Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-07-10
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

experience In growing roots lor slooh nao
not been very extensive, but as far as 1T
goes it is strongly in favor of raising car
rots. l prefer them to sugar beets,
rutabagas, or the common turnips, be.
cause my cattle like them a great deal
better they are more nutritious, are
easier to cut when wanted for feed, and
are salable for other purposes if they are
not wanted for cattle. They are excel
lcent for horses, making them look nice
and feel well. For mich cows they are
free from the objections which lie against
turnips, give a good appetite, promote
health and digestion, increase the guam
tity of milk, and improve the appearance
and also the quality of the butter. To
cut sugar beets or rutabagas by hand
power is pretty hard work, but with car
rots there is no trouble in this respect.
REMEDY FOR SMUT IN WHEAT.-A
farmer in Ireland whose wheat was much
affected by smut, succeeded in remedy
ing this evil, by adopting a simple pre-
ventive which he learned had been prac-
tised successfully in Flanders for many
years. The remedy is steep composed of
sixty pounds of quick lime and thirty
pounds of salt made into solution sutii-
cient to cover six hundred pounds of
wheat.
In order to test this remedy, he pro-
cured the worst smutted wheat he could
find, and after sleeping for different
periods, he sowed one hundred and twelve
pounds divided into four parts on equal
portions ofland.
No. l, merely stepped SO as to cleanse
it.
No. 2, stepped in solution twelve hours.
No. 8, stepped twenty-four hours.
No. 4, stepped twenty-eight hours.
At reaping time No. l was dreadful
black. No. 2 had a good deal of black in
it. No. 8, not at all. Nos Band 4 swelled
also, but not so much. Seeing that No.
8, which was stepped for twenty-four
hours, succeeded as well as No. 4, he had
practised sleeping for twenty-four hours,
and has continued to do so with perfect
success for thirty-two years. He has not
had the slightest appearance of smut in
his wheat since he commenced using this
remedy. After taking the wheat out of
the steep he lets it lie in heap to drain.
In broken weather he has kept itafter be-
ing STEPPED for ten days, turning il every
day, without any bad result.
LINE FOR WHARF.-The Des Moines
Register says: The fact cannot be dis
guised that our wheat crops are deteri-
Grating in quality and quantity per acre,
and it is easily understood what the
causes are. The annual fires, for ages
consuming the crops Of grass, had sup
piled the earth with large quantity OF
potash, of which wheat partakes greedily.
And without this principle prevails to a
considerable degree in the earth, the
wheat will be defective-shrivel, scab,
blight, musty, etc, and be deficient in
quantity, in proportion to which the soil
has been depleted. The first crop of
wheat on our soil is plump and perfect,
but each year gradually degenerates.
This is sufficient evidence to the hus-
bandman that his land needs something
which it has not. Some of the farmers
of Iowa have ready access to lime-kilns,
especially the air-slacked lime about
where it is burned. Experiments should
be made with care. Sow strip of land
at the rate of twenty bushels to the acre
with Stacked lime, and then leave strip,
and ascertain the difference. Then for
another strip mix two bushels of salt
with twenty bushels of lime, and SOW af
ter letting it lay awhile. In this combi-
nation there will be chemical change
take place, producing, it is said, a fertili-
ger valuable for wheat. These are simple
experiments, and may be valuable.
Salt has frequently been profitably
used on farms. Near the sea coast, where
the air is saturated with the salt sea
breezes, it is not needed, and in many
cases is seriously injurious. But in En-
gland, surrounded by salt water, farmers
scatter salt over their farms at the rate of
two bushels per acre, and experience
favorable results in different ways 1t
destroys the worms which would be
injurious, and aids in reducing vegetable
matter in the soil into food for plants.
This experiment might also be tried on
our farms.
Several farmers in the State, we under
stand, are this year experimenting with
gypsum. We hope they will not only re-
port the result, but the mode of applying,
the amount per acre, and the crop to which
it is applied, and the kind and quality of
the soil. This is an article which cannot
be successfully used by the ignorant and
the careless. And the gypsum must be
pure. Science and skill must direct
the farmer, if he would succeed in most
things.
MORE CLovER.-Very few men are
aware of the amount of soil washed away
every year in this section of the country.
If we keep on with this kind of farming
many farmers will now do as they do in
Eastern States, and put guano, ashes,
plaster, superphosphates or lime in every
hill of corn. Farmers! you should stop
some of this waste; don't think ofleaving
nothing but the yellow clay for future
generations.
But there is a remedy for all the waste;
SOW more clover. Keep the ground filled
with roots or vegetable matter then it
ant get away so easy. Plow ups clover
d for corn or wheat and be sure to have
clover in the rotation of the crops.
Sow in February or in March and bear
in mind next summer you can NOW big
crop ofhay from that piece of ground and
remember that it is getting richer.
Make calculations to seed another part
of the next farm next year, and in short
time you can have a two-year-old clover
sod to plant corn on then look out for fine
corn, big ears and big yield, grown with
halfthe labor that you nowgrow on those
WORKOUT fields that have been in constant
use for corn and wheat for twenty-five or
thirty years. Ohio is the best country for
clover l ever saw The farmers east of
this State don't pretend to get along with
out sowing clover, and to make the clover
grow they use plasterand lime. Here there
is no use of this at present; and in adj
dition to the rich yield of fine clover or
hay, the clover seed is profitable to take
care of. We hope to see Western farmers
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