Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-09-13
1,HECITIIEN
MISCELLANEOUS.
Agricultural. A

Clover hay can be used to advantage al
summer feed if the crop is large. Hay
should not be sold, but fed on the farm.
As soon as the sweet corn becomes too
hard for family use the stalks should be
cut down, as the fodder is then in the bes'
possible condition for stock.
In saving tomato seed select the largest,
smoothest and ripest specimens, and reJec'
all that are not solid. BY so doing they
will improve in quality each season
Do not store beets, carrots and parsnips
until the weather becomes quite cool All
root crops can endure a slight frost, and
keep best when stored late in the season.
For roofs that are not very steep tarred
paper is better than shingles, but shingles
should be used in all cases where the ROOT
is steep enough to allow the water to flow
off quickly.
Turnips should be harvested by pulling
them up. Do not bruise them if it can be
avoided. Cnt the tops away from the
bulbs and feed the leaves to the stock. Let
the crop remain in the ground until late be-
fore harvesting.
Farmers who object to paying large
sums for choice animals should estimate
for single season, of the young stock.
Such calculation will show that, if the
flock or herd is large, the gain of the stock
will be greater than the cost of a male OF
any Of the thoroughbred breeds. 1t is con
sequently economical to improve, and the
farmer who does not do so is really extray-
agant, as he deprives himself of the advan-
tages of better stock, higher prices, and
larger profits, without any increase in the
expenses Of food and labor.
APPLIED SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE
The average yield of wheat in the United
States is about twelve bushels per acre.
1t is commonly sown with drill, which
deposits the seed in rows eight inches
apart; eight rows are commonly planted at
each turn; an average of one and halt
bushels Of seed is used per acre; one man
with team will plant eight acres per day,
and this being done in September, the field
has no further attention until the reaper is
put in the follwing July to gather what
ever harvest Providence has seen fit to
send as reward for the negligence of the
husbandman.
Professor Blount, of the Colorado Agri-
cultural College, having first made an
elaborate study of the habits and needs OF
the wheat plant, conducted series of ex-
periments in its cultivation with the fol-
lowing results:
First he planted upon an exact square
acre seven and one half pounds Of hand
picked wheat in rows of eighteen inches
apart, and at harvest threshed out sixty
seven bushels; again, upon one-fourth of
an acre he planted thirty-two ounces of Sc
lected seed, and the product was eighteen
bushels; and again, upon seventy-six
square feet he planted seYenty-six kernels
Of extra fine seed, weighing forty-five
grains, and the product was ten and one
half pounds, or nearly at the rate of one
hundred bushels per acre.
These results are not more remarkable
in the excessive yield from given area
than in regard to the yield from a given
portion Of seed. Agricultural discussion
too often directs attention to a result with
out sufficiently analyizing the means by
which it is obtained. A pertinent feature
of these experiments is the saving Of an
amount Of seed which, averaged upon the
entire grain acreage, would add annually
a vast sum to the wealth Of the nation.
If we should throw into the sea annual
ly fifty million bushels Of wheat and pro-
portionate amount of other cereals, the
world would cry out at our improyidennce.
Yet If Professor Blounts conclusions are
correct-and they are supported by much
collateral evidennce-we bury this amount
in the ground where it is not only thrown
away, but where 1t actually decreases the
resultant crop.
The economic results that would follow
if we should be able to increase our pro-
duction even approximately to the above
ratio are too far-reacbing for the scope of
this article. Our ability to feed an almost
Ii mitless increase Of population would be
assured. 1t may be that over-production
would recoil upon ourselves, but we have
already successfully encountered the low
est wheat markets in the globe, and as in
creased production would mean decreased
cost, we might eventually be able to make
good our boast Of feeding the world"
With population incre asing at the rate
Of twenty-five per cent with every decade,
it is hardly probable that our production
(after the final occupation of all the pub
lie lands) will at the best more than keep
pace with its needs. AS before suggested,
a most progressive development will be re-
quircd if we even accomplish that.
Farmers generally will say that the re
suits secured by the above experiments are
not attainablc upon any extended scale;
probably not. to the average farmer, be
cavse. having so much land to till, he
must still SOW his eight acres per day. 1t
may occasionally occur TO one Of particu-
lar intelligence that it might be economy
TO produce his hundred bushels by the
thorough cultivation of two acres rather
than by superficial working upon eight.
Such one will find that exact and scien-
tific methods are practical as well.
IL would consequently seem that the
pursuit of agriculture can offer induce
ments to the student who would in turn
become the teacher, to the business man
who wonld exert his talents in il in fnan-
cial enterprise, to the scientist who would
combine profitable avocation with the
investigation Of the laws of nature, and to
the economist who from his own obscrva-
tions would add to the general knowledge
Of how best to conserve the the forces of
production.-James X. Reeve, IN Harper's
Magazine.