Show POTATOES we have all observed the great deterioration in our potato cro ero crops 3 during the past ten or twenty years an and pd what is the cause of this alarming decrease of tubers can science can chemistry point out the reason or aid in reme remedying dying the difficulty we think it can and in order to place the matter in in a clear light we will point out the kind lind and amount of food which the potato demands we had a field of potatoes upon the farm which yielded bushels to the acre this may be regarded as an old fashioned crop this crop removed from the soil in ia tubers and tops at least pounds phosphoric acid now these hese amounts aro very large and serve to show that the potato plant is s a great consumer of the two substances and a also aiso so it shows that in order to restore our potato crops to their former productive condition we must supply compounds and substances holding potash in large quantities for six or eight generations in new E england our fathers have i een exhausting the soil by removed removing 0 these agencies in their potato and other othe r crops and we have reached a time when the ve vegetable 0 eatable is starving in it our fields for want of its proper fao rood nood d our farmers have found that new land laud gives the best crops and this is due to the fact that such fields alford afford the most potash but so long as we crop our pastures so unreasonably we cannot resort to new land ai a i land jand is not new dew that has potash and elements removed by grazing animals ani mats mais remember thata potato field which gives one oue hundred bushels to the acre requires at least one hundred and sixty pounds of potash but by allowing the tops to decay upon the field sixty pounds of this tills amount is restored to the suli suii oil again as that amount is contained in them boa oston journal of chemistry APPLYING CORN CULTURE CULT cre ure TO WH WHEAT EAT it is a benefit to cultivate corn between the rows why is it not an advantage to give wheat the same treatment and for that matter all or most of the grains winter wheat has the fali fall and spring r as well as the summer in I 1 part to favor the growth of weeds and grass and we find these abundantly in ter persed among tile the wheat to sow a crop of corn broadcast for feed is found to be an advantage to sow in drills and i cultivate is found to be still better it pays more than the extra lubor labor wheat aed to be sown bown broadcast and anti do well it is now found that it will dj da better in drills thus it follows corn why will it not still further be benefited like corn if worked between the drills using the cultivator and even the hoe it ir Dec necessary essary the truth is we have not yet arrived at that point of advantage england has so far as the decision in lil favor or of llis itis it is concerned mechi and others have tested this matter and experiments in a small way wily practiced here have pointed the same way now since drilling is getting to be estable established hed bed let us introduce and prosecute or at least test cultivating between t the lie rows grass and weeds by this means are kept out ground is the moister and becomes the more fertile by it the crop is strengthened and kept clean the last quito quite a consideration and the land will have no occasion to le be self sown with foul seed as is usual in grain and grass crops and neglected cornfields have we too much to do too much land to cultivate and too little help to do i with to be able to engage in this but if it is a benefit why neglect this and to other things no more beneficial and perhaps not so much as this why cultivate our cor eor corn n and neg deg act our wheat when the latter requires it equally r and it may be more I 1 am sorry to have it to say that I 1 have tested this no more than lna ina in a general way in the garden and then not so carefully as I 1 but the thin thing seems as if there were more profit in treating wheat in this way than corn who will give it a fair test who will lead off and confirm what the english experimenters have introduced so successfully getting the benefit al the same time and at once if harrowing the field with smoothing harrow ere the grain is too large and where there are weeds and grass starting up is a benefit why not working tho the ground between the tile rows and leaving the grain uninjured there is a great advantage in cultivation we find it so among trees shrubs vines hoed crops and why should it not also apply to lain grain rain especially that careful kingly cereal wheat and it needs 1 it as the wheat crop is degenerating amongas itis an important crop in rotation and should be made the most of if it is worth fallowing lowing fal tae soil for it and giving it the prece precedence dendle of good land why not further improve by what is such alt all an advantage to it cultivation especially such sueh crops as are poor or much winter killed need this aid or weeds and grass will overpower them let us come to the relief of this nine fine cereal and make it something like what it is made in E england ti gland giand country gen aleman STAC STACKING ulna KINa bad st aching stacking is the cause of most of the really damaged grain in the market to stack well follow these directions liay lay your stack on as levei level ground as it is ia possible to find say on the top of a little hallwhich hill which copis top is generally flat commence in the middle setting etting up the bundles as for a shock build all around until you get as large a bottom as is desired now commence on tho the outside layers having the butts of the bundles about even with ith the bottom or a little further out if the grain is damp when this row is formed lay the second with the butts four to six inches off the bands of the first row and so on until you get filled up if you find the middle getting too full lay them in a little further here let mo me caution all against fl illing lulling up the middle or of the stack with loose or broken bundles if f you have such bind them up or lay thum them on au the outside for the middle of the stack mu must t be solid dont wik any further toward the outside of the stack than is really necessary when you come to topping out the stack be careful to keep the middle well f lied filled up and the outside as even as you can but mind you don t get as much as aa one bundle with the heads the lowest if such places occur lay some bundles on the inside filling up the hollow bedora laying th taj i outside ones for one bundle pitching the wrong way often lets in a great dea of water in finishing when you have nomore no more middle to fill keep in ill the centre laying a bundle wherever the but will be th tho the 0 lowest until completely topped out force a long nicely trimmed stake i down well into the tho t stack taek tack to keep the wind from blowing off the top R S in prairie farmer |