Connecticut western news., 1881-10-12
FARM AND GARDEN.

ASHES AS A EERT1L1ZER. R.-Onl6aCu0U wood ashes contain all the constituents of plant food that the ordinary or worn- out soil needs, except nitrogen. By their chemical action, they render much of the inert nitrogen in soils available, and in that way may be said to furnish nitrogen. This is true of lime, and on this power of making nitrogen available, the greatest value of lime, when applied as @ fertilizer, depends. Ashes also have good mechanical effect upon the soil, especially heavy clay soils, which are made lighter and more porous, so that air and water circulate more freely. Ashes do not suffer waste by being washed out, to the extent that is true of the more soluble and concentrated fer tilizers sold in the markets their effects are therefore more lasting.
 RooT-C -CELLARs.-The leading features of good root-cellar, says the Agri- cultasrist, are: proof against frost, neatness, dryness, ventilation, and cheapness. If a hillside is conveniently near, it helps much to secure these de- sired ends. An excavation should be first made, in size depending upon the required capacity of the cellar, and in this erect a stout frame of timbers- posts with plank, or log pen, and on which place stout roof. The earth that has been excavated, is thrown over the structure, until the whole is covered to the depth of two feet. A door should be made in the exposed end of the cellar, through which the roots may be put in and taken out. The smaller the door, and still be convenient, the better, as it allows of less exposure to the frost. A quantity of straw pressed in the door, way, will aid greatly in keeping out the frost. Every farmer, with many roots to be stored, should have root-cellar, either by itself, or in the lower part of the barn. It is not we'll to store large quantity of roots in the cellar of the house, as the gases rising from them during winter may cause sickness to the inmates.
 THE S1no.-Mr. Mills, the apostle of ensilage, or the preservation of crops in a green state for fodder, the possibilities of which he is illustrating at Arrabeck farm, Pompton,. N. J.. lays down the following conditions as essential to suc- cess: Air must be perfectly excluded from the pit or silo by uniform and continuous pressure of about 25O pounds to the square foot ; the crop should have lowered before being cut, and the knives should be sharp enough not to tear the saccharine sacks. Last year MT. Mills fed for seven months 14O animals, COWS and horses, from ten acres of corn fodder. The past summer he fed for six weeks 100 cattle, mostly milch COWS, from five acres of oats sown in the spring, and he believes that during the coming winter and until his corn crop for 1882 is ready he can, in spite of an inferior yield occasioned by the drouth, keep 150 cattle on the corn fodder from twenty-five acres. MT. Mills. states that one ton of grass pre- served green in silo possesses as great feeding capacity as twenty tons of the best hay. These are startling figures, but if anyone feels disposed to dispute them MT. Mills will gladly furnish the proof, and triumphantly point tc his sleek and happy COWS, whose rict milk brings one cent quart more thar the usual price.
 MIXED FEEDs.-One of the strong points in favor of the much praised en silage, is that animals eat it with { relish. No food, however rich it ma, be in food clements, will prove profit able if the farm stock cannot be made tt take to it kindly. It is on this accoun that @ mixing of feed has been so sue cessful. Sameness pals upon the appe tite-a change of diet encourages ant sharpens it. A few roots cut, or better pulped, and given to the animals, vii make them eat the corn-fodder or GU
 straw with all the greater relish. Tr. and make little change in diet of th' animals, even though it be only once 1 week. with some roots, potatoes, apples etc., it will pay. The more an anima eats, and healthfully digests, the mor profitable it is.-A A0ricuLtatrist.