Year: 1879

FARM TOPICS.


ROLL BUTTER.-We offer a few dl-
rections to parties shipping roll butter
which, if followed, will serve to enable
parties interested in obtaining the best
market prices. A practice that should
be abolished by country shippers is that
of working low grades of packed into
roll, and packing them in with fresh
made roll, with the intention of palm
ing it all off as fresh-made. This decep-
ton is always detected, and such lots
are invariably sold at same prices that
low grades of packed command. Care
should be taken in packing; country
shippers and dealers are in the practice
OF sending roll butter to this market in
barrels, pine boxes, etc. The above
named packages should be entirely
avoided. New tubs or hard wood boxes
are the most desirable, while half bar
rels or kegs will do equally as well, and
these only should be used. Care should
also be taken before putting the butter
in packages, that all the sides and ends
of the package be lined with new white
muslin, thus keeping the butter from de-
facement by touching the wood. Anoth-
er bad practice is in putting the butter
up in paper; this should not be done,
as the paper sticks to the butter and
damages the appearance. Each roll
should be placed in a piece Of new mus
lin cloth, wet in good brine. The rolls
should also be of moderate size and not
too large. Then again, the rolls should
be of uniform color, not packing the
light and fresh made with other colors.
-CbScaq0 Commercial Bulletin.


SELECTING SEED CORN.-Two ears or
more, regularly to a stalk, is a great
desideratum in corn, and should be an
essential point in selecting ears for seed.
Size, however, is of secondary impor-
tance, the almost universal practice OF
farmers to the contrary notwithstand-
ing. If the reader will take long ear
almost any one-he will observe that
the kernels are rather loosely set on the
cob, and are roundish in form. Then
take an ear of ordinary length Is to 10
inches long, 8 or 1O-rowed), well filled
out at both ends, having small cob,
and the butt no larger than the middle
on such an ear the kernels will be so
close set as to be fattened by the pres
sure, and often all sides will be COM
pressed and angular, and the texture of
the grain will be more compact than on
the loosely set cob. Now shell equal
lengths of both ears, and it will be found
that the small ear will yield more bulk
and weight of grain than the large one,
provided both have the same number of
rows, and we have seen an 8-rowed ear
that yielded as much as borrowed one.
Any one can test this.


The obvious inference from these facts
is, to select for seed corn ears from
stalks bearing two or more ears, having
the kernels compactly set, the ends well
hlled-good plump kernels should cover
the "nubbin - erd of every seed ear
the butt of uniform size with the rest of
the ear, which should not taper much,
but hold the same size from butt to tip,
and small cob. These essentials OBJ
tanned, the larger the ear the better, of
course; but the small ear possessing
them, is better than large ear without
them. The shape Of the kernel from
such an ear (of Northern corn) will be
long from the cob outward, broad cross
wise of the ear, and very thin, and its
texture will be hard and compact These
rules for selection of seed corn apply
particularly to the varieties known as
Northern or Canada corn; but the same
principles apply as well to the many
rowed Dent and White varieties grown
in the West and South, aud they are de-
rived from the experience OF intelligent,
practical farmers.


GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW PLANTS.
Knowing that those who have green
houses, even of moderate size, usually
have one or more works as guide in
the treatment of the plants, we give
more space to window plants than to
those in the greenhouse.


Plants must have gradual change
from the free air and the alienation of
warm days and cold nights to the close
air and often uniform temperature OF
the living room, We should have much
fewer complaints of failure with house
plants were it generally known that
they require less heat in the dark than
they do in the light, and that the tenn
perature should be at least Is deg. less