News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-04-03
TIMELY SUGGESTIONS,
A Practical farmers Ideas About Spring
Work on the Farm.

The time to begin preparations for
spring crops is at hand. The first thing
necessary is to have harness, plows, har-
rows, etc., in good order. If there be
sod to pillow, no difference for what kind
OF crop it is designated, it cannot be
done too early. When you begin to pillow
try and make the first furrow straight.
In order to do this keep in line with two
objects ahead of you; if you do not sue
coed the first time through, make
amends by taking a narrow or wider
slice where it will better it. The
straighter you keep the furrow the easier
it is on both driver and team.
When I begin 1 do not let the pillow
run full depth. If you do so with the
first furrow you will throw it up so that
there will be a high ridge. NY plan is
TO have as few dead burrows as possible:
the more even the better, especially Tor
corr.
Sow oats as soon as possible, and if
you should be late about it soak the seed
In strong brine. l had very good crop
of oats that were covered with several
inches of snow before they came up.
Keep ahead with your work. But don't
make the mistake of planting corn too
early. From the 10th to the goth of
May, / think, is the best time. The
best corn l ever had 1 planted on the
Goth of May. Idon't like to plant much
later, especially when I use the gourd-
seed variety.
DoN'T PLANT OLD GRAPEvINEs. -
d. n. Kern, Shimersville, Pa, writes:
1.-THE labor and time spent in planting
old
labor thrown away. A vine one or two
years old always succeeds much better
than one four years old, while the cost
of the old vine and the labor of planting
will at least be four times as great.
think all who have had experience in
grape growing will not need advice, but
farmers and country people who cont
read agricultural papers, but who want
to have fruit in short time, take it for
granted that large old vine is better
with old vines will open their eyes and
start a train of thoughts on this subject.
A great many men are persuaded by
some tree agent to buy large old vines,
because the agents can make more
money on these than they can on little
one-year- thrifty vine. Within the
last twenty years 1 have not been swim |
died in grape vines, but the tree agents, |
some of them, got the best of me. Ex- |
perience is a good teacher, but not very |
cheap sometimes"
PLowING IN GREEN CRoPs-I once |
plowed under clover sod ia the spring, |
plowed and cultivated till August and |
reseeded with herdsgrass. This was
satisfactory experiment. Again, in the |
fall of 1877, thinking to plant more acres
the next summer, 1878, than usual,
plowed part of the field and sowed win
ter rye to pillow under at planting time.
The piece being near good muck bed,
l spread a good coat of clear muck on
the rye, after it came up. The result
was, l got nearly as good corn as on the
balance of the field, which received a
heavy coat of barn-yard manure. This
year used manure instead of muck on
the rye, to turn under for corn the COM
ing season.--THoMAs, Pomfret, VT.
A POINT IN ENsILAGE.-In 1882 I
was several days filling my silo, and
high degree of heat was exhibited be-
fore I could get it filled and covered. /
thought it was all ruined, but when 1
came to open it, it was brown in color,
deliciously sweet, had the odor of West
India molasses and was better relished by
my COWS than any other L ever had.
Last year / filled, tramped and closed
my silo as quickly as / could, and the
ensilage proved very sour, not nearly so
good as that of 1SS2.-MAsoN @. WELD,
ClOster, n. J.
IMPOSED ONION CULTURE.-K., Long
Island, writes know of no crop in
the cultivation of which greater improve
ments have been made than In the
onion crop. These improvements are
great saving of labor, as everybody who
practices drilling in the seed and cult
waiting with horsepower knows. / now
practice with profit drilling my onion
seed in rows far enough apart to Guilt
vate with horse hoe. This plan takes
more land, but it pays, as the market
demand IN my section is for moderate {
lied bulbs and not for large onions. |
ong ago gave up the old practice of {
thinning the onions so as to leave only I
'ne bulb to each three or four inches of !
ground In the row. 1 let my onions {
grow IN punches of from three to five {
'r more bulbs. My opinion about the ]
'nion maggot is that any plan which ,
ends to make rapid growth is about the
pest preventive. One word more. 1t is {
much better to have the seed sown too |
nick than too thin. / set the drill so as
% drop two or three seed to each inch
II row. My experience is that onions ]
will grow in almost any soil with proper
ertillzers and good cultivation. Still ,
here Is no question about their doing
better on old onion land than when
alsed on ordinary soil for the first time. {