Year: 1874



 Drying Hay.

 The Mirror a,sd Fayoser gives the following letter from correspondent

 Much has been said of late about dry ing hay and usually that we dry it too much. I must beg leave to differ in my opinion from such, and say as rule we do not dry our hay enough. Now, you have my opinion against quite 8 number of writers, and I will give my reasons and experience for my conclu- sions. And, first, let me tell some of my facilities to form an opinion (with- out vanity on my part). I have worked at, and been @ practical farmer to my plain recollection for forty-fve years ]; no year on a farm cutting less than 50 tons of hay, and for the last twenty five years on the same farm where I now re- side, where we have cut at least 75 and now 100 tons. In this last term have given my personal attention to pressing for myself and others more than 2,OOO tons for the Boston market. I have sold hay to dealers here and at Con- cord, near where I reside, and they all have accredited my hay as among the best they bought, except in 1871. My hay that year did not give satisfaction. It was mostly dusty or smoky. That season I had on my hands in addition to my farm another cutting-about 50 tons, and help scarce and high, weather poor I thought I would try and get my hay as some of my neighbors did and as the papers talked of {; so I got in some fair grass the first day, and others from two to four hours earlier, and got in much at night that I had before let stay out until the next day, and the result was that about all sweat (heat), as we term it oft, so that the top would be wet, and in any case of heating, my hay was dusty, worse near the top, better down, but not clean anywhere. had a scaf- fold or two dried so there was no per- ceptible heat, and in that there was no dust. l found also when have pressed that of bales put up by the same help and power, those bales clean from dust were heavier than the dusty ones, con- vincing me that the heat lessened the weight. As to the point of dryness, dry so that 1t will not sweat in the barn and drying beyond that is unnecessary, and less than that too little. Why do we dry grass any? To keep it. Then why not dry itenough so that it will not ferment?

 Remedy for Hay Fever.

 Professor Binz, of Bonn, writing on the subject of hay fever, first calls at- tention. to the discovery, made by Helmholtz as far back as 1868, of the existence of uncommon low organisms in the nasal secretions in this com plaint, and of the possibility of arrest ing their action by the local employ ment of quinine. Helmholtz, having been made aware of the poisonous &C., tion of quinine upon infusor1a, deter mined to make an experiment. with that substance on the vibronic bodies he had discovered in the nasal secretions of persons suffering from hay fever, and for that purpose he employed a neutral and weak solution of Quinine, which he poured into both nostrils with a pipette while the patient was in a re- cumbent position, with the head low.

 The result was most satisfactory, and the cure which took place in the case of Professor Helmholtz, has likewise followed in two other patients who made trial of the remedy. Dr. Prick hofer, of Schwalbach, and Professor Busch, of Bonn, have also succeeded in curing the affection by the same Professor Binz suggests that a tepid solution of quinine should be used, and that instead of a pipette, Weber's simple but effective nose- douche should be employed for apply ing the quinine solution, care being taken that the quinine is free from adulteration. A correspondent asks Gan any method be better than the mere snufing up of the powder? This is done without trouble, and the solu- tion soon disperses itself. Whether one trial is enough in all cases seems to be uncertain.

 Keep Worki & the Corn.

 A Bucks County, Pennsylvania, far mer describes in the Practical Farnaey his method of cultivating his corn "The corn crop is my special favorite, and I have generally succeeded we'll with it, having on one occasion reached, by accurate measurement, one hundred bushels shelled corn to the acre. It is the main crop of my dairy farm, and valued as much for it's amount of leaf and stalk as for it's grain. l attribute my uniform success with it to constant and careful working. A horse cultiva- tor of some kind is never allowed to be out of the cornfeld, when the soil is not wet, from it's first appearance above ground till four or five feet high. In my observations in riding around the country, the want of this early and con- stant working is most apparent.

 "In some places it is not considered important to cultivate the earth between corn rows except to destroy weeds. This is great mistake, the absorption of dews and gases of the atmosphere, only to be obtained by an open and porous surface, being one important process of fertilizing the corn crop and hastening it to maturity. Our very late spring weather the present season, as in other years, prevents anything start ing to grow till about the middle of | May, limiting the growing period of | the corn crop to about one hundred | days, and perhaps much less, taking in | view what is eaten by birds or destroyed by cut-worms, etc., which makes it necessary to replant."

 ... Man and Wife.