Connecticut western news., 1880-07-21
FARM AND GARDEN.

require careful preparation of the soil to insure their growth, buckwheat not only prepares the soil for itself but for other crops, by pulverizing it if it is hard or tough. The quantity of seed per acre if sown broadcast is about one bushel, but if drilled in, from two to three pecks are ample. Although corn is not advisable to grow after buckwheat, analysis shows that it is not of that ex- hausting character which the crop has been charged with. It will do very well on ground that will produce few other crops.
 THE ORCHARD. is general re- luctance to give up the soil of an or chard entirely to the trees. While the orchard is young it is best to cultivate thoroughly, and hood crops, as potatoes, roots, etc., can be grown as 8 present pay for the trouble, but as the trees get older and shade the ground, nothing else but fruit should be expected from the orchard. It is g good practice to pasture hogs in the orchard in clover sown for the purpose, as it is one of the best methods of enriching the soil, and at the same time destroying insects.
 BEE BREAD.-It is believed by many bee-keepers that rye meal is the best possible substitute for bee bread, when the latter is not in full supply. The meal should be put in shallow boxes near the apiary, and a few pieces of comb near it will attract the attention of the bees to it. The food causes the swarms to be larger and earlier than any other.
 WANTS TO KNOW THE REASON.
 D. A. Baker, of Genesee county, N. Y., asks: Can any one tell me how it is with all our labor-saving machines that we don't get any leisure? When I was 8 boy we planted with hoe by hand, hood the corn three times, plowed the summer fallow three times, moved the grass with scythe, and raked it all by hand, cradled all the standing wheat, and cut the lodged wheat with sickle, etc. Then we had time to go fishing when we wanted to, could go berrying when the berries were ripe, always went to "general training" etc. Now Idon't go fishing once in ten years, we don't get berry, unless we buy them in fact, don't get any leisure. Can any far mer tell the reason?
 FEEDING LAND WITH CLOVER.
 There is no crop so valuable for the renovation of partly exhausted grain lands as clover. I say partly exhausted, for if lands are exhausted beyond de- gree of fertility, the clover plant cannot be grown. There is question that often arises in the minds of many far mers as to how they may best utilize the crop to increase fertility. One asks whether it is best for the land to blow in the first crop grown after seeding, or to lot it go over to second years growth. Having no regard for the use of land, there might be benefit to the soil by the rest of a second year, but the clover plant being biennial Cat least it is so classed and is largely so in habit, as but few plants in ordinary soils will sur vive the second season), it is evident that the first crop is best to blow in as a fertilizer and renovator. If it is the chief object of the farmer to enrich his land, and that by the growing of clover to turn in, the greatest good will be gained by blowing in the first crop when it is in full bloom and near maturi- ty; but if profit to the farm is the object, it is best to mow the first crop for hay, feed it on the farm and apply the ma- nure made to the farm. A second growth of clover plowed in, with the roots of the strong-growing plant, will afford nearly as much fertility to the soil as would the first, and the hay crop and manure gained.-E. ?. Root, Monroe O., ~. y.