The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1878-07-25
AErseuIfur~s Notes.

AErtemttur3S Notes.
1t is stated on good authority that q
teaspoon of Cayenne pepper, mixed in q
quart of oil and rubbing the harness with
the oil, viii efectually protect it against
the gnawing of rats. It il also said that
an ounce OF aloes to one gallon of oil will
afford the same protection.
The Chinese, with whom agriculture is
held in higher estimate than with us
were the first to use night-soiL They
forbid its waste and furnish receptacles
TO receive it. They mix it with clay
and then make driedscakes of it, which
can be transported any distance or pre-
served for any length of time.
Experiments have lately been made i'm
Germany to determine the value of the
common nettle as textile fibre. The
weed having been treated the same way
as hemp, yielded a fibre as fine as silk
and as strong as hemp fibre. A consider
able area of ground is now planted with
the nettde In the Prussian province of
Nassau Popular Science Monthly.
Make the roads everywhere on the
farm before the ground is firmly settled,
as it makes the best job, and is not so APT
to wash away by heavy rains. When
left until hay msking then the ground ia
too hard to pick or plow, and what is
thrown into the road remains loose, and
draws heavy when we come TO haul in
hay and grain. But when it is made
early in the spring it settles firmly fast
by the time the haymaking and harvest.
ing comes in.
The following calculations are made
by Prof johnson: A foot in depth and
an acre of surface of sand will hold
l,l96, 300 pounds of water; prairie soil
will hold 1874 800 pounds, while peat
will hold 2.047, 300 pounds of water.
The average rainfall in New England
being forty inches annually, equal to
9,075 900 pounds per acre, it would, at
the ordinary rate of absorption, all be
held in in ~ feet in depth of the sand,
or 10 six feet in depth of prairie soil and
in Al feet In depth of peat.
Prot. Roberts stated that by means OF
the accurate balances belonging to the
University he had ascertained that bu-
shell of timothy contains 81 900, 900 seeds
1--WE omit all but the round numbers); a
peck to the acre gave forty-one to the
square foot. A bushel of clover seed
contains $4,000, 900 seeds, being nearly
four times as large as timothy seed, and
one peck to the acre il equal to eighty
seven seeds to the square foot, or one
quart is ten seeds to the square foot
Country Gentleman.
Many suggestions have been made
with the ebject of Fastening and pro,
noting termination. According to some
experiments, this object is accomplished
by the application OF moderately strong
solution of potash or soda to the seeds
Weak solutions of chlorine gas In water
have also been recommended. 1t is al
legged that eamphor has wonderful in
fuence in favoring the termination o.
seed, and that, unlike turpentine, which
has been employed for the same purpose
it is never, even when used in excess
! hurtful.
II. M, OF Montgomery county, N. Z.
writes: Oceans are neglected too much
by farmers find them very profitable
and cultivate them every year as regu
lar Drop. Last year, at the suggestion o
a friend, planted two acres OF six-acr'
corn field In beans, puttieg beans ant
corn in alternate hills, about two fee
apart in the rows, and rows three and |,
half feet apart. The balance of the fielt
was planted in corn, in hills three and |
half feet apart each way. ! used tn
small white bean, twenty quarts to tn
acre. From the two acres / haryestet
about forty bushels of beans, and tn
yield of corn was not FIVE bushels Less pc
acre than the balance of the field. Th
l bean crop Was much more profitable thai