The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-05-02
FARM AND GARDEN.
RUSSIAN OATS


A letter to the Elmira IN. ~ Formers
Club speaks in the highest terms of the
white Russian oats. The writer says that
in his country the yield last year was
from forty to eighty bushels to the acre,
Notwithstanding the most severe drouth
the oldest inhabitant ever saw, % they
say. The good qualities of the white Rms
sian are, he says, they are not liable to
lodge, for the straw is supplied with
twice as many joints as the common ost
Each straw has FIVE or SIX joints above
the roots or stools. Next, they never
have rusted in that section when in 1880
other kinds rusted so on high land, they
did not weigh more than twenty pounds
to the measured bushel, and these weighed
SO and SO pounds to the bushel, and that
year he had fifty bushels to the acre,
weighing SO pounds.
FREQUENT TuLAGE IN DRoUrHs.
81 think" says 9 correspondents of the
Germantown Telegraph, t" that / have
learned more about the benefits Of thor
ough tillage in the past uncommon dry
summer than l ever knew before. To
counteract in a measure the effects of the
drouth, have run the cultivator as often
and as deeply as possible among most of
my small fruits, and the benefits have
been very perceptible. Strawberries,
raspberries and currants thatwere kept well
titled were not at all affected by the dry
weather, while few that were left i'm
perfectly titled showed the neglect.
Grapes, although necessarily cultivated
very shallow, showed the benefits Of fire.
quent tillage."
THE WAY TO MANAGE THE ~FAKaRR's
Rank"
Fl. Stewart, in Northern agricultural
Journal, gives the following ~ his views
on managing the manure pile and COM
post heap:
Manure never gains anything by keep
ing or working over, and never ct any
time contains more fertiliGng matter thanit
does when fresh. The decomposition of
manure only makes it more soluble and
more rapidly available as plant food than
when in fresh state it adds nothing to
its actual original value. The labor of
composing or turning manure results in
making it more available for present use,
and the practice is therefore to be recon
mended when the supply of manure is
scanty, because ten loads thus managed
may be as effective the frst year N twenty
loads of fresh manure might be. But what's
gained in present effect is lost in perma-
nence. There is certain amount Of fer
tilizing elements in a quantity Of manure.
If by working over the manure we in
crease its present effect, the manure is the
sooner exhausted The practice of COM
posting is like that of fermenting by the
use of leaven. A quantity of manure in
q compost starts and effects . decompos-
ing action in the whole heap, and thus
makes at once available what wsuld 9th
erwise have taken several years TO effect
1t is great saving of labor to do work
in the winter time, when there b
abundant opportunity, that would other
wise have to be done IN the spring. The
soil has great afinity for all The ele-
ments of fertility and holds them vary
firmly. Moreover, it exerts . very active
influence in producing decomposition Of
organic matter by oxidixiag L, aud ~
ducing it to its elements. When, thsEs-
fore, manure is in or upon the soil the
soil win seize upon every s0lnble part Of
it and hold it securely until the crop
sends its roots In every direction through
the soil in search of their food. The
more evenly manure 10 scattersd exeT The
surface the more evenly shs soil 10 sn-
riched, for il requires bat short time for
the rain to dissolve and carry into the
soil every soluble portion Of Il when,
therefore, the manure is lefs for mosth,
or several months, n small scastsrsd
heaps, there ia great waste, for the soil
under the heap receives neariy all the
soluble and immediately available parts
Of the manure, and uksn The ksaps are
spread the rsst Of The surlhes pessivss It,
lie or noEhing except the exhassEsd rsai-
due Of the manure. i ID double waste,
. part Of the soil gets too muck and II
really injured BY eveF-fseding, and part
gets too little and = starved
xuxxD aMA1x YAn1zHo AID sUecnsA
A small farmer in Maryland, giving hin
experiences in the Kassou LsdoW, tkiskns
divsrsity Of crops aad hamesnade sappliss
the true path 20 Success. He says:
e1 boaeht small farm II Miles River
Neck u 1874, e 1l6 acrss q Iand IN
dewn by being ssassd rsps6ssdlgs -
hnilziaGs mnch ons of repais, wieh nn6sosly
any fnsesas - shas + - q