Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1891-01-07

Range cattle are rapidly becoming q
thing of the past, and the stock farmer
may breathe easier. With the constant
encroachment of the homesteader and the
farm the almost boundless range and the
days of vast herds are surely numbered.
Like the Indian and the buffalo, they will
soon become thing of the past.
Ia determining what animal or animals
to keep, and what to sell or feed for mar
ket, consider we'll their disposition. For
tie dairy, for working stock, for breeding,
and even for fattening, the quiet, docile
fractions one. The latter Is not only trou-
blesome to handle, but is disturbing ele-
ment among others, and is sometimes an
expensive animal to keep within bounds.
Wherever alfalfa is successfully cultiva-
ted bee keeping should follow, as the plant
affords an immense amount of forage for
the honey makers; and by the way, bee
farming is an industry that is worth fol-
lowing for itself and it might pay to cult
vate alfalfa especially as basis for this
We know man in Ohio who says his hun
dred stands of bees pay him more than all
the rest Of his sixty-acre farm, and do not
require half as much labor.
Winter wheat is practically biennial
plant, for although it natures in about ten
months from the time of seeding, yet it can
not be sown and harvested within the same
season of tho same year. During nearly
half this time the plant ia dormant, and
none of its growth is made during the very
hottest part of the year. Intensely hot
weather is not favorable to its develop
ment, for it is wn after the heat of the
season has departed, terminates at low
temperature, is unipjured by freezing, ard
makes the greater portion of its gtowth at
very moderate temperature. at the be-
ginning of hot weather it ripens very rapid
~, and is harvested before the season of
maximum heat. These facts serve as some
sort of guide regarding the best time for
sowing this grain in different latitudes.
We have repeatedly suggested in these
columns that gardeners could lengthen their
season of profitable work very often by
growing spring crops again in the fall.
q. and beans may be sown in August.
~ ter in the South where the season
ermit, and will find good sale du :
ie late fall months This season a
,.nia gardener has been shipping e. cen
as into New York in November, and
fact is that near any good market the grow
ing of green peas would be profitable from
I early spring until late fall, especially so
during midsummer, when the crop fails by
reas on of heat and drouth. To counteract
this small plat should be irrigated, and
then, by having peas when no one else OBJ
tained-prices that would richly repay the
extra cost of cultivation.
Merely as an experiment, harrow the
wheat field this spriug. Do it just as early
as the ground is dry enough to go upon.
Use slant-toothed harrow-the teeth
slanting backward-and do not stop if you
happen to see few plants pulled out by
, their roots. In ell probability they are in
too thick, and es the object in cultivating
with the harrow is to make them stool out
you must give them room to do it.
Then roll the meadow. You never can
have it too smooth, and, while you are
about it, put box on the roller and pick
up all those stones that were continually
getting in the way of the mower knife last
summer. 1t will pay better to take the
time necessary for it than to stop for re-
pairs in the hayipg season.
Aud grind all the tools, and sharpen
the pillow points and harrow teeth. Do not
put this off until time to begin blowing for
oats. Time will be worth money then, and
dull tools never make fat harvests.
Those who are this season making their
first beginning in winter dairying should
start with new mich cows. We often find
! farrow animals serving in the winter dairy,
but the man who is inexperienced in this
work should give himself, the first season,
every possible advantage toward assuring
success. The better way is to make your
plans for the years work beforehand, and
then, if winter dairying Is contemplated,
have sufficient number of COWS come
fresh in the late fall months. If this has
not been done it is better to cell off and buy
new stock than to begin with number Of
small mixers. 1t is best not to begin on
too extensive a scale, as there are Difficult
ties to overcome, as in everything else; but
the dairyman who succeeds in making gilt
edged butter in January, February and
March will get price for it that will make
him very earnest advocate of the system
into los~ IA = e