Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-08-11
AGRICULTURAL.
Care Of Grass Ian ds.

lands. 1t is true that farmers have quite
enough to attend to in properly curing
and storing the crop already grown, with
out spending time in preparing for any
future crop. Practical suggestions in
reference to the treatment of meadows
will carry force to the mind of the farmer
if the evils to be remedied are present.
A farmer in doing his haying can not
help seeing the crop of foul weeds that
should not be allowed in his meadow. If
there is a new meadow not properly seed
ed, which could have been remedied ere
loss resulted, then it is proper that such
an inferior meadow should receive some
thought from the farmer during haying.
During haying is the best time in which
to consider methods of improvement.
Defects and weak spots in his system of
farming are quite ns much apparent Mt
this season as ut any time during the
year.
1t may be well to give some thought to
the question of the quantity of manure
it is profitable to apply as n top-dressing
to meadow land. We are altogether too
chary of time and expense in the care of
meadows. l know of meadows that have
never received an application Of any kind
OF manure during the last ten years. All
meadows treated in this way are very sus-
ceptible to the evil effects of what is
called "bad season." The usual man.
ner of top dressing meadows is little
better than the practice Of not top-dress-
ing ut all. In many cases the quantity
of fertilizers applied is not half enough
to accomplish the object desired The
application is also made but once in three
or four years. Often barnyard manure
is not i'll proper shape to use. | have
travelled over meadows often during hay
ing, where the horse-rake gathered up
great quantities of half.rotten straw and
sun-dried chips of manure which were
hauled to the barn with the hay. All this
can be avoided. 1t may seem to be use
less and unreasonable task to work over
the manure heap at least twice before it
is hauled to the field to he used. | know
that few farmers perform this extra labor,
their reasons for not doing it being lack
OF time, and they do not see wherein it
would pay.
The one great and immediate return to
be expected from top-dressng with well
fined manure, is that the growing crop
will assimilate all the manure the first
season after the application. l know
several farmers who annually resolve not
to Fall-feed their meadows As pastures
commence to fail in Autumn this good re-
solution is broken. l am unable to zee
wherein it can injure meadow to pasture
it in the Fall if it is in good condition.
But if the meadow is i'll poor condition,
then by no means pasture it i'll the Fall.
Facts for Farmers.
A new variety of peach, said to be free
from rot, and called the Fannie San
ders, has been introduced.
A COW can not give large quantity OF
milk unless she is highly fed. She pro-
duces nothing except what she derives
from that given her by the farmer
The value of poultry in the United
States amounts to over $500, 900, 600.
poultry received the same attention as is
bestowed on sheep, cattle or horses.
When sows eat their young it denote :
that the wants of the system have moi
previously been supplied. 1t is often
owing to the failure to give them liberal
supply of salt before farrowing.
1t is said that foot-rot and other dseas
es to which sheep are subject occur mucl
less often among ilocks which are pas
tured on rather rough ground, and par
ticularly where they have to climb hills
to get their grazing.
No portion of the country is so far suf
fering from drouth this year. The trou
BILE is too much water flooding crops aut
delaying planting. But up to the 1st o.
July this was the case year ago, AM
the excess of water in May and juno
made the after drouth all the more disas
trous.
A piece of rye near poultry house il
very useful during the fall and spring
and sometimes in the winter. rs her
pasture The sowing of grain III poul
try yards is also an excellent plan. VIVA
is scratched ont will be eaten up clean
and plenty of scratching and green foo,
are what fowls need.
A preparation made with one pound o
soap (soft or hardy with an ounce of car
bolic acid crystals dissolved III water will
destroy vermin, itch, scurf and mango
The preparation as given above should b
diluted in warm water before being ap
piled to the animal, and it will not the
iniure the hair.
At three feet apart each way there ar
4, $50 hills on an acre. Potatoes yielding
only one bushel to every thirty hill
would give upward of 100 bushels pc
acre. That this is much above the avel
age crop, even in good years, shows hoy
great are the possibilities for improve
ment in potato growing.
If any one wishes to try an experimen
that is pretty sure to kill lice on cattle c
hogs, let them catch half dozen an
smear them with hogs lard and watc
the result These vernin breath
through their skin, as does the lous
which causes scab i'll sheep and an,
thing, no matter how simple, that will s
cover the skin as to prevent breathing
will kill the vermin.
The New HAMPSHIRE mirror az
Farmer says: Leached ashes are goo
for almost any crop, but should be n,
piled with other fertilizers that contai
vegetable substances, like barn manure
thus applied on most soils, and for nearl
all crops, twenty-five cents bush,
would be cheaper than commercial ferti
izers. Fifty bushels of ashes applied |
an acre OF land in connection with tw
cords of good stable manure would pr,
duce better results for most crops tina
$50 bushels applied without other fertil
|
piled with no other fertilizer with it.
, Millet will make crop now, and it wi
grow on light soil. 1t is Just the thin
for late Summer, as it shades the groun
we'll, and can be turned under in time f,
manuring crop of rye for early Sprin
: pasturge. Or, if preferred, it can L
,, cured for hay. All sandy soils shoul
! have crop of millet ploughed in, MS
! can occupy ground from which son
crops are now being removed
+. W. Morrow said ut the Elmii
farmers club | know farmer VIII
, ploughs all his clay land in the Fall til,
he wants to SOW with oats or barley in I'll
: following Spring. His principal crop
oats, and he gets larger yields than HI
neighbors who have land of simil,
!, character that they plough in the Sprini
He gets the seed in earlier and in bett,