Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-05-24
FARM TALK.
The Trost and the Fruit.

Every spring as regularly as Ihe re-
curing seasons come around we nave
the fruit killed. Late frosts we
always have. Sometimes later in the
season than at other times, and yet we
have trees loaded with fruit nearly
every wear. Now and then we have a
killing frost that comes altogether out
of season and catches nature In a pc
culiarly exhilerant and tender mood,
and by chilling embrace willis down
her fruits and flowers.
If we do not have fruit this season 1t
will not be on account of frOsts that we
have had, but on account of frosts that
are to come, as on examination we find
apples, peaches, cherries, plums, etc:
Cold, backward weather long continued
is as hard on fruit as a frost, although
the thermometer may never be below
freezing point. 1t grows weak and
feeble, and drops off later in the s
Farmers too Conservative.
Col. Piolett, in the course of a discus
sion before the Elmira, \. Y. Farmers
Club, said:
ga great trouble with farmers as a
class, is that they are SO opiniOnated.
They will not abandon an old way, I'M
til driven out by utter failure. They are
slow to change ideas. They do not set
tie upon principles. My friend across
the hall speaks of raising potatoes
upon the same piece of land
for twenty years in sue
cession, then asks us why the crop fails.
Why do we not recognize the principle
that no land, no matter how fertile, can
raise any cultivated crop without eX-
.... tln n1nnnanfS of that prnn
1t is so with potatoes, with corn, with
wheat, with all grain and some OF the
grasses.
Rotate Your Crops.
"Who ever saw a second crop of corn
as good as the first? l never did. L
have endeavored with careful treatment
to raise a second crop on lane apparent
" fertile enough to sustain 1t, but lInever
got more than three-fourths as much as
the preceding crop. So II we raise
wheat year after year, we take out oil n
soil elements that enter into its compo-
sition, we impoverish the soil so TAR as
wheat production is concerned, but IL
may vet be good for raising some other
crop that draws upon other elements.
Give the Soil n Chance.
This much ought to be settled, every
farmer ought to recognize it and get
this one fact established in the mind,
thus making an important argument
favoring rotation. This is what we
want in our farming, especially in
our grain farming. 1t involves changes
which give the various crops in the
course, opportunity todraw upon all the
constituents of growth required for the
forming of each. In my own practice,
/ set it down as q fixed rule, that no
grain crop shall succeed itself. My usual
course is, corn, oats, wheat and Glove
Timothy / haved used to my very great
disadvantage. 1t is an eXhausting crop.
/ can not commend it as grass worthy
of cultivation"
In Regard 10 Glover.
Ihaye noticed for several years that
the dry time sure to occur i'll June or
early in July, is generally very hurtful
to clover unless it has obtained a very
| strong root, reaching down far enough
to draw up moisture to support 1t during
the drouth. Many people allege that
land is clover sick-that clover will not
grow because so much has grown upon
| the land before. There is nothing i'll
| this idea, so faras ourlands are concern
ed. Clover is not like ordinary grain
crops, an exhausting plant. Land may
/ be fertilized under its influence. The
great hindrance in its cultivation Is the
drouths of our hot summers.-CN. TO
! let in Farmers Che.
Salt as A Fertilizer, &c.
Another point 1 desire to mention: L
am in favor of using salt as a fertilizer
and as an insect-destroyer. L have
used it on alluvial and diluvial LAM
with good effect. Last year on fifteen
acres of corn, 1 applied eight bushels of
| salt to the acre, after drilling in the seed
| about one kernel to the foot. On that
| field there were no cut worms, While
| my brother, who doubted the efficacy
| of salt, planted without, attend cat
worms destroyed a large share of his
crops so he had to plant over.
Salt on Wheat, Turnips, &c.
In the cultivation of turnips, / have
| succ eeded in destroying the black fly
completely, through the use of salt. L
| have tried salt in alternate strips in my
wheat field and found where the appli-
| cation was made no Hessian fly, while
on the other strips the loss from ravages
of the fly was estimated at from five to
eight bushels to the acre. l sow meas
ured bushels of fine salt. Farmers here
who have not proved its effect, and do
not care to venture largely, should join
and buy a carload, for it is cheaper to
| get it in bulk and parcel out after 1t is
! received. Last year I derived essential
benefit from salt sown broadcast on my
potato field.-Elniira Farm Club Dis