The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1877-09-12
RURAL TOPICS.

ht hAL hObhsS
Written Tor the HERALD by a farmer, gardener
and fruit grower Of great experience.
s%UBsoILING.
Subsoiling land means to loosen
the subsoil, but not to turn 1t up. Al
ter turning q furrow as deep as the
r to be planted or sown requires,
then another team follows with the
subsoil pillow, and loosens the lower
soil six to eight inches deep, and thus
leaves il: and SO the two teams con
tinue to plow until the field is finish
ed. What advantage is ~subsoiling /!
is the question that 1 hear asked.
Twenty-Five years ago the agricnltu-
raj theorists contended that farmers
| would have to subsoil for every crop,
Dr. soon be behind the times; but now
We hear but little on the subject. The
TACT is that it doesn't pay to subsoll
land, and that settles the question, as
few farmers can afford to employ
two teams on the same land, and
pillow in q day only as much as one
team can do. There is, however,
some advantage in some seasons by
~subsoiling. one Of which is that crops
will withstand a severe drouth bet
ter on SUBSIDIZED land, than On that
which is not SUBSIDIZED. This is
about all that can be said in favor Of
the system, and the second year the
laud is about as hard and compact
below as it was before the subsoil
plow was used. In brief j don't sd-
wise any farmer to subsoil bis land
in any case. Here is what a man
saws who has tried it: There is this
about subsoiling, which / think is
not usually understood, that, like sur
face blowing it should be done for
every crop. The loosening of the
ground below, where it had laid IN
stirred perhaps for ages. it may be
thought, viii benefit it for years.
Such is not my experience and obser.
walton. Made mellow, i. will settle
and pack, except under certain con-
diiions, and become as hard, if not
harder, 10 q year or two, as before.
One of the exceptions is where ma
nure is mixed with it, particularly
vegetable or barnyard azure The
roots of clover, or the plants that
penetrate and Gil the soil well, will
meet this requirement grass and
grains only to a slight extent |
claim that in all cases surface plow-
ing a be SO done, deep or shallow,
as the crop may require, and the
land admit to advantage, to produce
all the crop that the land is suscepti-
BILE Of growing yet if one can afford
the expense, it would do well to try
subsciling a little as an experiment
Subsoil plows are made for subsoil-
ing only I; they turf no burrows.
SELECTING SEED WHEAT.
A correspondent of the Country
Gentleman says Last June, QS76) !
picked pounds of the best cen
tire heads Of my wheat, and drilled il
eleven inches apart in rows, at the
rate of only sorty pounds to the acre.
1t grew most luxuriantly and was en
ti1s,y too thick for large heads. II St
tanned the height of over six feet and
much OF it fell down. April 10Th it
commenced heading. was reaped
June ii and to-day (June 23d) it
was thresbed, according to the report
of a committee, over si%xty-seven bush
els per acre" This shows q remar-
kable increase in the crop. as twelve
to fifteen bushels is The average yield
Of wheat There is no doubt that
selecting the best seed of all crops
Till increase the yield in some de-
gree but we cannot expect any per-
manent increase Of crops. For in
stance, the sixty-seven bushels Of.
wheat TO the acre, as above stated,
will not continue to yieli s%iKty-seven
bushels to the acre. nor half that
quantity.
TIGHT BARNS FOR HAY.
A few writers are advocating ma
king barns &c nesr alright as posi-
BILE for preserving hay. One Of them
says: The general opinion among
farmers is. that barns with air spa
ces between the boarding are better
adapted to cur and preserve hay
than harms with very tight boarding
and q tight bottom. But this opin-
ion is founded upon the supposed
fact that free access of cir will assist
in carrying of surplus moisture, and
prevent heating and fermentation,
which supposed fact is not . fact OF
all, when applied to body Of un-
cured hay. When this uncured grass
is spread in thin layers 10 the field
and exposed 70 the cir. the moisture
is carried ofso rapidly as not to permit
any heating or fermentation, but
when placed 10 . thick body 10 q
NOW, the heat. with sccess OF air,
causes rapid fermentstioa. The oxy-
gen Of the cir feeds the fermentation,
and thus becomes the active cause Of
its destruction. This principle is IA
miliar 10 the good housewife who
preserves her fruit 10 an air.tight jar.
We tried sn experiment some years
ago, which applied this principle to
keeping green clover. We took g
large linseed oil cask, unhesded one
end, filed 1t with green clover just in
blossom, containing all its sap. RAM
med 10 solid, replaced the head, drove
the hoops, and then stopped all air
spaces with white lead and paint
On opening, ten months after, the
clover blossoms were found almost as
bright as when put in. Modern
built barns are generally weather
boarded quite tight, but with no re-