The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1878-07-17

Ing ana stopping Is III DVuBIeSs you arc
sitting in an easy chair, with book or
pencil in hand, or else taking observa1
tions along the way. And now we
come to a second advantage in having
such Il team, viz; If you see some,
thing goihg on, the pIrpOrt Of which
you do not know, you can
INQUIRE OF YOUR LBADhR
if YOU understand his language, and
have the matter explained.
Yesterday we passed men harvest.
ing wheat, and at one village wheat
threshing was going on (the new CROP.
All grain is cut with hooked knife
the blade of which is nhSut ten inches
long, and T"1cd to a semi-circle. me
gin GIN stands in rows and is held in the
left hand, the knife in the right hand
as it is cut it is laid in punches to dry.
1t is then carried to the threShing yard
and stacked, but is not bound in
sheaves. The grain is sowed in Aug
ust or September, and is harvested in
May and June. One variety-the
! earliest-is a short straw and long
bearded. Another and later kind has
longer straw and smooth heads. If
you know of any good farmer who
would like to experiment with this
wheat, l will send you a package of
the seed. Who knows but that a
good wheat might be produced thus
that would be too early for the rust to
damage?
Often the sane day the wheat Is cut
the ground is broken for rice. This is
done by flooding the field Tor patch as
Il Is called in kentucky, and blowing
in the Watar several inches deep, so
that a mud, much as if it were to be
made into brick, is thus made. After
soakigg the ground a few days the
water Is drained of, the ground ar
ranged in small burrows, and the rice
planted. The rice seed having been
sRwed in a prepared ground in April,
tia slips or plants stand as thick OH
the ground as
and look much like young timothy
grass. These are transplanted in rows
about ten by four inches. with gen.
orally two stalks in each hill. The
rice crop is harvested in like manner
as the wheat, in August and Septem-
Der, and the ground Immediately
broken for wheat. Or if cotton is TO
take the place of rice, about the first
to last of May-either before or after
the wheat is harvested-the cotton
seeds are planted. If the wheat is
not ripe when the time comes to plant
the cotton seed, they are planted in
the spaces between the wheat rows,
which are eight or ten inches apart,
affording room to plant cotton with a
hoe without disturbing the wheat. As
soon as the cotton is picked the ground
is put in wheat. ThSs there is con-
stantly growing crop on the ground,
and when the wheat is planted, with it
is also planted various vegetables
cabbage, radishes, turnips, etc., which
grow with the wheat, and are gathered
for winter and early spring use before
the wheat begins its spring growth;
so that practically, every foot Of
ground yields three crops every year.
Besides the above crops a vegetable
that looks much like turnip stalks,
called vegetable oil plant, is grown,
from the seeds of which a vegetable
oil is manufactured. This crop rotates
either with cotton or rice, requiring
winter growth as wheat. This oil is
the kerosene of China. 1t is used for
lamps and for cooking as lard.
PEANUTS ARE A LARGE CROP
also, and they rotate with wheat. l
saw two fields of oats, but both were
mixed with wheat. l was of the
opinion that it grew as cheat at home,
aud was not the desired crop. There
is a plant grown for fertilizing. 1t
looks something like clover and some
thing like flax. 1t grows stalk
twenty inches long, stands close on the
ground, and is cut when in bloom and
Immediately spread upon the field and
plowed under to rot. 1t Is said to
have great virtues as a fertilizer.
All the agricultural implements are
of the rudest and simplest sorts. The
plow Is a queer thing. The