The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-08-30
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
0nts for HnY.

lne season thus far has been little
cold for Indian corn, but it could hardly
have been better for onts. This grain
seems to delight in cold weather, and
succeeds better at the north than in
southern attitudes. The crop is pecu.
harly subjected to rust, often blasting
lust as the grain begins to fill, especially
II the weather is extremely hot and show
cry at that time. In southern New Eng
Land, where hay sells nearly twice as
nigh as i'll the more northern portions,
oats, as grain crop, have become more
and more unpopular from year to year,
till at the present time probably more
than half that are sown are intended
more for fodder than for the grain. Some
farmers let them stand I'LL the grain will
pay for throshing, but cut while the
straw is yet green. Others cut when i'll
bloom, and thus get the hay when it is
IN its best condition for feeding. Oats
have usually been grown on old
ground where corn or potatoes have been
cultivated one OF more seasons. A few
farmers make practice of manur.
ing oats the same spring they are sown,
but usually this crop is compelled to
feed upon manure already in the soil,
such as has been applied to previous
crops and not wholly consumed In un-
favorable seasons, when the weather is
hot and damp, oats are thought to do
best under such treatment; but in sea-
son like the present they do equally well
upon newly plowed land, and with fair
dressing of stable manure.
For the past two years we have made
special efforts toward raising upon the
farm all the fodder to be used by the
stock kept, and in order to do this have
experimental in various ways. Among
other experiments, we have tried grow
ing oats for fodder upon old moving
fields, which were producing too little
hay for profit. The land has been
plowed in the autumn, after the hay
crop was secured. Then it is narrowed
line and smooth, during the leisure be-
tween harvesting and other work. Before
winter the soil may be made to look al
most like an old field, providing the
plowing and narrowing is thoroughly
done. Manure of some kind is applied
before the ground freezes, and if con-
venient is cultivated lightly into the
soil.
Early in spring, as soon as the soil is
dry enough to work well, it is cultivated
thoroughly and sowed to oats, ut the
rate OF from four to five bushels per
acre. Ii the grain is small, four bushels
may be enough, but otherwise five would
be better. This will give straw nearly
us fine as ordinary stout timothy. It is
easily cured, and, when cut early and
well cured, makes hay that is better than
timothy and red top, which are allowed
10 stand till dead ripe. We have had
nearly five acres of such oats this season,
most OF which has been grown upon
greensward, and the result has been
quite equal to our highest anticipations,
Two fields were manured with Brighton
fertilizers, applied in the fall, after the
ground froze, and left exposed during
the winter, and with no perceptible loss
from such exposure, even though upon
land somewhat subject to washing.
More labor is required for growing such
crops than for cutting the hay upon old
run-out fields, but from our experience
we should claim that such labor paws.
1t would seem that land producing
Two or three crops Of grain in season,
each being fairly manured and the stub
Die plowed in, must be gaining in fer
tlllty. 1t certainly improves in mechani-
cal condition, being light and exceeding
~ mellow. We doubt if oats, as a fod.
DER crop, are yet appreciated according
to their real merits.-NeW England
Farmer.
Household Hints.
SCRoFULA.-A tea made of ripe, dried
whortleberries, and drank in place of
water, is sure and speedy cure for
scrofulous difficulties, however bad
For REMOVING PAINT FROM WooD.- -
Mix one pound of washing soda and two
pounds of unslacked lime, and if the
paint IS very strong on the wood, add
half pound Of potash. Mix these in
gradients well together, and dilute with
water.
PLATE RAGs.-Nothing is better for
the purpose than the tops of old cotton
stockings, and these should be boiled in
a mixture of new milk and hartshorn
powder for about five minutes, rinsing
them as soon as they are taken out for
moment in cold water, and dry them be-
fore the fire. With these rags rub the
plate briskly as soon as it has been well
washed and dried after daily use. A
most beautiful, deep polish will be pro-
duced, and the plate will require nothing
more than merely to be busted with a |
leather or dry, soft cloth before it is |
again put upon the table.
GREEN TOMATO PICKLES. peck
green tomatoes, ten white onions, six
green peppers, one small box of mus
tard, two quarts of vinegar, one and one
half pints of salt, one-half pound white
mustard seed, One-quarter pound whole |
cloves, one tablespoonful black pepper;
cut onions and tomatoes in thin slices.
md chop peppers thin; make layers of
hem in large stone pot, and sprinkle a
little salt on each layer. Let them stand
;wenty-four hours, and then drain off
he brine. Put tomatoes, onions and
peppers in preserving kettle, sprinkling
IN each layer the mustard-seed, spice,
md pepper, and SO ON to fill the kettle
The box OF mustard should be thoroughly
mixed in the vinegar, and thrown into the
iettle after everything else is in. Stew
lowly over a moderate fire for three
quarters of an hour.
How TO PRESERVE IoE.-The follow
ng method of preserving it is highly
ecommended, and is certainly worth
rying: Cut piece of flannel about
line inches square, and secure it by
igature round the mouth of an ordi-
lary tumbler, so as to leave cup p-shaped
depression of flannel within the tumble
o about half its depth. In the flannel cup
o constructed pieces of ice may be pre-
erved many hours, all the longer if
'iece of flannel from four to five inches
hn 1nn1a l., L. /