The National tribune., 1888-10-04
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers

PRESERVING THE VITALITY OF SEED CORN.
After seed corn is dried clear through to the
center of the cob, care is still required in keep
ing it until ready for use. Many leave it hang
ing in dry place in which it was cured, which
is uno9ectionabIe it always protected from
dampness, frost and vermin-the great requi-
sites in keeping the seed properly after it is
cured. Corn in traces may we'll be stripped of
its husks and dried on floor before packing
away, to be sure all moisture in the butts is
dried ont. A well-dried ear will snap like
dry stick when broken. If it is perfectly dry,
many good farmers prefer to leave the seed on
the ear until about ready to plant, believing
that this guards against the sweating process
which it passes through when stored in any
quantity. If the ears are packed in barrels,
avoid using salt barrels.
Others prefer Smelling and sacking Sacks are
not so retentive Of heat or moisture as boxes or
barrels), small bags not over one bushel in ca
pacity being better than larger ones. Careful
Smelling by hand, rather than by machine, so as
not to crack the grains or injure the germ, is a
good practice. This Smelling may not be done
until Midwinter or later, but many advocate
doing it as soon as the corn is well dried, to
secure it against dampness caused by warm
spells in Winter. Too much care cannot be
taken to keep the cured seeds dry and away
from frost. N. NJ. Luton stores it in the cellar
in boxes or sacks on supports nailed to the
joists of the first floor where it is always dry
and warm, especially if there is furnace in
the cellar. E. J. Heat puts the seed in Slated
boxes hung under the joists of the second story
of his workshop, the lower story having fire
in it in cold weather. That frost will not in
jure the germ of Well-cured seed is believed by
some, but the most careful growers keep the
seed away from frost the year round.
Farmers who carefully follow the above
method with seed corn will not have to replant,
even in unfayorable seasons From 95 to 80 per
cent of such seed will terminate in practice
This last statement is based on long experience
by many careful observers; it is not theory. 1t
is poor vitality, not cold or wet, that causes so
| much seed corn to rot in the ground John
Gould proved this by terminating 100 per cent.
of good seed in mud at temperature of 40 de-
grees, although it took 20 days. Above all,
such seed will steadily improve the yield and
ripen the crop within 80 to 100 days in average
seasons.
TO PREVENT WINTER KILLING OF WHEAT.
The most effective and beneficial mode of
preventing the wheat plant from being injured
| or destroyed by the freezing and heaviBg of
the soil, Is liberal mulching, top dressing with
| fine manure or compost from the barnyard, or
siaked peat from the muck pile to be evenly
| spread over the FalI-sowed wheatfeld. In
| Autumn, when the ground is sufficiently frozen
to bear the wagon wheels, spread just thick
enough to have the ground lightly covered, so
| that when the soil freezes, cracks and heaves
/ the wheat roots viii be covered, protected and
| not torn out, but the mulch or compost will
fall into the cracks and cover the roots shelter
/ ing them from the effects of weather. We
| have several times seen fields which were liable
TO this freezing and heaYing, with wheat drill
| ed IN, portions of which were tOp-dressed in
| Autumn as above directed, and on which full
| crop OF good, plump grain was secured, while
| on the portion of the fields not muiched, in
every instance the crop of wheat was total
| failure, not showing straw or grain enough to
/ be worth harvesting. In fact, the grain OBJ
tanned from the top-dressed portions of the
| fields much moro than paid the cost of the
| operation; besides the incidental benefits of
this light mulching as a surface manure, it
| was protection 20 the soil from searching sun
| rays of Summer and sheltered the young grass
| when the grain was cut of. In fact, liberal,
| frequent, careful tOp-dressing of Fall-sown
| grains, as well as meadows, is one of the most
| profitable and reasonable methods for preserv-
| ing fertility Of soils and protecting Winter
| grains and grasses that farmers can practice,
| and Will be found always proftable.-Er Exchange.
! no PROFIT IN WHITENING POOR ANIMALS.
| Now is the time to get rid of the poorer ami
| mails. 1t will not pay to Winter Them as bet
| ter animals will give larger returns for shell
| ter, care and feed 1t is not economy to keep
a poor animal through any season, but it is
| most extrayagant to keep it through the VIM
ter. 1t is the hight of folly in stock raising to
| sell the best and keep the worst. True, the
best bring the largest prices; but if you sell
the best and keep the worst, soon your best
| will be no better than your worst is now. aud
| your worst will be such that the more you have
the poorer you will be. You, by this plan,
| constantly make your animals poorer; and as
| the stock raiser makes his animals poorer he
! makes himself poorer If he keeps up the
r process bankruptcy is as sure as fate. The OPP
posite policy is the winning policy. Sell the
! poorest and retain the best. And sell enough
oil the poorer animals that you may buy few
better than the best you now have. This is
| making your animals constantly better and
yourself richer. Soon your worst will bring
as much as your best now. If you have not
| purebred animals sell enough scrubs or grades
TO buy an animal of each sex, pure bred. Hold
fast to the full-blooded produce and to the
highest grades. Almost before you are aware
OF 1t you viii have only purebred animals II
once we start with purebred animals the in
crease of breeding makes US rich iii hocks and
herds of the best blood in what, when the goal
is reached, seems very short time.
PORK AND PoRKEEs.
Save and cook the small potatoes for the
! pigs.
The hog doesn't object to seasoning of cur
culio in his fruit
The hog is omnvorous, and is much bene
flied by the right sort of vegetable food.
When the hog gets more variety in his food
and less variety in his drink, he will not have
the cholera so often.
The first point in making cheap pork is to
get the hog to market in the shortest possible
time. The same food makes more pork in early
Fall than in Midwinter, for less of the food j,
used to produce animal heat.
NOTES.
If the hogs are not accustomed to having
all the salt they desire, they should be brought
to full supply as soon as possible when fed new
corn. 1t should be a rule TO keep it by them al
the time. Ashes, charcoal and bituminous Goa
will be beneficial, allowing them free access tx
it.
The wheat on SO farms in the town o
Oronoko, st. Joseph Co, Mich, averaged 90
bushels per acre, this being the largest yield fol
some years. Oats on 90 farms in the sam,
neighborhood averaged 36l bushels per acre
being six bushels per acre more than the gen
eraI average last year.
- The agricultural Gazette, of London, says O
the English potato crop: "The price of pota
toes in one of the large producing districts, 81
miles from London, is now los. a ton! Wa