The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-08-10
Farm and Home.
What Farmers Should Know.

Jne same as wheat, but IL Tor SOIL
ing, one-half more or twice as much !;
barley, about two or two and one
half bushels; oats, two to three
bushels, but a less quantity on rich
soil does quite as well; corn, for
fodder, only, two bushels per acre;
amber cane, four to six quarts !;
bnckwheat one-half to one bushel.
The quantity of grass seed varies
greatly with different farmers, and
it may vary and still more with the
condition of the soil, rich, finely
pulveriZed, fresh surface giving
more growth than five times the
amount Of seed on a hard crust.
The following are about the aver
age quantities employed: Timothy
six to eight quarts, if alone; half as
much if with clover; red clover.
eight quarts; less if with timothy or
orchard grass; redtOp, one bushel
or more; orchard grass, two bushels:
Kentucky blue grass, one to one and
one-half bushels, white clover or al
sike clover, six to eight pounds.
Nearly every farmer will differ more
or less from these quantities, some
using more and others less.
There are quite a number of
grasses. known as fescue, some OF
which make excellent pasture
grasses, and one or two of which
produce tolerably good hay. The
small fescue grass fiourished on
dry and sterile soils, and is found
in New Egland, the Middle States
and as far West as Illinois and Wis
@consin. 1t is a pasture grass.
Sheep fescue is a good pasture
grass and is desirable feed for graz
ing animals. The hard fescue, by
some regarded as a variety of the
sheep fescue, grows from one to two
feet in height. The meadow fescue
and the tall fescue or sometimes
grow in mowings mixed with or
chard grass, June grass and rye
grass. These two grasses grow
best in moist soil, and make tolera-
bly, good hay if cut at the time of
Towering. If allowed to stand till
they mature their seed the hay is
too hard to be good. The quaint
ty of fescue grass raised upon an
acre will depend, of course, upon
the amount of fertilizing matter in
the soil and also upon the charac-
ter of the soil. In moist, well-cul-
tivated and well-manured soils they
will yield heavy crop. But as hay
fescue grass is inferior to orchard,
June and tall meadow oat grass,
and can bear little comparison in
value with timothy or redtop. In fact
however valuable as pasture grasses,
we should not recommend them for
a hay crop, unless ON very moist
meadows where other grasses
would not succeed.
RedtOp may be sown either alone
in the fall or spring, or with timo-
thy and clover, in which latter case
the clover runs out after two or
three years and the redtop takes its
place. Reptop is advised as mix
5ure only with other grasses on land
capable of producing better grasses.
1t serves well alone on moist land
when old grass has run out or be
come messy. On such ground it
fills the soil with its numerous
roots, and improves it in various
ways. If cut early, reptop has a
thick bottom, and makes a heavy
crop of second hand hay. On such
soils from twelve to twenty pounds
Of seed per acre are sOwn, accord
ing as it is cleaned from the chaff.
When this grass enters as a mix
ture with other varieties for perma-
nent pasture, three pounds Of clio
yer seed per acre will be found suf-
ticient; when sown with timothy and
clover, half bushel of redtop seed
has been employed to advantage
This grass Is known in the Middle
and southern states by the name of
herd grass.
AS sweet corn is supposed to
contain a larger percentage of su-
gar than other varieties, and as the
sugar is engaged in the silo to acid,
it is believed by some that it is of
less value for curing in silos than
other kinds of corn. 1t seems to be
the general opinion at the present
time that the very largest variety
of corn that can be grown are the
best suited for silO filling. The
large varieties will produce much
heavier crops, and if cured in the
silo it is believed that their woody
character will not make them less
but more so, inasmuch as
the stalks will stand up firm and
keep clean, which cannot be the
case with small and softer varieties
which blow down with every light
wind, and perhaps lie and rot
upon the ground. 1t is still an
open question with many whether
the common Southern or Blount's
prolific will yield the greater crop.
Many are planting the former, and
thus make n considerable saving
in the cost of the seed.
DR.. Bailey says a great amount of
labor is lost by sowing fodder corn
too thick, as well as large amount
of seed wasted. Many SOW three
bushels to the acre some two bush
els, and n few SOW but one. l SOW
and one one-half bushels, and it
is always too thick. The man who
has raised the largest crop the past
season sowed but twelve quarts of
seed to the acre. Make the drills
at least four feet apart and SOW one
half bushel of ensilage seed corn to
the acre; then, when it is about a
foot high, thin it to six and eight
inches between stolks. When corn
is planted too thick, those plants
which do not attain their full
growth arenothing more than weeds.
As dirt is only matter out of place,
so 4 weed is only a plant out of
place. No plant is so far out Of
place as when it is crowded 10y other
plants of the same kind so that its
growth is impaired; it then be
comes j mere weed and only serves
to injure the growth Of the proper
number of plants in the hill or drill.
Children who have little mon