The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-04-17
j.. NJ. f. r..

1UIAED lItSDAA>bhI. AtolSlSh
o. erver reports an interview with a
Granville county farmer who raises no
special crop, but means business. The
Observer says: After tea we proceeded
to interview the Squire on his mode of
farming. We asked what was his
spec atty or market crop. lie rel lied,
1 have no speciality, sir. | sell from
this farm every article OF production
from an egg to a horse. To-day,
| said he. Il sold in town a beef weighing
| over six hundred pounds, and | sell a
number of beeves every year. | have
no. bought a horse in twenty-five years,
always keepfrom six to ten on the farm,
and sell one or two every year OF my own
raising at good prices. | sell bacon,
pork, -four, wheat, oats, corn, mutton
and lambs every year, and actually The
said with IA hearty laugh the old wo-
man. here, lately has been selling
chickens and eggs in addition to her
usual sales of butter, sweet and Irish
potatoes, cabbage and turnips.
a PAYING CROP.-Joseph B. Guth-
rie. ESD. informs us that onfye-eighths
of an acre he made last season lO5 gal
Ions of sorghum, which he is selling at
30 cents per gallon, and it is well worth
the price. if it is at all like the jug full
he kindly sent rs. Is not this more
profitable than raising cotton? Mr..
Guthrie has an excellent sorghum mill |
and evapOratOr, by which he can make
30 gallons of the syrup in one day, and
as he grinds the cane for his neighbors, |
Of which he receives one-thlTd as toll.
he is making a paying business of it.
He says that the growing OF the sorg-
hum cane does not exhaust the land, as
is generally thought.-Chatham Record.
FERTILIZERs.-There is nothing bet
ter than stable manure. but not enough
can be had. Muck is good if we get
the right kind Of tibrous and not too
much decomposed. It may be profta-
bly, composted with stable manure, six
or seven loads to one of the latter, with
ashes and with salt. The coarse grass
that grows on mnck swamps, if piled up
with it. helps decomposition. Salt is
recommended as a good fertilizer for all
kinds of fruit trees. 1t helps to de
compose plant food. Ashes are good,
and leached ashes, 300 bushels per
acre. are excellent ON sandy soils helping
texture, and furnishing
needed manurial elements.
Roof CROPS.-The use of roots es-
of Mangels and Swedes, as food
for cattle, particularly for milk and but
ter stock, is becoming more appreciated
by farmers generally. Mangels, sugar
beetS, carrots or turnips are excellent
food for milking cows, and under good
enormous crops amounting
to seventy or eighty tons per acre
ire produced. The best varieties of
Mangels produce the largest amount of
nutriment per acre of all root crops. and
ire worthy the attention of all farmers.
We advise the planting of this crop.
They may be raised upon good mellow
'oil. highly encircled, by sowing them
n rows. In field culture the rows or
ldges should be far enough apart to
convenient cultivation-about 30 I
inches, and the plants thinned out from
@ to II inches. t
PLANTING AND MATURING CoRN-i |
t Is best to plant on the mellow. fresh i
'rned soil before it dries. 1t is also
e t to put the manure in the soil lust
efore or at planting time. A rule 8
d"pted by Mr.. Hardaway, a successful f