The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-10-19

DER, ana rOIter, II wanted, Will complete
the Job. The seed, from six to eight lbs.
an acre, can be sown by hand or with
any of the broadcast machines, covered
with the chain harrows, or simply rolled
in. 1t should not be buried more than
half an inch deep. If this is finished by
the first week in May the rape will be
| feedable by the Goth June, unless the
weather is very unfavorable. Successive
sowings should be made every fortnight
until the middle of August, and if the
| earliest piece is not very strong when
fed off it may be resown and the sheer
run over it again.
AS to manures, have found the fol
lowing recipe answer well: Take fol-
each acre eight bushels of bone meal
mix them with three times their bulk OF
ashes or earth keep the heap damp, and
turn itover twice at intervals of ten days
answers best as manure on heavy land
as the stem and leaf is what we want
nitrogen is the thing. In Kent and
Hampshire (England) the farmers burn
the grassy borders of the fields and
spread the ashes for this crop. 1t is the
first crop grown on the thin chalk soils
of Sussex, the whole surface being pared
with the breast-plough an inch deep
and the ashes never fail to produce album
dant food.
The number of sheep that can be kept
on an acre of rape, of fair but not extra
ordinary quality, may be set down as
ten. If additional food be given, as cake
or corn, more may be added, but alone
1t will fatten ten sheep, or feed seven
ewes with their lambs. AS fast as the
land is cleared the plough should fol-
low the fold covering in the manure and
the stumps, and leaving the soil to con-
sohdate In preparation for the ensuing
crop of grain.
The expense of this crop, you see,
cannot be very great; there is hardly
any manual labor required; the seed
ought not to cost more than Is cents a
pound, and part of the bones will be left
IN the ground for the subsequent crops
For the last sowing should be inclined
to take IA pounds of Hungarian grass
and pounds of rape; the grass may be
touched with the frost, but the sheep
wall eat 1t and the rape together, and
the dryness of the one will correct the
succulence of the other though sheep
never scour on rape even in frosty
weather
We have now got our land MANFRED
and consolidated at small cost. it seems
to me; the next question is, what grain
crop IS to be sown? On all the breaks
fed Oft before the 10th September, fall
wheat will be the most remunerative;
after that spring grain; for choice, bar
ley. How shall we put in our wheat?
We left the land lying ploughed after
the fold. 1t seems a pity to disturb the
closely packed stale furrow. If the soil
is level and free from stones we NAV
after thorough narrowing, put the drill
to work, if we can bury the seed three
inches deep. Six pecks an acre of well
picked seed, with the light grains
skinned off in the picking tub, and the
rest well dried with lime should snffice
But II we have no drill, or if the land is
too stony or too rough to insure the de-
posting of the seed at the regular depth
OF three inches, we must try anothe,
plan. Plough in the seed thus: Harrow
the old burrows enough to obliterate
them, but no more; sow the grain broad
cast and turn it in with a ocular furrow
OF 8 inches wide by not more than a.
inches deep; it will come up fast enough.
There is nothing gained by too rich
looking plant in autumn; the subsequent
tillering after the spring cultivation will
produce as many ears as the soil can
bring to perfection, and the yield will
be all the better for the wheat not hay
ing prematurely exhausted itself.
And next, leave it alone till spring.
The wheat will come up between the
burrows, the crests of which, if they lie
at the proper angle of As degrees, will
keep off the cold winds till the snow
falls, and when it does come, will be a
retaining trough for it. Harrow and
roller must not touch it; they would
make mealy surface, which would be-
come hard crust after rain.
In spring, if you look at your wheat.
you will see that as fast as the snow
melts the crests of the burrows moulder
down, and of their own proper motion
| earth up the stems. Now comes the
cultivation time. With set of medium,
harrows, in perfectly dry time, take
two strokes across the rows. Follow
this, after an interval of a week, with
the heaviest roller obtainable, and i'm
mediately afterwards pass set of 6oht
harrows over the piece to prevent the
land lying with smooth surface, which.