The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-03-10

this experience 10 get the earliest varie-
ty that they know Of and by yearly Sc
lections of the earliest rippcned ears
maintain this characteristic. The old
King Philip corn always ripens. and
though its ears are small. II Is one Of
the varieties that will yield halfits bulk
of ears In shelled corn. and sometimes
even more. For those who like Dent
corn that will ripen in ninety TO 100
days. Silbey's Pride OF the North va
riety may be safely recommended 1t
needs rich soil to make Ii ripen early.
On poor land the corn. after getting its
growth. natures slowly.
SMELLING CORN.
II is no small job Smelling 200 or 800
bushels OF corn. whatever method is
adopted. Perhaps for economy In
labor aud ease the old way of trampling
it out by horses Is as good for largo
lots as any. The hand shelters require
two men to work them to any advan-
tage. one to turn and the other TO
place the ears. One hundred bushels
a day Is pretty good work. and no
time must be lost at these short days.
Still hand shelter saves good deal
over the slower process OF Smelling
with the naked hand. In Smelling
corn for poultry il is better TO shell and
feed one ear at a time. giving the
fowls chance to eat more slowly. but
this can be managed by feeding slowly.
even though the corn is all shelled be-
fore the Smelling begins.
SELLING HAY AND STRAW.
In many places this year the hay
crop was shortened by drought. Al
most everywhere hay Is selling at fair
price. on account Of the deficient corn
and oat crop. Whether farmer shall
sell hay or not cannot be decided with
out reference to his circumstances.
Many farmers condemn all selling of
hay or straw as sure ways TO exhaust
the farm. But In many places this
year they bring much more than their
small manurial value. especially for the
straw. and they are not proportional bly,
so cheap for feeding as gram or oil
meal. To sell some straw and invest
the money in richer feed may often be
good policy. Every farmer must de-
termine this for himself on the relati We
values OF the feed. and not by mere
prejudice in favor OF making large
bulk OF poor quality manure.
SPREADING MANURE ON SNOW.
Winter is good time to haul ma
nure. providing 1t Is not so scattered
in the barnyard as to be frozen In. The
large heaps. especially OF horse ma
nure. need frequent handling to pre-
vent the manure from firefanging.
Many. however. are doubtful about
the prosperity of spreading manure on
snow. II the ground is unfrozen beneath
II. and the land not subject to overflow.
there Is little loss. We remember once
spreading manure on the upper part
OF pretty steep hillside in March.
The ground was covered with snow at
the time. and we then supposed that
considerable of its strength would be
washed down the hill. aud therefore did
not manure the lower part. 1t was
really surprising to see by the growth
In the subsequent crop that the effect
of the manure did not go ten feet be-
low the line where the manure was
applied. The spring was n wet one.
but all the water-soaked manure was
absorbed by the soil directly under it.
MANURING THE BEAN CROP.
Beans are bringing pretty good
price this year. mainly because of last
seasons drought which lessened the
potato crop and thus left an increase
demand for them. For some reason
this crop has not paid very we'll tor
several years. and this. as Is usually
the case. has discouraged production.
The price has been low and the WELD
small. especially In places where beans
have long been grown. Farmers have
learned that the old idea that beans do
best on poor soil Is not the correct
one. They do not require large
amount of carbonaceous heterogeneous
manures. as these tend to produce toe
great n growth OF straw with brittle
grain. But no crop Is more benefited
by phosphate than beans. and IL this Il
applied with moderate dressing o.
stable manure good crop will b,
pretty certain. Beans can be planted
after all other Spring grain crops are
got In the ground. and can thus utilize
| land that would ofheryise be left nm