, but IL
Is all for the looks. and that IL just
what folks clean up their walks and trim
the edges Of the grass for. little polish on
| pair OF boots makes q wonderful difference
in the appearance of the man who wears
them, Just as q little hoeing and trimming
of the carriage-way and walks about a houss
reflects beneficially upon all surrounding
objects. In addition 70 the looks, we'll
defined walk or carriage-road has wonder
mankind and animal kind that frequent
them.
RAISING ONIoNs-A writer in the Country
GentIemsn, who raises I'VE or six acres of
onions annually, In the vicinity of Roches-
ter, n. Y. describes his soil and his methods
| Of management. He says his onion land Is
q mnck swamp, and he never fails OF
i getting q good crop. The maggcs never
troubles him, even when the crop
on the neighboring upland is almost wholly
destroyed. His crop last year averaged 4S5
bushels to the acre of five acres. AS to vari-
ETY., he finds the Yellow Danvers the most
profitable, and the Early Round Red the next
best. His seed is so~n with drill at the
rate of four pounds to the acre, IL IL Is his own
raising. and he knows it is good; Other wise,
six pounds are used. II the weeds begin TO
show before the onions are up, he goes over
the worst places with steel garden rake.
His hand wedding is done by little girls. The
work between the rows is done by hand
cultivators, and one man and hye
girls will take care of five acres until
the onions are too large for the girls to
go among them. After that the work Is done
with hoes. For this purpose he finds the
push hoe the best. This he keeps going
until the crop is ready to harvest, which OPP
Grafton is performed by rakiDg with a COM
mon style wooden teeth hand rake-the
teeth however, are shorter and nearer
together than in those used in the
hay field. A man can easily rake out
an acre per day. They are left on the
| ground two or three weeks after raking, To
cure. when, IL the weather is good, they are
topped in the field, otherwise they are first
hauled to the barn and sheds, where the top
ping operation is performed. He ploughs his
land in the fall If possible, for the reason, as
he says, the onion will bottom better
where the land is compact than where it Is
Hight and porous. If he fails to get his
pioughing done in the fall, he simply Guilt
Yates in the spring instead of ploughing
For fertilizers he uses unleached wood
ashes and all the hog manure he can get.
DRILLING wHEAT.-A careful compilation
Of wide correspondence by the department
of agriculture leads to these conclusions:
1. Fifty-two per cent. of the winter wheat
and.thirty per cent. of the spring wheat, OIL
about forty per cent. Of the aggregate OF bott
kinds, represent the proportion seeded witt
a drill.
2 Nine-tenths of the testimony given
asserts the superiority OF the drill tor winter
wheat.
g. An average increase OF one-tenth in the
r yield is assured by the use of the drill.
, f. A large majority of observers declare
! that in most soils in which injury resulting
u from frost is liable to occur, drilling pre-
vents or reduces the loss.
s. The majority assert that in certain clay
a soils with rolling surfaces, some advantage
: accrues in surfaee-drainage by use o
the drill; while in some heavy
soils with flat surfaces the water freezing
in the drill furrow does positive injury
e 6. The broadseeder predominatesin spring
C wheat regions, because better adapted thar
: the drill to seeding in unplowed corr
fields, on rough surfaces and in weedy
n fields.
T. About one-sixth of the seed wheat (ol
900 bushels for the CROP might b'
8 saved by the exclusive use of tho drill.
81 8. The drill is used for seeding in connec
# ton with thorough culture, especially il
:. winter wheat growing; the broadcast seede
y for imperfect culture and rough surfaces
y and sowing by hand is the method adopted
l. for small patches and first efforts of i'm
= pecunious pioneers. The report state
: of Indiana the testimony is the same
Laporte alone says mo-" but add
: that the soil is sandy, and tina
Q wheat, either drilled or broadcast, es
!. capes winter injuries. In one county, Perry
. not wheat drill is found, but they are USE
: very generally throughout the state. 1t j
J. said in Franklin: "None but old fogies soy
A broadcast here, and they are scarce. n
r. fact in agriculture is better established thai
a that drilling grain is great improvement Of
\ broadcasting." The drill is credited in RIPPLE
a with an increase OF four or five bushels pc
acre; in Jasper. with five bushels on 10y
n land and two ON high pronnd