The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-05-28
May on the Farm.

To the enterprising farmer every
month is busy month, but May is the
busiest of them all. 1t is seed time, and
future success depends upon the seeding
being done i'll proper time and manner.
1t is the early seed which catches the
early rains, and gets good start before
the droughts of summer appear. IN
many parts of New England the grasses
and English grains are already sown,
and wherever it has been too cold or
wet to SOW them, no time should now be
lost in getting them i'll, for our growing
season is short at the longest. In this
respect our English cousins have greatly
the advantage of lis, for they can SOW
their grains in March, and as their eli
mate is moist and cool the plants do not
shoot up slim and spindling as ours are
inclined to do, but stout and stocky, so
that the heads are large and heavy.
Scotchmen are inclined to laugh at our
light oats, and to think we SOW poor
seed, but find after few years trial
that Scotch seed will degenerate to the
American standard under the influence
of our short, hot summer. The only
mode of counteracting this is to SOW
early.
May is emphatically the blowing and
planting month. We prefer to plant
potatoes III April, if the ground Is dry
enough, as potatoes will stand quite a
frost when well covered, and the early
varieties, early planted, will mature be-
fore the bug can do them much damage.
Farmers should plant potatoes largely,
as they make better returns for labor
and fertilizers than any other hoed crop.
The average yield per acre by the state
census of 1875 was only los bushels-it
should be ut least 200-but even mt this
low average, the return was 81 more per
acre than that of corn, while the labor,
with proper management, is much less.
The Early Rose variety is still the most
popular in market, but farmers complain
that the yield is not up to former times.
If the seed is procured from Maine, or
the northern portions Of Vermont and
New Hampshire, and the land made
mellow and rich, we never have yet
failedof good crop of early rose. There
are other varieties which farmers will do
we'll to test Oh small scale, such as the
Early Vermont, the Burbank, the Beauty
of Hebron and the st. Patrick.
England farmers, and we trust will ever
continue to be. AS Whittier says
"But let the good old crop adorn
The hills our fathers trod;
Still let us for his golden corn,
Send up our thanks to God"
MAY is the month for planting this
"good old CROP" and farmers should re-
member that it grows luxuriantly, and
requires luxuriant feeding. The aver
age product per acre in Massachusetts
in 1875 was only 35s bushels. This
seems very small when we consider that
100 bushels are often produced, but this
is larger average than in most of the
states. We cannot produce corn SC
cheaply among those New England hills
as on the western prairie, but it is some
consolation to know that with skill and
labor we get as good return per acre
and can raise enough as farmers to make
us independent of prairie competition
The western supply will doubtless con
tinue to flow into our great markets, bu
every farmer of New England should en-
deavor to raise enough corn for his owl
consumption.
Corn fodder should be sown thi
month so as to supply the lack of graz
ing in the dry months. Fed out in Au
gust and September, corn fodder keep
up the flow of milk ut little expense, an
goes, further when dried and stored u
for winter. The curing of large stock
is a slow process, and if they can be 70
without the labor involved in curing
there is great gain. The raising of cor
fodder is likely to receive new impuls
from the French process OF storing il
while green, in silos, and feeding it on
in winter to all sorts of stock; horses an
sheep as well as COWS being very fond {
| it. The experiment made by Mr.. Bailey