The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-10-27
Farm Notes.

SALB ASA PREsERyATIvE OF TJMBER.-FOur-
teen years ago a Mr.. Sterling of Monroe,
Mich, placed two gate-pOsts of white oak in
front of his residence. When they were set
he bored into the top of each with an inch
and-a-half augur a hole three inches deep,
filled it with common salt, tightly plugged
it and coppered the posts. Having occasion
recently to change the location of the posts
he found them as sound from top to bottom
as the day they were planted.
FACTS ABOUT Internationally in ripen-
ing its seed requires the same ingredients as
those OF INDEPENDENTLY phosPhoric acid
abundance of seed it produces. that fact
alone will explain why it is considered more
exhausting to the soil than most any other
crop. Indeed, it is held by many that when
crop OF timothy is allowed to perfect its
seed before cutting, the soil is exhausted of
its fertility in about the same ratio that it is
repleniShed by crop of clover. If this be
So it affords conclusive reason why it
should be cut before the seed has had time
to form.
WHEAT-GRowING EXPERIMENTS. - Forty
years ago Messrs. Laws and Gilbert, two of
the most scientific farmers of England, COM
menced a series of experiments in growing
wheat They selected several plots OF ground
OF equal size, on some OF which they tried
diffcront fertilizers, While on Others, the
land having been already brought up to the
highest state of fertility, no fertilizers were
applied but on all of them wheat was made
to follow wheat season after season,
for forty years. In that time there has been
decrease in the yield of just ten bushels
per acre, or one-fourth Of bushel per acre a
year. Taking this as a standard case, farm
ers who follow wheat with wheat without
giving the land the needed rest, or feeding
it with manure or green crops turned under,
may look for decrease, less. of course. some
years than Others, but an average of one
fourth of bushel per acre year. This is a
practical outcome from these celebrated
whole world may thank Messrs. Laws and
| Gilbert.
BONE DUsr AND WooD AsHKs.-A farmer
of Indiana gives the following as the result
of an experiment made with bone dust and
| wood ashes on a portion of his wheat: ION
one plot ofland," says the writer, II applied
/ 600 pounds OF dry, unleached ashes to the
acre, sowed it in wheat, and the result was
| only six bushels TO the acre. Adjoining this
tract drilled in 200 paunds of bone dust to
the acre on three acres, and got twenty
bushels to the acre, being an increase of
| fourteen bushels per acre over the
| tract sown with wood ashes" The fol-
lowing year / stubbled that part up upon
| which | had sown the GOO pounds of ashes to
the acre, and put it in wheat again, usi- G
200 pounds of bone dust to the acre, and the
result was forty bushels of wheat to the acre
being double that produced from the bone
alone. This experiment satisfied me that
neither ashes nor bone alone would give as
/ satisfactory results if the two were COM
bined-the one with ashes alone yielding
but six bushels. the one with bone alone
twenty bushels, bnt the acre on which the
two were combined yielding forty bushels
thus showing what experiments on small
scale will do for the farm"