The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-03-06
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD
Farm Crops OF the Up,tes states.

governed entirely by the quantity pro-
duced and the consumption, the quantity
exported being too small in proportion
TO the enormous amount raised to exer-
else an influence on the price; therefore
Tia crop of 1878, which exceeded the
immense one of 1877-the largest ever
raised in the United States brought
the figures much lower than those of
last year. The lowest State averages,
according to the special report issued by
the agricultural department at Wash
ington, are in Iowa and Nebraska, both
OF which States increased their products
largely-too great for home consumption
and too remote from leading markets
bringing the price down to about one
half that of 1875. The States showing
the highest average price are the Gulf
States, from Georgia to Texas, where
the consumption fully equals the crop,
and where the prices are little less than
those of last season.
In the case of wheat, the price is
greatly Influenced by the European de-
mand. The average price of the in.
creased crop of 1877, stimulated by the
war in Europe, was 81. OS; but for the
year 1878, with an addition of upward of
oOtOOo ooV puohClS, tuo pIlCo uuu lulleu
to seventy. eight cents per bushel on
December 1st, 1878.
The great value of the cotton crop is
also founded on the demand for export
Statistics show that in 1873 we had
regained the position held prior to 1861,
and that four.6fths Of the cotton used
and manufactured in Great Britain come
from the United States. The proper
tion of the total crop exported to foreign
parts was 3,340,0 600 bales, out of
crop of 4. $50, 900 bales during the year
ending September l, 1878. Basing the
calculation on the prices returned by the
producer, the value of the crop for 1873
is given at 1894 700, 600, while the num-
ber of bales ID $4,000 the average for
the whole country being about 81 cents
per pound.
The price of tobacco is low this year,
the average crop being 5.6 cents per
pound ON December 1. This price is
mainly due to the result of an overstock
of poor tobacco last year. The quality
now on hand is generally better and
heavier, making yield per acre more
than that of the former season, except
ing in Kentucky, where it fell off slightly.
The total crop of 1873 is estimated at
393, ,000,0 pounds (worth S22, 200, ,00O
against 490,0O1OOO pounds the year
before.
The price of potatoes has not advanced
yet to the relative proportion that price
bears to production. With crop almost
identical with that of 1876 the price is
much lower per bushel; while the crop
is some 46, 900, 900 bushels less than last
year the total value does not equal that
of the excessive yield of 1877; the
product for 1873 being 124, ,O27, 900
bushels, at 5S.8 cents per bushel-the
total value being $72, 900, ,000.-Ne,O
York World.
Treating Unproductive Land.
On many farms there are patches of
land that are so unproductive that it
does not pay to plant them with any
kind of cultivated crop. They may pro-
duce some grass, but scarcely enough
to compensate the cost of cutting it, In
many cases the land does not earn
enough to keep the fences around it in
repair. Sometimes these spots are un-
productive on account of being covered
with stones, but in larger number of
cases the surface soil has been washed
away, leaving little or nothing but hard
pan, or clay or gravel. Land that is sit
uated on side hills is liable to be badly
washed as soon as the turf over it IS
broken. If it has been planted with
tobacco or corn for a number of years it
is the more likely to have the surface
soil washed away.
Land of this description can only be
made productive by "heroic treatment"
1t requires the formation of new soil.
To this end it must be broken up to as
great depth as can be reached by
subsoil plow. In England, France and
some of the Eastern states, dynamite
has been resorted to as means of
breaking up the clay or pan that is too
hard to be easily pulverized with plow.
Blasting enables the frost to carry on its
work of disintegration. 1t also enables
water and air to circulate among the
broken masses of earth. Brush fires
render good service in making this sort
of land fertile. The addition of lime is
recommended, as it acts to produce de-
composition. Hard clay that has been
broken is mechanically benefited by the
addition of sand, peat, chip. manure, or
even saw dust and shavings. OF course
the ordinary fertilizers will be required
to insure crop.
The first crops should be turned un-
der. Rye, millet and buckwheat are all
suitable for this purpose. 1t is practi-
cal to raise and turn under two crops a
year. The first crop to raise with a view
to gain should be red clover. the roots of
which penetrate to long distance. Land
too rocky to be plowed should ordinari-
ly be set out with fruit or timber trees.
The labor of preparing spot of land of
sufficient size for tree is not great, and
only small number of tree are required
for on acre. Trees may also be planted
to good advantage on unproductive land
that is not stony by breaking up and
subduing the soil in the places where
they are to stand. A little manure goes
long way when applied to trees plant
ed twenty or thirty feet apart. Many OF
the best orchards in New England were
planted on land too rocky to be plowed
and too unproductive to produce crop
of grain. Chicago Times.
Heath Hints.
WASH FOR THE REMOVAL OF FREcKLEs.
Barley water, made thick, two f1Lid
ounces; distilled water of bean flowers,
two fluid ounces; spirits of wine, two
fluid ounces. The skin is to be washed
frequently with this preparation.
To CURE A FELoN.-Take out por-
tion of the inside of lemon, and thrust
the finger into it. Or take the skin OF
the inside of fresh egg, bind it on with
the moisture of the white of the egg next
to the finger, and it will draw the small
globule that causes the sore to the sur