Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1878-05-15
AGRICULTURAL NOTES.


ASHES FOR SOIL.
Ashes are among the most eeonomi-
cal manures, as they are produced by
every household. Not a pound of ashes
should be wasted, but all shonld be
saved and applied to the land. Where
they can be had at reasonable rates
they should be purchased for manure
They can be drilled into the soil with
roots and grains, or sown broadcast on
meadows or pastures, or placed in the
muck heap. Potatoes, turnips and all
roots, clover, peas, beans, grain and
grass are great exhausters OF the salts,
aud they are consequently much ben.
eftted by the use of ashes. In con-
nection with bonedust they are used
With decided advantage for the above
crops. From twenty TO thirty bush
els per acre should be used upon light
soils; for rich land or ebay give a
heavy dressing-say fifty bushels per
acre. Do not forget that repeated
dressings of ashes, limo or gypsum,
without a corresponding addition. of
barnyard or vegetable manure will
exhaust tillage of their carbonaccous
and organic matters. This is not the
case with meadow land, for this very
obvious reason: The whole surface of
the soil is covered with -egetable
agents, employed in drawing the car
bon from the air and soil and storing
it up in stubble and roots. Thus the
carbon is constantly increasing in well
managed pastures, and, for time, in
meadows. The ashes Of bituminous
and anthracite coal are inferior TO
those from vegetables and wood, but
still they are valuable.
BUSHELS IN A HEAP OF GRAIN.
To prevent too much handling 1t IS
well to know how to measure grain in
piles:
First rule. Throw up the piles into
complete cones as high as the grain
will permit. Measure accurately the
slant height from base to apex, and
multiply this length by itself Meas
ure the perpendicular height of the
cone and multiply this length by itself.
Subtract one Of these sums from the
other and multiply this remainder by
the height Of the cone. From this
amount take one-sixth of itself, and
the remainder will be the number Of
bushels in the heap.
Second rule Throw up the grain
into as complete cone as possible,
having the base as nearly circle as
practicable. Then multiply the area
Of the base by the height OF the conc
and take one third the Product This
will give the number of cubic feet.
From this deduct one-ffth of itself,
and the remainder is the number OF
bushels.
The reasons of this rule are plain
and simple. The base is circle, and
its area is found by multiplying the
circumference by onc.fouth the diam
eter. The product resulting from mul.
tiplying this area by the height of the
cone would give the conten's of a cyl.
inder; but conc is onc.third of a cyl /
inder having the same base and the
same attitude, hence We take one
third OF this product TO find the cubic
feet in cone.
From this amount we deduct one.
fifth of itself, because q bushel is near
ly oRe-ffth larger than cubic foot
Let us illustrate Suppose you had
conc of shelled oats in your barn ton
feet in diameter at the base. The cir.
cumference will be 31.50 feet, because
this is about the relative length Of the
two limos, the diameter being taken as
one, the circumference will measure
3.146. Now multiply 3li feet by "a
q the diameter) and wc have 7Si as
the number OF square feet in the base
of the pile of oats whose diameter is
ten feet. Now suppose the cone (piIc
OF oats) TO be fourieet and half high,
] Of this is II feet. Multiply 7sa by |
II and we have 1881 cubic feet in the
pile. Deduct one-fiith Of this number,
or 23s from ITSELF and we have 94l |
bushels of shelled oats in tho pile, If
ten feet in diameter at the base, four
and n half feet high, and thrown up
to point.
If ftho pile is against the side of the |
house IL will contain half that number
Of bushels. If in corner ii will con-
one-fourth.
This system of measurement will be |
sufficiently accurate TO estimate crop
so as to let the farmer know about |
how much he has made. But IL he is
buying or selling, he should do both |
always by weight, as some honest men
may have very large hall bushcl meas
urcs.
FARMERS GARDENS
Many farmers mistakenly suppose
that the products Of the garden are
luxuries which they cannot afford TO |
enjoy, or to supply to their families.
They do not seem to be aware that
fruits and vegetables are more profita-
bic in feeding their households than
anything else they can raise. They
save the purchase Of many things at
the grocers. They lessen the necessity |
of so heavy supply OF costly meat. |
They diminish the consumption Of the
expensive material, butter. With some,
the whole catalogue Of garden vegeta.
blcs consists Of potatoes and cabbngcs. |
Sometimes they add few turnips, and
more rarely parsnips for only few
weeks, for, not taking proper care OF |