The Red Cloud chief., 1880-04-08

WAN De ulfAfu Win NtpttI -Sfa- IL
mix the seed properly. pu; down upona
floor half a bushel of orchard grass seed.
and scatter over that one quart Of clover
seed repeat until YOU get a stout pile,
say four or FIVE bushels. Then mix
thoroughly; spread out upon the floor,
and sprinkle water upon the pile, stir
ring all the time until quite wet then
mix in plaster or dry ashes, n even
bran, until sufficiently dry 10 separate
when thrown from the hand. Throw IT
in bulk till next morning, when il II
ready for sowing. Taken through this
process, IL can tie sown with a. much
regularity a. wheat, regardless 81 ordin-
ary winds. II il remains IN bulk more
than one night in warm weather, II viii
beat, and must be opened. Except for
meadows or standing pastures, orchard
grass is too expensive. For the or
binary shifts, il is better TO use clover
seed alone, as orchard grass does not do
lis best under two or three years, When,
IL the land is good, it will have made \
sod that viii resist the action Of the feet
If the stock in wet weaiher.-COr Rural
NeU Yorker.
SWEET PoTAro CULrURE.-As the
time for sprouting wee potatoes Is
near at hand, perhaps il may be Of in
rerest Ia some To know my method Of
growing them, having made a specially
Of their culture for nearly twenty years.
The time We usually put our POTATOES in
the hot-bed j. from the LIST Ia the Goth of
April, as the weather il not usually
warm enough to set out the plants be-
fore the 18th of May, and it usually
takes from four To six weeks after bed
ding the potatoes until the plants at
tain proper size TO transplant. Always
have your bed ready when you get your
potatoes, as they soon begin TO decay
and rot after being handled in the
spring. Put first about four inches of
dirt on the manure (Which should Toe
~sixteento eighteen inches dcep) then lay
on your potatoes, about q half inch
| apart; aud when this is done cover the
whole with three and one-balf or four
inches of light rich soil; then cover the
bed with four or five inches of straw.
well packed down. II your bed at any
time gets too cold, o n few hours
in the middle of the day. When the sun
! is shining warm and when it Is warm
enough, or from so to 90 by the Their
mometer, cover again, packing the
strIw close a. possible. If there should
be too much heat, the fork-handle can
be showed down through the bed and
the holes left open for the heat TO cs-
cape; and, when down To the proper
temperature, again filled up as before.
No watering will be necessary until the
plants begin tn come up, when they
should be watered freely, and covering
kept off as much as possible in order To
harden or tougher the plants. Cover
on cold days OF frosty nights. as they
are very tender. Use care in pulling
the plants from the bed, a the same po-
tatoes will send up a second crop of
plants, nearly as many as the first and
even a third crop will come on in time
for late planting. A bushel OF potatoes
of the proper size will produce from six
to ten thousand plants, owing 10 the va
riety and the treatment of the beds.
The bermuda and Strausburg will pro-
duce the most plants to the bushel of
any variety | raise. ! always plant in
ridges. first blowing my ground about
three inches deep. q used TO pillow
very deep; but have found that very
shallow blowing Is best for sweet pota-
toes.) then use the harrow and roller
until the soil is thoroughly pulverized,
then throw two burrows together with
an ordinary pillow, and my ground is
ready4or setting out the plants. We
generally set our plants in the evening,
say from three O'Clock till dark. Our
ridges are about three feet apart, and
we set our plants sixteen inches apart in
the ridges. In dry, hot weather set the
plants deep and pour on each plant
about half a pint of water, then draw
around it dirt enough to keep the wet
soil from baking and getting hard.
Never water but time and never wal,
for rain. II these directions are fol
lowed, plants will seldom die. When
the grass and weeds begin to grow on
the ridges, we 60 through them with a
common two-horse c~ultiva,or, which
will clean all Out except q few on the
top of the ridge, which are easily re.
moved with the hand-hoe. In abou:
two weeks we take q ne-horse mold
board pillow and throw the dirt away
from the plants, and in q few hour:
throw the dirt back again &c
the plants, which loosens up nj
the ground and kills nearly all tho
weeds. ETC., tina. may be started. What
is left can be removed, with a little
labor, with the hoe. This generally
finishes the work until digging time,
for the vines will keep the
weeds down after this / never
do any thing with the vines.
have tried experiments with them
such as cutting of the vines, keeping
them loosened up. winding them aboul
the root Of the plant. etc.; and find
they do full as well, If not better, to LEI
them run. as Nature has designed the,
should, their " way. The yield de
ponds altogether on the variety planted
and mode of eultivation-say from -
to 800 bushels per acre. The Yellow
Nansemond and Early Jersey, qualt,
good as any, are with me very poo
troopers. Yellow Pimento, qualit,
equal To the Nansemond or Jersey, yieit
iully double what either one of then
will yield. and I think is equal to AM
for keeping qualities. Mine are as mic
r ucW a. "ASu euCy NCic uue- 1du aat .
good for eating purposes As they wer,
then. / also grow the Red jersey o
Spanish, which, / think, ranks next Il
the Pimento, being very productive
and of excellent quality, and on yer
! rich, black soil viii do better thai
any other variety. / would reeommen,
> this next to the Pimento for general cul
> tivation, and It sells well where its quail
tiles are known. The old standAr'
, Bermuda is the earliest and very pro
ductive; but Of poor quality. Tn
Southern Queen is not quite so early .
Bermuda, very nice shape, yields vel
, looks fine, splendid keeper; but vi
! sell best where the qualities are leaz
known. Sweet potatoes VIII grow i
! any climate where Indian corn viii d
; well; and every farmer or person tina
cultivntes . garden should plant . fev
hundred plants and raise enough pots
toes for their own family and some Z
/ give away 10 their poor neighbon-A
D. Deyyvsgh, Champaign GosNty, III.
iisE. 7. Independent,