Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-02-26
AGRICULTURE.

How TO GROW BROOM CoRN.-Broom
corn should be planted in the spring,
about the same time as Indian Corn, on
good ground that has been thoroughly
pulverized with the harrow. Mark out
your rows three and one-half or four
feet apart. Sprinkle the seed as evenly
as you can by the hand or what is bet
ter, use d common garden drill. This
will sow it just thick enough, Cover
bypassing over light one-horse harrow
going twice to the row If the ground is
hard or cloddy. After it is up about
two inches harrow with a two-horse
harrow, going twice to the row. Don't
be afraid of tearing it up, as the great
fault with most people is in planting
too thick. This kills the weeds and
gives the corn a start. After this it re-
quires the same cultivation as other
corn. WheE it begins TO shoot out in
head, go over and bend down all that is
fairly out, TO keep from getting crook
ed. This operation will have to be per-
formed several times. When the seed
is nearly ripe begin TO cut. First cut
the brush from two rows cut just above
the last Joint; take of the leaf, then cut
the stalks from two rows; lay them
crosswise, so as to make bed that will
keep of the ground; lay your brush on
this bed, which will hold the brush from
eight or ten rows; let it lie in the sun
two or three days, then tie it up in bum
dies and stack in round stacks, putting
ten or twelve in a stack; cover this
stack with stalks, tent fashion, making
- swh hn htr n a
pass through the bottom. In this man
ner il should remain two or three weeks
until thoroughly dry; then you may
haul to the barn and take off the seed.
This operation is best and quickest done
by using a common threshing machine.
Take of the top and have boy to hand
you the brush, taking as much as you
can hold in your hand at once. One
man and a boy can clean several hundred
pounds day in this way. There are
several varieties of broom corn, but the
evergreen is much the best, as it yields
more both in seed and brush than any
other, and is worth twice as much in
the market. From two to four quarts
of good seed will plant one acre, yield
ing on good ground seven or eight hun
dred pounds of brush and forty bushels
of seed, which is nearly equal to corn
for feeding purposes. Flat, loamy. or
river-bottom land, is the best for broom
corn: but any good corn land will do,
giving the preference TO corn stubble
or clover sod.
KEEPINGWINTER VEGETABLEs.-After
the farmer has raised good supply of
vegetables he often fails to realize the
full benefit of his labor from lack of
knowledge how to keep them. This Is
especially the case with squashes and
that class OF vegetables which require
TO be kept comparatively warm and dry.
Ii is quite.usual for him 10 put them in
a pile in the cellar, and then wonder
that they rot. Squashes pumpkins, and
all that class of vegetables require, first
an absence of light; second, dry tenn
perature, not exceeding fifty-nine or
sixty degrees; and third 10 be so placed
that one does not come in contact with
another. We have always had success
in keeping them well into spring, by
placing them in a cool, dry chamber
until freezing occurs, and then remov-
ing them TO a closet for safe keeping
over winter. Thus the Dudbard and
other hard shell varieties may be kept
until May and even June. For use until
February they will be kept tolerabIy
well in dry cellar, placed on shelves.
Boston marrow is the first to decay.
The turban, to our mind one of the
best of the winter varieties, especially
for baking-will often keep in the cellar
until March. Those only intended for
use later, need to be treated to the dry,
.la
at the latter part of winter an early
spring there is death of vegetable food
on the farm that makes such articles
especially valuable.
CoRN-CoBs.-Feeders differ in their
opinions about grinding cobs with the
meal for hogs; some attach great value
TO the method, while others reject it al
together. Analysis of the cOrn-cob
shows that there is six to ten per cent.
of matter which may be rendered, with
breaking up and boiling, capable of as
similation by the animal in question.
The general belief seems to be that
while there is not enough nutriment in
the cob to pay for the trouble of getting
il out, an occasional feeding of cob
meal is an advantage, especially in the
process, when certain amount
of inert matter is required by the animal.
This necessity induces hogs to eat coal,
clay and dirt when the instructive want
is not otherwise supplied.
IT is exceedingly poor economy to
allow young stock TO roam over fields
for the purpose of obtaining sustenance
after the grasses have been killed by
frosts. While there may be some bulk
to the trashy matter consumed, it con-
sumed, it contains comparatively little
and so animals which are in
good condition at the close of summer
may be reduced to comparative poverty,
by being, as they have been seen, kept
In the fields gnawing the ground, with
only such shelter as the fences afford,
till long after the ground is frozen hard
and considerably into winter.
An Ant Battle.