The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-05-13
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FARM WORK FOR MAY.

anu SteduitSt Ill SOou weather anu mOSI
favorable to farm work of all the months
Of the year, but the seasons have
changed so much that in our region we
have hardly any Spring or Fall-it is
Winter or Summer. For some years
past May has been very uncertain and
unpropitious for farming purposes, there
fore, the farmer ought to be in readiness
to take advantage of each opportunity
that presents itself to get in his crops
and forward his operations
MANURE AND PLASTER.
II not done already, SOW plaster over
the grain and grass field and old pas
lures Haul out all the manure to be
had, and top-dress the grass with the
coarser. reserving the well-rotted for
narrowing in before crops are planted.
CORN
Corn must be planted as soon as the
ground is dry and warm, and after it
has been thoroughly brought, by cult
walton, into as fine filth as the land
usually is brought for planting tobacco.
Procure the best seed, and soak in cop
peras water or saltpetre-roll in tar
water and dry by rolling in plaster
We advise drill culture, single stalks Is
inches apart in drills 4 feet apart
Every week run over it with Thomas
Smoothing Harrow until it is tall
enough to thin; thin and hand weed
at the same time. Two or three work
ings with the iron shovel plows or rank
cultivators will be enough if the land
be as rich as it ought to be, and the
weather be favorable But keep it
stirred and the: earth loose, until it gets
waist high, never letting ten days pass
over without its being worked. Corn
delights in rich soil, well decomposed
turf, and is voracious feeder, demand
ing also inorganic, substances, such as
potash lime, sulphate of lime with
suiphuric acid These last can be
furnished in the shape of fertilizers so
compounded, or can be supplied at
home with an admixture of ashes, bone
dust and salt-say three bushels of
each and one bushe of lime or plaster.
BARLEY.
Sow barley as oats are sown, on rich,
loamy or light soil by the 18th of the
month.
POTATOES.
Plant the bulk of your fall potatoes
this month-the earlier the better-and
remember, or refer to, what we said
last month as to their cultivation and
the manures needed for them, as ascer-
tanned by careful scientific experiments.
ROOT CROPS.
After the ground has been well ma
nured, plowed very deep, get into the
finest order and heavily fertilize with
phosphate rich with heterogeneous
bone dust and potash, sow in drills
sugar beets, parsnips, carrots, mangolds,
all or either one-Drills for parsnips
and carrots 20 inches apart, and plants
thinned to to 6 inches apart. Seed
sown l inch deep Sugar beets and
mangolds in drills 30 inches part,
plants thinned to 10 inches apart. Best
to SOW all these seeds with drill on
the top of slight list or raised mound.
Soak these seeds in warm water "a
hours, then drain through sitter and
mix, with twice their bulk, plaster and
SCOT or ashes; rub and dry until the
seeds are separated, SO as to pass easily
through the drill. Any vacant places,
when they come up, can be filed when
thinning during moist SPELL Guilt
vate well-keep clean Of all grass and
and weeds. The day has passed when
it can be questioned that they are indis-
pensable to the stock grower and dairy
men, and it is settled that they yield
more food for the space occupied and
labor required than any vegetable
grown on farm for stock feeding
MILLET AND HUNGARIAN GRASS.
If scarcity of hay be anticipated,
we advise few acres be sown in millet
or Hungarian grass; the latter was at
one time thought to be indentical with
the former, but it is now admitted to be
distant variety of millet. Either sort
require three pecks of seed or sc pounds
of seed per acre, and fertile and
enriched soil We extract from Messrs.
f. Whiteman & Sons Grass Seeds
Catalogue, which contains much useful
and practical information, the following
about Hungarian grass:
This is an annual forage plant, that
terminates readily and withstands the
drought remarkably, remaining green
even when other vegetation is parched
up, and if its development is arrested
by dry weather the least rain will re-
store it to vigor 1t has numerous
succulent leaves, which furnish an
abundance of green fodder very much
relished by all kind of stock. 1t flour
ishes in somewhat light and dry soils,
though it attains it's greatest luxuriance
in soils of medium consistency and well
MANFRED. This grass is thought to
contain more nutriment than the COM
mon milet. 1t is a leafy plant, and
remains green until its seeds mature,
and is valuable for fodder, both green
and dry, growing and maturing in
about the same time as common millet.
CLOVER.
1t is our opinion that clover should
be cut as soon as the blossoms develop {:
in that stage it makes better hay and
saves the soil from exhaustion, besides,
it is not so apt to fall and lodge as
when it stands until ripe, therefore
easier to cut.
CLOVER SEED
The present enormous prices of clover
and other grass seeds admonish every
farmer of the propriety, economy, and
almost NECESSITY to save his own
clover and other grass seeds. This is
easily done if each farmer would fence
off small lot of clover after it has
been mown or pastured rather close,
and when the second crop comes into
seed, NOW it or gather the seed heads
with the clover seed gatherer. A clover