News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-06-11


SQUASH CULTURE.-Weg grow squashes
at profit in this manner: Fall pillow a
piece of sod, if possible; if not, take land
that has been cultivated season. The
LIST of June spread fifteen loads of stable
manure to the acre, wheel-harrow, mix
ing the manure thoroughly with the
soil, pillow five inches deep, SOW broad
cast three hundred pounds good super
phosphate; wheel harrow again, and
finish up with brush or smoothing
harrow. Mark out rows only one
way, nine feet apart; have them straight;
scatter three hundred pounds of super
phosphate in the furrow, run the marker
or brush through to thoroughly mix.
Drop the seeds in this drill one foot
apart. Cover only deep enough to get
necessary moisture. Plant June Is to
Is, no earlier for this latitude. When
the two first leaves appear, look for the
black bug; catch him by hand early in
the morning. The striped bug won't do
much harm as late as this. Keep the
cultivator going between the rows.
When four or five leaves appear, go
through the rows with hoe and chop
out the weakest plants, leaving them
two feet in the row. Cultivate, but
watch the feeding roots; don't go near
enough to the roots to break them off;
when the vines are two feet long, thin
out with the hoe, leaving them three to
four feet apart. At this final thinning
look for vines with the leaves stung and
turning yellow; leave only healthy vines.
They will soon cover the ground now,
and each plant has good feeding ground.
Pull any stray weeds by hand, and
gather crop before frost. Gather care
fully, on bright, dry day, and keep in
dry place. We plant marrow, Essex
hybrid, and marblehead; the latter, in
our opinion, is the best winter squash
grown. In this way we can grow crop
of from six to ten tons per acre, accord
ing to soil and season, with less labor
than crop of corn. Try the drill sys-
tenn and thorough cultivation for this
crop, and you will never plant in hills
again.-Oalr Country Home.
LARGE Corn IN PENNsYLvAN1A.-I
have made great many experiments
with corn within the last twenty years.
I have tried nearly as many varieties;
some I found good and other kinds were
S~SN
in the fall, at husking time. I leave
some husk to the ears and tie two ears
together and hang them up in my gran
airy. In the spring sort the ears over
again and take the small grains at the
tip ends off. Years ago I selected ears
from stalks that had two ears, but the
result was not so good as by selecting
the largest and best formed ears. My
opinion is if farmers would be little
more careful in selecting their seed corn
they could raise from ten to fifteen
bushels more per acre than they do
when they pick it out of the crib in the
spring. Good tillage and good seed
corn are just what insures good results
in the corn crop. I have raised as high
as ninety bushels per acre. I believe if
I were in some of the rich valleys of
Ohio or in Kansas could grow over one
hundred bushels per acre. I prefer
level culture; not much killing up. As
soon as the soil forms a crust after a
heavy rain go through your corn and
break the crust if it is only two inches
deep. This will pay well for the work.
d. N. KERN, Shimersville, Pa.