The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-07-30
FACTS FROM ALL SOURCES,
RAKTNG uAY

will soon be on, I will give you the
method of harvesting which noticed in
some parts of the country last year,
which l consider great saving of labor.
The hay, when cured, is raked into
wlndrows, then a rope or chain, about
thirty feet long, is laid with the centre
on the end of the windrow; the horses
are placed one on each side and hitched
one to each end of the rope the checks
are let out long, so that they will not
trample over the hay. A boy can drive
the horses up the windrow until they
get sufficient quantity, or as much as
the horses can draw. Then, if it is
stacked in the field, it is taken direct to
the stack, or barn, if near by. One
man and boy this way will draw as
much as four men will stack or NOV
away. If the distance requires the hay
to be loaded on a wagon, three heaps
or, in case of threatening rain, with
little topping up, will stand great deal
of rain without much injury. Hay put
together this way will pitch easier than
out of the windrow. The boy can ride
also on the hay while drawing 1t to-
gether.
A correspondent of the New England
Homestead does not believe in the the
DRY of growing potatoes on poor, infer
tile soil to prevent rot. He gives his
last years experience as follows, with
half bushel Breese's Prolific potatoes
81 cut them in pieces of one and two
eyes each, prepared my land "a light
chestnut loan, inclining to sand), by
blowing a liberal dressing of compost
manure and then putting a shovel of
well-rotted compost, consisting of horse,
COW and pig manure mixed, in the hill.
The sets were planted two feet apart in
rows three feet apart, were kept free
from weeds, and hoed four times. From
that half bushel of seed, I took up
eleven barrels of potatoes for the table
and two bushels of small potatoes for
the pigs. There were no signs of rot or
any other defect except a superabund-
ance of very large tubers, too large for
baking purposes. Better potatoes /
have not had on my table at any time
during the last ten years. The crop in
1872, on the same ground, was potatoes.
FIom a five years experience L am
forced to the conviction that the potato
should be as well fed and nursed as
Deets or oabbages. When L see fields
of potatoes crowded with Roman worm
wood, pigweed, cockleburrs, and other
foul stuff, can't help feeling for them
as one would for family of small chill
dren with a dissipated father and
feeble, sickly mother-they need out
side help and inside comforts.
ORIGIN OF FOWLS AND VEGETABLES.
To Asia, and probably India, where
wild chickens yet abound uuder the
designation of jungle fowl, the English
owe their domestic poultry. The dis
tribution of this useful bird is strangely
irregular. Throughout the negro king
doms of west Africa, for instance, fowls
are plentiful, while in more civilized
Abyssinia and Arabia they are compare
lively scarce. Persia ahounds in poul-
| try, while in Turkey few domestic birds,
except the sacred pigeons, are to be
seen. To Asia, too, belong the fallow
deer and gorgeous peacock, while to
| her, also, we owe all our vegetables,
with the brilliant exception of the
potato. It is impossible to conceive the
poverty, so far as vegetables were con-
celned, of the England that passed
under the sway of Norman and Angevine
kings. Some hardy varieties of the
cabbage did exist, and were supple
mented by long.forgotten herbs, which
| have since been deemed only suitable
to the rabbit hutch. The peas and
beans brought in by returning cru
saders were presently eked out by car
rots; but down to the rain of Elizabeth
the garden yielded little tribute to the
kitchen in Britain.
! CHRISTOPHER LAW IN RUSSIA.
A correspondent of The Pacific Rural
Press writes "every land owner is
obliged sendin court yearly 100 grass
hoppers dead Ones) to each acre of land
owned by him say, if John Smith owns
ten acres of farming land, he is to bring
on the LIST of August in the court LOCO
dead hOppers, and for every short Ole
ne is fined five cents. The poor classes
are engaged in catching the hoppers, be,
ginning in May, and sill them on the
! market where they average about two
cents apiece, thus giving an opportunity
for farmers to buy them in case they
fail to fulfill their taxes on them. Nc
farmer is allowed to catch hoppers not
on his own land. The method of catch.
ing them is very easy. They boil water
on the field, and supply themselves with
tin cans made especially for the purpose
and fill them with boiling water, and
then they hunt along the place for the
nests ; they pour the water in the hole
which kills them, and after they picE
them out with hook. This keeps the
hoppers decreasing yearly, uUtil some
years they have to appeal to the govern
ment to reduce the percentage, as there
are none to be found. This would be
the best and cheapest remedy for the
farmers of this country to adopt"
THE BEST LATE KEEPING POTATO.
The editor of the Rural New-Yorkel
writes Among the hundred or more
varieties of potato which I have tested
during the past ten years, none exec
the ''SnOw-Flake" as late keeper IL
fact, do not know as there is better
sort for any season. But I am reminded
of its excellent keeping qualities at this
time, as all the more common and Older
varieties, and especially the Early Rose
and similar welIknown sorts, soor
wlther and become worthless for use il
spring, or as soon as warm weather sett
IN but my Snow Flakes are sound and
firm, and of such excellent quality thai
we are IN no haste for new potatoes, az
we would be were it not for this very
promising new sort. If it continues tC
be as good in the future as my one
years experience with it leads me tc
hope, then shall place it very high OF
the list of excellent sorts.
THE MARKET GARDENS OF PARIS.
The Garden says that ''the grounds
cultivated by the market gardeners i
and around Paris amounts to over g, OOC
acres. It is stated that 800, 900 glazed
frames and more than 1900, 600 cloches
are employed in the production of vege,
tables alone. The annual amount ex.
pended for manure is said to be e72. 400
and the total receipts from the sale OF
vegetables, and other productions OF
the market gardens, to exceed half q
million sterling-a sum probably much
under the mark" The cloches referred
to are merely the bell glasses and glazed
frames used to protect plants in the
field from the frost. Could we not use
them with profit to a greater extent
than we do in this country.
HORSES FOR FARM WORK.
writer in the Mark Lane Express
gives the following as the desirale points
for consideration in the breeding of