Year: 1868

We continue some interesting and
instructive extracts from Judge Jones'
valuable paper.


FERTILIZERS.


Plaster (gypsum) has been used to a
very limited extent, and when applied
to clover, the result in every case, has
been an extraordinary increase in the
crops. This has been so marked that
il is to me unaccountable that the ap-
plication Is not always made when the
land is not in a condition to produce a
full crop of clover. My first expert
ment was made in 1854. About a
bushel and a half per acre was soWed
upon the young clover the latter part
Of May. A strip was left through the
middle of the field without sowing.
The difference in the color aud guam
tity Of the clover at the time Of now
ing was incredible.


The Delaware farmers are generally
careful to save and use all the barn
yard manure they can make. It is not
kept under cover, but remains piled up
In the yards until hauled into the
fields. Our Pennsylvania farmers do
not haul out their manure until fall,
and then spread it on the surface with
the wheat crop. This is a good prac-
tice, if care be taken to keep the man
ure so covered during the summer
with swamp muck, for instance, as to
prevent too great loss BY evaporation.
The effect of this application of man
ure is excellent upon the clover or
grass crop that follows the wheat.


Other farmers apply the barnyard
manure in its green state TO the corn
crop 1t is hauled out in winter or
spring, as many be convenient unload
ed In punches and spread out before
plOWing, and turned under. The ef-
feet upon the corn crop is as good as if
the manure were thoroughly rotted,
and much better upon subsequent
crops. This practice has the advan-
tage also, of allowing the farmer to
haul out his manure at q time when
other work is not so pressing. When
the ground is frozen and covered over
with snow, it is very convenient to
haul it out with the sled.


When barn yard manure is applied to
grass lands, it is done in the fall. The
practice in England is to top dress the
meadows as soon as the hay crop is ta-
ken off; and this, doubtless. would be
the best time with US, if we could be
sure of sufficient rain to wash it into
the ground. But on account Of the
dry weather we usually have about this
time, the chances are that serious loss
will result from spreading out the
manure upon the surface at that sea-
son Of the year.


Swamp muck has been used as a fer
tilizer IN some instances, and with very
satisfactory results. It has been
spread upon grass lanes in the fall and
the effect was to very materially in-
crease the crop. The grass would
start much earlier in the spring and
continue green later in the fall. Up
on clay land it has been found equally
beneficial to the corn crop Ifit were
not for the additional labor required,
of course it would be much better to
haul the muck to the barn, and use it
(dry) for bedding for cattle and hor-
ses or mix il in the manure heap.


FLOWING.


Sub soil blowing is generally prac-
tieed, probably not as much now as a
few years ago, and yet it Is the uniVer-
sal testimony of all those who have
used either the sub-soil or the Michi-
gan double ploW, that the land and the
crops were much benefited by it.
Whichever method is adopted. all
agree that the spring crop is better if
the ploWing is done in the fall or win
ter. They all agree, too, that the eff
feet is as marked upon the second and
third as upon the first crop, after the
subsoiling is done. Where the COM
mon sub-soil plow has been used for
four or five years following, the land
appears very perceptibly improved in
condition, is more mellow, holds mois-
ture better, and the plow runs deep in
it with much less difficulty than in
similar lands that have not been sub
soiled


DRAINAGE.


From the first settlement of the
county, some attention has been paid
to carrying off stagnant waters from
the surface of our lands After SOW
ing the wheat crop, furroWs have been
made along the low places to carry off
the surface, water and usually the
ground is thrown up in lands for wheat
so that the water may find its way off
in the dead burrows. To convert the
swamps into dry lands, open drains
have been dug but these filling up in
a very short time in the black lands,
we're a serious obstruction to cultiYa-
ton while they lasted. For these rea-
sons a practice prevails in some parts of
the county, particularly in Oxford and
the upper part of Brown townships, of
blowing these drains out to the width
of ten TO twenty feet, depending upon
u L I =, L
away the earth and spreading it upon
the high and poor lands, or taking
back and spreading it out evenly on
the banks with a road scraper. Such
a Job will be permanent, will never fill
up, and can be conveniently driven
over with wagon or ploW. Some under
drains have been constructed, and
wood, stone and tile have been used,
and the unanimous testimony of all
who have used either, is most decided
ly favorable to undertaking.


In some of our best fiat lands, oak
plank have been set up at the sides of
the bitches and the tops covered with
staves of the same material; placed
Just low enough so as not to interfere
with the plowiDg. The object in ma
king these drains Is, not to make the
land more fTiable, as Is our purpose in
clay lands, but simply as the most con-
venient method oftaking off the sur
face water without interfering with
the cultivation of crops. By construct
ing these cheap drains aloEg the swales
some of our white elm swamp lands
have been made to produce corn as
we'll as the best bottoms. Poles have
also been used with very satisfactory
results in undertaking. Three poles
(green) are placed in the bottom of
ditch, say one foot wide; the poles
would be from three to six inches in
diameter, two placed side and side,
about two inches apart, and the third
on the top and between the two. 1t is
a good practice to put some straw or
turf upon the poles in making bitches
of this sort, to prevent the earth from
getting in between until it gets settled.
| d. not know how lorg these bitches
will last, but in wet lands, where they
are kept constantly m DIST by springs, /


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