The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-08-19
VARIOUS FARM NOTES.
SAVING CoRN-FoDDER.

SAVING CoRN-FoDDER.
Every farmer knows the value of
corn fodder, though many are very
wasteful of it. In large proportion of
cases, where no danger of frost is antic-
ipated, the stalks of corn with their
foliage remain on the hill till the ears
are plueked, when cattle are turned in
the field to eat the leaves and nubbins.
OF course, those leaves that have been
frozen and thawed, torn and scattered
by the wind, are of little value to stock.
A more excellent practice is observed
when there is fear from frost, that of
cutting up the stalks of corn and put
ting them into shocks. Many farmers
protect their corn-fodder in this way,
even if they have no fear of the frost
iniuring the ears.
In New England and some portions
of the middle states it is the general
practice to cut the stalks just above
where the ear is Joined, some time
before the corn is ripe. These stalks
are cured, bound in bundles, and housed
or stacked. It is held that corn ripens
better when the stalk and leaves are
| taken away, and that the fodder is of
much greater value. In the south
where the stalks are very large, too
large in fact, to save, and where hay is
scarce, it is very common to strip the
leaves from the stalks by hand, cure
them, and tie them in bundles for conven-
fence in handling. This work is usual
| ~ done by old people and children.
These dried leaves are relished by stock
of all kinds, and from the dainty to the
It'll bit of stock diet. Southern farmers
think it pays to preserve corn-fodder in
| this way.
UTILIZING BONES
It is only within a few years that
farmers have used bones In any form as
manure. The fact that they were of
great value was first shown by European
chemists. Since then bones have been
sought in every portion of the earth,
taken to those regions where agriculture
is more advanced, ground up or treated
with acids. In this country the bones
of buffaloes have been collected on all
the great prairies of the distant west,
! The English have secured the great
| plains of South America to procure
! bones, and have even rifed the tOmbs
of the ancient Egyptian for the same
| purpose. A large proportion of the
bones collected in this and other cities
| are sent to England to be used as
manure. Many are also used in the
east, where their worth is better ap-
preciated.
1t is very difficult to pulverize bones
| by any other than expensive machinery.
It is to be regretted that there is no
| simple process for reducing them to
very small pieces. Only thin bones or
| those that have been made brittle by
fire or exposure can be easily crushed.
There is economy in burying large
bones, especially skulls, in holes where
| grapes are to be planted. All bones
| mo hn h n
| suitable place, with wood ashes, made
slightly moist, or by putting them in
heap7 with fresh horse dung. After
being treated in this way for a few
| weeks they become quite soft, and may
be crushed by q heavy blow. There is
no better manure for grass, turnips,
beans, and pears.
MOwNG-AIACHINE DISTRACTIONS.
Every year in harvesting the grass
| crop the moving machine meets with
more or less distractions. Among them
may be mentioned stones, stumps,
knolls, tassocks of grass. Many acct.
| dents, both to the machine and the
| driver, happen from contact with these
| distractions, some of which have given
trouble for number of years, and whose
location is fora gotten at the time the ma
chine is brought into use. More ma
chimes are injured by obstruction than
by cutting grass. It is a serious thing
to injure a machine in the time of hay
harvest, not only on account of the ex
pense OF repairs, but on account of the
loss IN time.
The best time to remove these op-
strUctions is Just after the field is cleared
of grass. If the moving machine does
not find trouble in passing over them it
is likely that the horse rake will. If
these causes of obstruction can not be
readily seen after the field is cleared the
spots where they are should be marked
by stick. AS soon as haying is over
the distractions should be removed.
Stones should be hauled away bushes
and stumps be dug out, and knobs and
tassocks be leveled down. A day spent
in this way may be the means of saving
several days time next year, as well as
in subsequent years.
NURSERIES, OF WEEDS.
Farmers who tend their cultivated
land with good deal of care, and have
most of the remainder of their land in
grain or grass, are often astonished at
the way weeds multiply on their farms
They do not see where the seeds come
from that produce such abundant crops
every year. Some of them seem to have
the idea that the weeds come up whether
the seeds are sown or not. They seem
to forget that there are other places
where weeds may grow except on Guilt
waited grain fields; that their seeds are
endowed with remarkable vitality, and
that many of them are provided with
wings that they can navigate the air.
The fact of the matter is, nearly every
| farmer has several nurseries of weeds
on or about their places. Often there is
a nursery on each side of a grain, corn,
or potato field, just between it and the
! fence. The product of it strangles these.
and is distributed over the farm by the
wind and other agencies. Between the
outer fence and the road there is another
large and long nursery where the Yilest
sorts of weeds grow UnmOlested. II
farmers would only give attention to
these places, moving and burning the
weeds before they mature, they would
save a great amount of work the next
season, and raise larger and better
! crops.
STEEL DIRECT FROM IRON ORE.-M.