The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-06-30

IdLOOS IL Co in
rieties are least affected by disease.
AS some Of these are good quality
and good yielders, they will be large
ly planted hereafter.
FEED1NG NEW OATS.
Excessive feeding of new oats will
cause scours in horses, even if they
do not induce more dangerous COLES.
Old horses especially should be fed
only ground feed, as whole e oats
pass through them doing little or no
good.
ROTTEN POTATOES.
Some farmers are trying to con-
sole themselves with the idea that
rotten potatoes left on the ground
will be worth considerable as ma
nure. The idea is %fallacious. The
potato is mainly carbon and has
very little manurial value.
FALL-DRIED CORN.
In selecting seed corn the main
point is to have it dried in the Fall
before severe frosts have had a chance
to iniure it. The difficulty with
much poor seed corn is that it is
frozen first and the germ injured
and then thoroughly dried after
wards.
TILLAGE DESTROYING EEL
1t is a general fact that cultivated
fields are more free from weeds than
those seeded down and left for either
pasture or hay. The pasture lot is
seldom ever mown as it should be,
and as stock crop the clover and
grasses weeds grow and seed with
out check.
IMPROVING THE FLAVOR OF MUTTON.
The flavor Of mutton a be great
ly improved by fattening upon the
best Of food and removing the Wis
cera with all possible despatch after
the animal is bled, using ire not to
cut or rupture the ~entrails, so as to
bring their contents in contact with
the carcass.
FAILURE TO
The failure Of squashes and other
vines to fruit is generally due to i'm
perfect fertilization. It may be hat
pinching back will check the growth
of vine and thus induce fruit produc-
ton, but a more certain way Is to
ar~tifcialiy fertilize by transferring
pollen to the female flowers.
MANAGEMENT OF TEAMS.
The trainers of successful trotters
have justly claimed great credit for
the performances of their charges.
But it is just as true on the farm as
or the road that what a team can
do depends largely on their driver.
A poor driver will worry out a team
on a light load, while a good team
ster will do the same work without
injury.
PRUNING GRAPE VINES.
The best time to prune grape vines
is as Don as possible after the leaves
drop off in the Fall. Then the cut
ends get dry during the Winter, and
there is no danger of bleeding when
the sap starts in the Spring. Trim
ming is very generally delayed until
a leisure spell in Winter. There are
many objections to this plan: If the
work is done in very cold weather it
is a slow job and takes double the
time that would have been required
if done in October or November. At
the same time the canes are full Of
frost and r very brittle and liable
to be injured by being broken off too
short. If the work is done during a
warm, thawy spell in Winter the
ground is usually muddy or else cov-
cred with slush, and the Job is a
sloppy and d~isagreeable one.
RED CLOVER.
A successful Pennsylvania farmer
believes red clover the most valuable
of vegetables as a green manure or
a mulch. Sowing late in the Spring
on wheat lands, and narrowing it
down with a common harrow, which
will not hurt the wheat, in his iudg-
ment produces the best results. Clio
yer growth is helped by lime and
plaster. Large quantities of nitro
gen are contained in the earth and
air, and clover absorbs nitrogen more
than any other plant. The plant and
air work together in furnishing an
exhaustless supply of food for all
kinds Of food plants. Wheat and
other cereals cannot obtain enough.
nitrogen from the ART to sustain them,
but clover and other plants with