The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-05-17
FIELD AND FARM.
Tho Short. Rows.

FIELD AND FARM.
Tho Short Rows.
According to Prof. Wilder, no plant q
moro benefited by constant supply Of
water than is the strawberry.
The officers Of the National Grange
are: N. J. J. Woodman, Paw Paw,
Mich; L. II. Esebaugh, Hanover, Mo-;
T.; E. NJ. Mcdowell, Wayne, N. Y; 8.
w. n. Ireland, Washington. D. G.
Maine has forty-nine cheese factories
with an average of l07 cows to each fac,
tory, sixty being the lowest and 500 the
highest number. The total product Of
all the factories last year was 566,834
pounds Of cheese, for which the average
price received was IL l-2 eents per
pound:
Everywhere there 3fe complaints
that the spring is cold and backward. In
this country within d few miles Of the
Great Lakes, vegetation has made little
progress, d. as. the great, body of
lie formed during the exceptionally 90.
we're winter has retarded growth. On
the Atlantic coast gardeners are plow-
ing whore year ago promising growth
Of young plants was already above the
ground. In the interior matters are but
little better. The south complains that
the winter was remarkably severe, and
that frequent cold winds from the north
dehy the work ofthe season. The pros.
psekis that the summer will be cold.
Many of the arguments in favor of sur
hos application ofplant food appear very
strong. among which may be cited the
following: Manure worked into the sur
them ct . critical period in their growth.
When worked in. the manure is at the
spot Of tho greatest root development,
6nd henco that development is normal.
When tho fertilizer is plowed III, the
roots make IN unnatural development
deeper than the normal expansion, and
in layer along the line of the manure.
The manure will decompose less readily
and will not be fined and thoroughly
distributed ID tho soil:
ftnie Is Cat Grass.
We now have m opinion on this point
from the highest authority, the Chemist
Of the National Agricultural Department,
given in scientific words. As to the
proper time to cut grass for hay; the
Chemist says:
1t is apparent, then, that IN most cases
the time of bloom, or thereabout, is the
fittest for cutting grasses in order to OBJ
tain the most nourishment and largest
relatively profitable crops, and for the
following reasons: The amount of water
mas diminished. and the shrinkage will
therefore be less. The weight of the
crop will be- largest in proportion to the
nutritive value of its constituents. The
amount of nitrogen not present as al
buminoids will be at its lowest point;
fibre willsnot be 30 excessive as to pre-.
vent digestion, and nutritive ratio will
be more advantageous.
II cut earlier the shrinkage is larger,
although the fiber is less and albumen is
2 little larger; The palatability may be
Increased, but the total nutriments to
the acre will not be 60 large. and the
nutritive ratio will be more abnormal.
The disadvantage of late cutting are
evident in the increase of fiber, destroy
ing. the digestibility of the nutriments
and the falling off of the albumen bv
conversion into amides. This is not
made up by the larger crop cut.
Yield Of Corn.
The average yield of corn throughout
the corn producing states is only about
thirty bushels per acre, yet reports of
yields Of 100, and over, bushels of shelled
corn are not infrequeutly reported, and
the methods whereby it was accom-
plished given. Methods that produce
100 bushels of corn per acre should he
adopted by farmers everywhere. Any
thing that lessons the cost of production
increases the profit and should be stud
led by farmers. The cost, says the Home
and Farm, of producing 100 bushels of
corn on an acre is very little more than
the cost of producing thirty bushels on
the same acre. The result is that where
100 bushels is produced on an acre the
cost of production per bushel is much
less than when only thirty bushels is
raised, and the profit Is increased to q
corresponding amount. The reports
show that the average total cost of pro-
ducing 100 bushels per acre is only
about 10 per cent. more than the cost of
producing thirty bushels on the same
space; in the one case the cost Of pro-
ducing one bushel is only about one
third of the cost in the other" Look
ing at the subject in this light, and it is
correct, some of our corn growers must
admit that they can learn something vet
on this maiZy question.