The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-09-02
Agriculture.

E',f 81. - Agriculture. ..
Laying by" a crop should never
be done only under compulsion.
Any. crop is ben Gifted by cultivation
as long as the weeds grow. 1t is
never too late to cultivate potatoes as
long as the tops do not cover the
ground.
The farmer who sends his dull
band or careless boy to do his plow-
ing commits very serious mis-
take, for good blowing lies at the
very foundation of good farming.
In short, the art of blowing is too
much, neglected.
A dry room, where they are free
from freezing, is the proper place to
stow away pOtatOses and other root
crops. If you have any other place
at all suitable, do not store them in
the cellar; they need perfect dry
ness to prevent rot, and this is not
often attainable in the house cellar.
General prosperity depends absO-
lutely upon agricultural prosperity.
The largest market for the products
of the farm and the mandatory is
undeniably the home market, while
the export trade is the regulator
the balance wheel for domestic sales.
1t is of the utmost interest to both
the farmer and the manufacturer
that our trade with other countries
be kept growing, for only by this
means will these classes, which
comprise more than half the popula-
ton, have increasing power to buy
the country's manufactures. Our
agricultural imports are compare
lively quite small in quantity.
Every hour the soil Is left uncOv-
cred it is losing a portion Of its
nitrogen. Its humus is being brOk-
en- down and disintegrated, and the
mineral plant food held in it is be-
ing washed deep into the soil or dis
solved and washed entirely away by
the floods. The longer soil has
been covered by free and ungath-
cred growth the more power has it
acquired to produce crops.
A spray pump will etfectually
change the course of flying swarm
of bees. They can be driven like a
flock of sheep, in any chosen direc-
ton, and can be maze to alight on
any .tree preferred.
III, Comb building is costly to the bee
keeper. as each pound of comb is
estimated to cost the same amount
of labor as goes to the making of 10
pounds of honey. A lower price can
well be accepted for extracted
honey.
RoDbing seldom takes place if
colonies are in proper condition in
every respect. 1t most frequently
happens at the end of the honey sea
son, as the swarming colonies some
times become queenless and fall a
prey to attack.
Wheat is usually a good crop
when it follows potatoes, and this
can be attributed to nothing but the
thorough preparation of the soil.
The cultivation of the potato crop
has worked up the ground thorough
ly and put it in perfect filth, as deep
or deeper than it was plowed in the
spring. The ground is stirred again
when the potatoes are dug, and by
the time the wheat is sOwn there is
not clod 10 the ground, even at the
depth of eight or ten inches. On
such a seed bed wheat does best. AS
good crops could be grown without
the potatoes If the same work was
done in preparation. Wheat ground
should be plowed at least twice, and,
with the modern tools at hand, there
is no excuse for lumpy ground or
small crop Of wheat in a good sea-
son. A wheat plant has poor
chance if it has to make its way
around clod before it can reach the
surface. Let us learn the full worth
of our disc harrows, clod crushers
and smoothing harrows.