The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-01-28
AROUND ABOUT THE FARM.
AGRICULTURAL READING OF
lNTEREST AND VALUE.
Artlchokes for SwIne--A SubsoiIing
Experiment--Wheat Harvest
Ing Californla--Comp
alive Yield Of Corn
Keeping Butter.
Artlchokes for swine.

j
raised and yet excellent food for their
swine can find it in the red or Brazil
ian articholSe. Among the advantages
enumerated as belonging to this crop
not the least is that it can be planted
in either fall or spring, as is most con-
venient, and that when the work is
once done it stays planted Indefinite
ly. Then, unlike most other crops Of
useful plants, artichokes require little
or no cultivation except what they
get from theindustrious roofing Of the
hogs, who, as one authority says, will
cheerfully do both the cultivating and
harvesting at the times and in the
way that will do the most good. The
yield is enormous, ana the roots are
a wholesome corrective of the system,
so that it is said a pig pastured on
artichokes with cholera would be an
astonishing curiosity.
The planting of an artichoke field,
and it's subsequent culture until ready
for the swine, does not involve very
great labor. The best place for it is
a piece of low land, with a deep, rich
soil, near a. brook. 1t should be deep
ly plowed when not too wet, and
thoroughly narrowed. The seed, about
six bushels to the acre, should be
planted after tho frost is out in the
spring and before June, in drills three
feet apart, and a foot apart in the
rows. The tubers should be cut like
potatoes for spring planting, covered
with not less than three inches of soil,
and afterwards rolled. If not conven-
lent to plant in the spring, it can be
done in the fall, from about the mid
die of October to the middle OF Noven1-
Der but in fall seeding experience has
shown that the best results are obtain
ed by planting the whole tubers.
When the plants are three inches
high in the spring, 1T is advantageous
to run the cultivator between the
rows in order to check the growth of
weeds, although the artichoke is
enough Of q weed itself to triumph
over most opponents in the struggle
for existence. ... ...~'- F
With the weather favorable during
the summer-that is, If there has
been good supply of rain-the crop
will usually be ready for the swine by
the latter part of September; but in a
season too dry for vigorous growth it
IS better to postpone their onslaught
Tor two or three weeks. They may
then be allowed to forage until the
ground freezes. After the frost is out
OF the ground in the spring, they may
be turned in again to root until the
beginning or middle Of June.
1t is calculated that after season
favorable for growth an acre will sup
ply ample forage for forty head of
swine, and still leave enough roots
in the ground for re-seeding.
Although artichokes do not form a
complete food for swine they will
answer very we'll for q time in the fall
and spring without other food a..
A subsoiing Experiment.
AS we have often suggested, every
farm ought to be to some extent all
experiment station. The facts learned
in this way are doubly valuabe-first,
because they stimulate the mind of
the experimenter, and, second, be-
cause the discoveries made have q di-
rect local bearing. Experiments made
at a station may or may not indicate
What is needed on a particular farm;
| but experiments on that farm, if in
telligently conducted, show what can
be done right there on that IDENTICAL
piece Of land: ..- ..-.-@s.
And one of the experiments that it
would be we'll to make would be that
OF subsoil blowing. There is a wide
difference Of opinion among intelligent
farmers as to this matter Some are
strongly opposed to it as not only
useless but actually injurious, while
| others with equal insistence maintain
that 1T is essential to the best results
in farming.
Both, no doubt, are right, but are
reasoning from different points of
view. Some soils require subsoiling,
others do not, and that is the simple
basis OF the difference of opinion with
regard to it. .
But 1T cannot always be determined,
without trial, whether any particular
soil will be benefited by subsoiling or
not. And here comes in the local an
plication of the experiment. station
| idea.
A method OF doing this, as suggested
4 by the secretary Of the Kansas State
Board of Agriculture, is as follows:
Plow and subsoil two or three strips
/ about two rods wide, from sixteen to
twenty inches deep, across the field
selected for the experiment, and let
the remainder OF the field be plowed to
the usual depth and not subsoiled.
The surface preparation Of both
should be the same before planting.
Then plant the entire field at once,
or in sections, but so that each plant
i ing will cover at the same time the sub
4 soiled and unsubsoiled parts,
and give exactly the same cult
/! walton to the entire field while the
crop is growing. Keep a careful rec
ord OF the varying conditions OF the
weather and note the differences, if
any, in the growth Of the plants, and,
after harvesting, the difference in the
! yield and quantity Of the grain.
~ such an experiment. as this the
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