The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1877-08-16
From the American Agriculturist.
Fer the Farmer--Soms Hints About August
Work

10 the time of sowing wheat than
there is now. The majority of farm
era favor early sowing, and if the seed
Is well in the ground late in August,
the chances are more favorable than if
il j. sown later. Where wheat follows
oats, the oat stubble should be plowed
Immediately after the crop is taken
from the field. If the weather is dry,
the greater the necessity for repeated
blowing and rolling, to prevent the
soil from baking.
A mellow soil, web rolled and pack
ed, is what the seed require to germi-
nate in. If the soil is cloddy, the
yonng roots are exposed to the action
Of air in the open spaces, and dried
and i.illed. This is the secret of many
failures of what were at first promis-
ing seeding. Repeated borrowings
aud rollings are needed to produce the
proper condition of the soil. No mat
ter if the surface is somewhat rough,
il tbe soil beneath is mellow and fine.
Indeed, we would rather have the top
little rough.
Drilling is by far the best way of
seeding. II costs fifty cents an acre if
the drill is hired, and less if it is pur-
chased. Five pecks of seed per acre,
or six at the most, is enough, so that
az least half bushel of seed per acre
is saved, aud here is the cost returned
at once. But the difference in the har-
vest Is many times its cost in favor of
the drill. Every winter we hear and
read on every hand, 'drill sown wheal
looks well. but broadcast wheat is in
jured and looks badly" There Is
much in placing the seed exactly right
in the ground. If the plant has no
depth of root, it is weak, and cannot
stand the rigors Of winter or spring
and il will not tiller out as will that
more deeply sown.
IL hardly need be said that if the
seei is not good, no good crop can be
hoped for. The necessity for select
ing seed with care has been a maxim
of agriculture for thousands of years
The oldest books tell of il. And vet
the success Of the persons who make
business of doing this is now made
''nine days wonder" Unfortunate
ly it is forgotten in nino days, and we
go on sowing the seed just as it comes
from the sheaf. 1t is a good plan to
SOW, at least small strip in the field,
with tie best seed to be procured, up
ground prepared in the best way, and
cut this by itself at harvest, and thrash
ii at once for seed. But if this pays,
why not grow the whole crop in the
same way? A good farmer should
have no grain that he cannot use for
seed none that is poor, light, shrunk
en-, or mixed with cookie or garlic.
Il is short-sighted business to leave
the last broods to breed and increase,
because the potatoes are past harm.
This Is seeding for crop next year,
which will perpetuate the vermin and
make work for another season. If the
late arrivals are destroyed, there will
oe very few another year. If thor
0ueh work were made of this pest for
ole season by every one who grows
potatoes, a very quick end could be
made of the potatoe beetle.
Early potatoes should be harvested
as soon as ripe. Else, if wet weather
occurs, the tubers may sprout and be
injured. Rue's potato digger is an eff
fcctiye implement, designed expressly
for this work, and where the crop is
large one, it can hardly be dispensed
with. if thc-crop is to be gathered and
put away as quickly as it should be. |
There is no other crop that follow po-
ialoes so easily as fall wheat, and no
ground so easily prepared for it as po-
tato ground. Potatoes may be pitted
and lightly covered with the vines, and |
some boards over them, and remain
until frost.
The White Norfolk Globe, or the
Cow Horn Turnip, can be sown upon |
all out stubble, if wheat is not to fol- |
low the oats. If the ground is fairly |
clean, the seed may be sown broad |
cast at the rate of three pounds to the |
acre. But il is better TO SOW with one |
OF the small hand-drills, in rows twen- |
ty-seyen TO thirty inches apart, when
3 pound and half to two pounds viii |
be sufficient. One hundred TO two
hundred pounds of guano, or a fertil-
izer prepared expressly for turnips
should be sown Immediately after the |
seed.
When grain is threshed il is safe |
from the majority of its many enemies.
Ii l. also ready to sell at a moments |
notice. when the price suits, or money
is wanted. Perhaps no further rea-
sons than these need be given, why it
lie well to thresh as early as possible. |
One of the most convenient things
about farm is threshing machine
and horse power, or for larger farms
one of the many good and cheap steam
engines, which viii be found described
in the advertising columns. 1t is a
great convenience TO be able to thresh
just when one wants to, and without
the fuss and bother of hired ma
chi1e.
Mix cows will need some fresh fod-
der as soon as the pastures have be-
come dry and dard. These who have
provided some fodder crop, will keep
up the supply of milk; those who
have not will now regret their neglect
There are some farmers who make
mere ihan others, some make but lit
tie. Tut the best might often do lit
lie better, and at this season this truth
comes homes.
We prefer, in cultivating raspberries
ana blackberries, to cut away the old
canes as soon as the fruit is off. Sc
lect the new shoots that are to fruit
next year, and keep them tied up, de-
stroying all the others. When these
reach four feet high in raspberries, and
six feet in blackberries. stop them by
cutting or pinching of the tip; some
prefer them lower than this by a foot.
This stopping will cause branching,
and the branches should not be allow
ed to grow over fifteen CIR eighteen
inches long.
The neasanfrv of Sweden and Nor