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Show MANURING CORN IN THE HILL. It seems scarcely credible that such a good, old fashioned custom as manuring corn in the hill should be called in question; but we see that quite a lively discussion occurred recently, and there was a disposition to decide that it was better to spread the manure all over the land equally, then plant the corn in the hills and let it take care of itself. If one has a good supply of manure, and can afford to give the whole ground a thorough dressing, it may do very well to let the hills alone; but we are quite sure that where the supply of manure is limited, it will be found far better to put a part of it at least in the hill before dropping the corn, and we have little doubt but that even when the whole surface is abundantly manured it would still pay in many cases to manure in the hill. We noticed some time ago the experiments made in one of the German experimental farms on small and large seeds. Small seeds, like small potato eyes, never produce as good crops as large seed, although the ground in quality may be equally rich. If even the mere size of a seed gives it an advantage in its first start in life, how much more valuable must be a good stock of nutritious food ready to hand as soon as the young plant is in a condition to use it? It is indeed their first early start in life which makes all the difference between a good crop and a poor one. If plants once get behind it is very hard for them to pull up again. There are but a few months of the growing time, and a good start is a great gain. For the same reason, it is an error to bury manure in the ground at any time, when the crop is an annual one to be sowed in the spring and taken off in the fall. And yet this is a very common practice. Manure is spread on the surface, plowed down and the seed sown on the surface with the manure several inches away. It would be far better in most cases to plow the ground first, and then spread the manure on the surface and harrow it in before sowing the seed. It is probable that most persons are aware of this, and would follow the practice were it not for the additional labor involved. By manuring in advance, the hauling can be done when we are not busy, in the other case it must be done at once, no matter how badly work may drive us before we can sow the seed, and then it is so much easier to haul over solid ground than over ground newly plowed. It is therefore good farming very often to sacrifice a little of what in some senses may be the best plan, for that greater principle economy of time, which is often of far more importance in farm profits. So with this discussion about manuring corn in the hill. Whether it is a good policy to manure corn in the hill, is altogether a practical question; but as to actual advantages of the practice in itself, we think there ought to be no difference of opinion whatever.-Germantown Telegraph. ARTICLE 4 HOME AND FARM. -Mustard for the table should be mixed with water that has been previously boiled and become nearly cold. So says the London Caterer. -Probably the largest cow in the world is owned by Martin S. States, of Grayville, White County, Ill. She is seven years old and weighs 3,000 pounds, is seventeen and a half hands high, ten feet six inches long from the nose to the end of the tail, eight feet nine inches around the girth, twenty-six inches around the forearm and thirty-one inches across the hips. -Do you want an evergreen that holds its deep green color better than almost any other; that never grows to a large size; that is, therefore, well suited to both large and small lawns; that grows compactly and possesses an individuality most marked? It is the broad-leaved hemlock-Abler Canadensis macrophylla. Try it-Rural New Yorker. -Sometimes after beating the yolks of the eggs as usual the cook is annoyed to find that they are not smooth and light yellow, but are "stringy," and have little lumps; if for custard they spoil its good looks, but by straining through a very fine wire sieve this trouble will be obviated, and only a very little of the egg be wasted-not so much, in fact, as if she tries to take it out with a fork or spoon.-N. Y. Post. -To purify muddy water, dilute each quart of water with an ounce of phosphate of lime and allow it to settle, and it will be found that most of the impurities are carried to the bottom. The ?? water is now filtered without any trouble through absorbent cotton. Ordinary cotton will answer as well, if previously moistened with alcohol and then washed with water. Of course, either of them must be pressed tightly into the neck of the funnel. Clear water can be obtained in about five minutes.-Denver Tribune. -If the plentiful use of bells will not protect sheep from dogs, herding or yarding should be resorted to. The expense of erecting a rough fence, say seven feet high, and, of course, impenetrable to dogs, from 100 to 150 feet square, is nothing to compare to the loss of sheep. A fence solidly built of rails, poles, etc. would last the best part of a score of years, and there would be no trouble of gathering the sheep into it when once accustomed to it.-Germantown Telegraph. |