Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1889-08-08
FARMLAND HOUSEHOLD.
suprestions About PIoying.

HaH +.
. Suggestions About Flowing.
There are fewer good plowmcn than
formerly, and with this decline in
workmanship, there is less interest
taken TO do creditable work. So much
of the drudgery of farm labor is, nov
done by horse and steam power, that
all kinds OF handiwork are more or less
neglected. The sulky pillow does on
good ground do away with the neces-
sity for skill in the plowman. But we
think that under many circumstances
man and team with good steel pillow
can do better work than the sulky ar
rangements, in which the man merely
rides and drives. We find usually that
when the sulky pillow does make a balk,
the team is rarely, il ever, backed up
to remedy the mistake. Still, with
poor plowmen, probably the automatic
pillow will prove an improvement on
their practice. m.' t.r
The first blowing in the spring is
usually OF corn stubble in prepara-
ton for some spring grain. In all the
northern states, corn stubs are usually
loosened by the frost, so that going
over them with a forty-tooth harrow
will tear them up, and in so doing fit
the ground most admirably for the
subsequent blowing. This breaks the
crust, and can be done at the rate OF
six TO ten acres per day, while two
acres is good days work in stubble
with the pillow with a single team.
The result is that the soil opened to
light and air for two, three or four
days before blowing rapily dries out,
and at the same time develops nitric
acid for the use of the coming grain
crop. We have too often seen the de-
cided advantage of this preliminary
blowing to doubt it. Even on po-
tato ground, where there is no stub
BILE to be broken down or rooted up,
this dragging before plowi y will al
ways pay. 1t will make tao work OF
blowing easier, and with the surface
smoothed down the blowing need not
be SO deep.
In blowing for. corn and other hoed
crops, it is important not to have
many dead burrows. The latter in
these days of moving and reaping
machines are II nuisance, though toll
cradle on undrained lands where win
ter grain is sown. For spring grain,
unless the land is unusually wet, we
would pillow back the dead burrows
three or four PAGES so as to level 1t
down. But If sod land is plowed, this
| is not practicable. The only way to
avoid dead furrow is not to make it,
There must be at least one IN the cen
tire of the field. This often in irrcgu-
lar-shaped fields becomes very deep.
usually there is a corresponding ridge
around the piece against the fences,
thrown there by successive blowing
around the field. 1t is always good
policy in such cases to back furrow
| three, five or ten PAGES from the fence,
thus not only rcmedying the difficulty
there, but making the dead burrows
in another place.
Sod ground should always be plowcd
with q jointer. This is the technical
name of the small pillow running IA little
ahead of the large one, the first mere
| ly cutting Onc-half the sod, turning it
over on itself. and the pillow following,
! bringing up three or four inches of
| loose soil, and throwing over both.
Glover sod plowod in this way works
up beautifully when narrowed. The
| Tapped burrows of one or two inches
beneath holds the soil loose so that air
and warmth enter the sod and manure
rots readily, and this starts the crop
| 10 growing as soon as the seed touches
The soil. 1t is not possible to get corn
ground too light and warm. With the
jointer much less deep blowing is nee
essary to make good seed bed. In
fact, with some kinds of tough June
grass sods, it is not possible to fit the
land for hoed crops unlees the jointer
is used.
1t will generally pay to subsOil heavy
lands in spring for the potato crop,
provided it is done while the soil is
not full of water. Opening the sub
| soil makes it warmer in spring. and
it also retains supply OF water for the
fine roots of the potato to re 'ch down
for moisture in time OF drought
Thousands of acres Of potatoes do not
produce half they should for lack OF
subsoiling. 1t is better and safer to
! plant fewer acres in this crop which is
necessarily expensive, and do the work
thoroughly. If the potato ground is
SUBSIDIZED and the manure applied is
turned under the surface tnrrOw, and
u good seed bed made. the crop will
nearly always pay double what it
would without the extra preparation
of subsoiling. The benefit from the
UubsOlling endure3 several years unless
the land is sOdden with water. In
fact, there is some difference in the
soil ever after. Land that has once
been broken up is easier to dig into, as
is found in digging out post holes or
! following the line OF drains. -Prac-
teal Farmer.
Feeding with Hay.
1t is the practice of some farmers TO
give their horses too much hay. There
has been great improvement in this
respect within few years, and still
there are many farmers who have not
''caught on to the better way. When
boy upon farm, | we'll remember
that it was standing rule to rake
down little hay into the horses rack
every time that one went into the sta
Bile. The result was that the horse
would keep his grinders going nearly
all the time, and become a pot bellied
unsightly animal. Horses fed in this
way become mere machines or hay
cutters, the nutrition OF the hay is not
assimilated, and large portion of il
was wasted.
By such stuffing every organ in the
body is interfered with, and when put
upon the road or to work upon a farm
horse so fed cannot move with any
comfort until relieved of the super
abundance of feed. The disease known
as the heaves is generally due TO over
driving when the stomach is full oil
hay.
Bulk in feeding is necessary, but
when the food is nearly all bulk an ex
IRENE has been reached aud it is time
to change. Hay should be fed with a:
much care as grain is fed. The work
ing horse should be fed three times {
day on each. The horse when stand
ing in the stable, should be fed thre'
regular meals. and this will give tho
food time to digest, and the nutritivt
portions will be assimilated.
, Different horses will require differ
cnt quantities, and in feeding a new
, horse it becomes matter OF expert