The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-06-13
AGRICULTURE.

AS rule farmers are not good me-
chanics. The better the conditions in
which tools are kept the less effort will
be required on the part of teams, and of
workmen, too; yet farmers will use their
implements whole year without sharp
ening them. No other mechanic would
do this.
The soil, the seed and the workman are
about equally responsible for a good
crop, but each one of these must be at
its best to get full advantage of the
others. If the sower, the seed or the soil
is more than proportionately deficient,
more than its own proportion of the crop
is likely to fall short.
Much of the flax straw from a million
of American acres is wasted or burned,
while millions of dollars worth of fab
RIGS are imported: With proper cultiva-
ton and due care of the fiber the whole
home demand could be supplied. Let
us hope that some day the great leakage
through waste of one kind and another
will come to an end.
Thousands of tons of vegetable rub
bish are annually wasted because farm
ers generally do not appreciate the value
of mulch. The very meaning of the
word seems not to be understood. The
tops of plants and trees want air and
sunlight, but the roots need shade and
moisture.
There would be fewer Improbable
crops, and less money wasted on stock,
if men knew just what they were doing.
1t would not require much extra labor
to keep an account with each field, with
each herd, with the orchard. the poultry
or the stable. 1t is very simple matter
to set down all the money received or ex-
pended. Do not men care; or is it heed
lessness?
1t is thought that most insects are
guided to their favorite food by their
sense of smell, and that if some strongly
odorous substance obscures the natural
odor they are thrown off the scent. For
this reason coal oil emulsion sprinkled
over the vines will drive the marauders
away; and even water in which onions
have been boiled will do the same.
Ice is a commodity which represents
value. and should not be wasted. 1t is
better to wrap it in wooden than in cot
ton, for the former is poorer conduc-
tor; but paper is better than either, and
neither does it admit air. When news
papers become wet, they can be thrown
away without the labor of washing or
drying.
The ordinary farming does not pay
that is, the growing of crops with the
minimum amount Of labor. There is no
saving of work after all, for the weeds
and insects have to be fought first or
last The injury is done while the delay
occurs. Thorough work costs some.
what more, but it pays when the crop
comes to be harvested.
There are many gentle rain falls dur
ing the summer, and there is no better
time to cultivate the soil than just after
them. This includes times when the
corn leaves are wet with dew in the
morning. which the whiffls tree shakes
off upon the ground. Unless the ground
is stirred quickly this moisture is soon
evaporated and lost.
Although Georgia is a cotton State,
and not given largely to grain growing,
the crop of corn usually runs up to be
tween 30 and 40 million bushels This
is a few millions more than is raised by
Maine New Hampshire. Vermont, Mas
sachusetts, Rhode Island Connecticut
and New York. surprising as such
statement may seem.