Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-07-17
FARM ANDGARDEN
An Article on Curing
Clover Hay.
SOME AGRICULTURAL NOTES.
Cooling by Evaporation-Late Wheat
Always Poor-0verestimate
Of Night Soil.

of Night Soil.
The thick stems of rank growth of
clover make it hard to cure by the ordi-
nary means of exposure to the sun.
Long before these stems are dried
through, the tender thin leaves will he
shriveled up and broken off. This ne
cessitates curing clover by heating, and
with as little stirring as possible, and
that only when freshly cut. The best
way is to follow the mower with the hay
tedder with on the least interruption,
and then, while only the leaves have
dried, rake the clover and put it in cock
1t may seem dry because the leaves will
rustic, but leave it twenty-four hours, or
if need be, thirty-six or forty-eight. Then
open, and it will be found moist inside.
This moisture has come from the stems,
and when this has dried off the hay will
be cured sufficiently to 90 into the barn
or stack The slight heating which hay
thus gets not only does not injure it, but
really makes it more palatable to stock
The coarsest clover cured thus will he
eaten more greedily than that grown So
thin and fine that it can be cured with
out heating. 1t is sweeter and more nu-
tritious, as well as more palatable, than
clover that either does not go through
the heating process or that is put i'll
large stacks without being previously put
through the sweat, and thus is sub
iected to more violent fermentation that
blackens and ruins it. When clover
turns back it is a sign that heating has
changed to coal or carbon much OF the
more valuable heterogeneous nutriment
that it originally possessed.
Agricultural Notes.
The younger and tenderer the beet the
better its flavor Even the coarse man
gels are excellent when used young, tops
and all, as greens. Beets always need
thinning, and if their use as greens does
not remove the surplus fast enough, the
beets will be greedily eaten uncoOked,
if fed to hogs or pigs, and there is scarce
ly better feed possible for sows that
are sucking young, especially if they
were too fat when their pigs were
dropped.
COOLING By EVAPORATION.
In the hottest weather vessels Of wa
ter for drinking may be kept cool by
surrounding them entirely with some
porous substance kept constantly wet.
The evaporation from this will dissipate
heat so rapidly that only slight changes
of temperature of the liquid inside the
vessel will be noted. 1t is dangerous,
however, to keep ones self cool in this
way, as the chilling of internal organs is
scarcely ever done without serious in
jury, often resulting in disease and death.
SUPPORTS FOR MELON VINES.
Cucumber and melon vines need some
thing for their tendrils to cling to, SO as
not to be blown about by the wind.
Small pieces of brush stuck into the
ground between the hills will allow the
hoe to be used and keep the land free
from weeds, and will insure the vines
against being torn and injured by winds.
This is great deal better than the prac-
tice of allowing weeds to grow for this
purpose, as some old-fashioned farmers
used to do.
LATE WHEAT ALWAYS POOR.
About the time wheat begins to head
out Is good time to judge as tOits prob
able yield, though all dangers are not
past. II much OF the crop is late, the
yield will be poor. The same causes that
lC'oi'CI II Will dIsO ltFStn lDG crop.
Time of sowing winter wheat has little
to do with its lateness or earliness next
season. There may not be three davs'
difference in ripening in pieces sown a
month or more apart, and the latest
sown, ii on very rich ground. NAV be
earlier IN ripening.
ERADICATING sORREI.
Wherever fields are red with sorrel at
this season of the year it indicates some
defect in the land, which prevents the
seeding OF more valuable grasses and
clover. Sorrel is easily kept in check
where good catch of clover is had AS
the clover OutgrOws and smOthers it. On
sandy soil clover often fails from lack of
mineral elements lime or potash. and
application OF one or both will insure its
success. The sorrel does not need either
lime or potash, and only comes in where
more valuable plants cannot be grown.
oyEREsTIMATE OF NIGHT SOIL.
The quite common belief that human
eXcrement is the richest of all manure
is not borne out by practical experiment
or by chemical analysis. 1t has greater
value than the solid excrement of horses
or sheep, but much less than the liouid
excrement of either, and has little more
Ihah halI Che value OF fresh hen ma
nure. 1t is possibly one indication of
mans superiority that he gets more
nearly all the good out OF the rich food
he eats than do domestic animals
Nor is It certain that the food which men
generally eat contains so much of tha
elements of either nutrition or fertility
as most animals choose for themselves
ALsIKE CLOVER AND TIMOTHY
TO secure a thrifty stand of timotbv
which will remain good for two or three
years, there is nothing better than seed
ng 1t with the alsike clover on a winter
grain crop. The alsike does not smotber
down the timothy quite as badly as red
clover does, and if cut in June, lust az
the blossoms begin to fade. the alsite
VIII produce full seed crop and then
Y die out. This leaves the soil
entirely to the grass, and so Stimulates
IT'S growth that often second cron If
timothy OF ton and half per acre can
be cut the same season. With the com
mon red clover the timothy does not do
much until the second year.
+. /. Barnum after making his will in
1857 summoned several prominent INV
slclans to examine his mental condit;op