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VOL. XXIX. INDIANAPOLIS. IND.. MARCH i7, 1894 NO. il. MANAGEMENT OF CLAY SOILS. [The numbers of the essays published refer to the order of publication, and not •to the awards. The committee has not yet made the decision.] PRIZE ESSAY NO. 6. As there is suoh a large proportion of clay soils in Indiana, their best and most profitable management is a very important question and one that should Interest every Hoosier farmer. Our clay soils are not. usually nearly so poverty stricken as they appear, but are more like the close natured miser, -who hoards up his -wealth, unwillingly giving up what little he is obliged to. Once when passing with a friend a field of soggy upland clay that had never been known whithin the memory of either of us to produce a profitable crop of any kind, my friend remarked, "there ought to be lots of wealth in the soil of that field." I said I could not see what made him think so and he replied, as he had known the field all his life and had never known of anyone getting much out of it, it must be in there yet, which seemed to be the case, when a short time after another man came in possession of the land, under whose management the field has produced good crops, above the average, over since. Since the unproductiveness of our clay ' soils is not so much on account of their lack of plant food, as from their poor mechanical condition and as it is almost if not quite impossible, even by the most thorough cultivation, to get land that at any time of the year is, for any considerable length of time, water soaked and soggy in the best mechanical condition and thus render the plant food it contains in the most available form, then the matter of first importance in the profitable management of a clay soil is to have it thoroughly under-drained. Only a small proportion of our clay lands do not need tile drainage, and this is where it is under-laid with a gravelly subsoil and is thus under-drained by nature. When 1 say thoroughly under- drained I do not mean simply the laying of a tile ditch or two through the low places to drain a pond or wet place that happens to be in the field, but the laying of one or more main tile drains not less than four feet deep through the lower parts ol the field with arms and branches of a smaller size tile, branching out all over the field, near enough together and of sufficient capacity to carry off all the -. surplus water so the ground will do to work within 36 hours after our heaviest rains. This thorough tile drainage to some seems like a great expense, but considered as a permanent improvement, which it is, or as an investment, the thorough tile drainage of land that needs it is better than bank stock or government bonds, for it is as safe, and will pay a larger dividend on the investment. It will pay annually 20 per cent or more on the original cost. It often makes all the difference between a good orop and no crop at all. By most people a mortgage is considered the worst thing that could possibly be on a farm; but if the farm has been mortgaged to drain It of its surplus water I would consider it much better to have the farm covered with the mortgage than to have the land covered or soaked with water, when it is time to plow or plant a crop. After we have got rid of the surplus * water in our clay lands, it .they then are * sufficiently fertile to produce a good crop of clover then their future improvement * and profitable cultivation become simple , enough. But If the soil will not grow a ■\ crop of olover then it is more difficult, for , we must fertilize it until it will grow. We must make the tlovor grow for it is the next, thing our clay soils need and must have, it we expect to raise profitable ecrops on them. A crop of clover not only brings down nitrogen from the air and pumps up fertility from the subsoil, but also when turned nnder furnishes a large amount of humus or vegetable mold which our clay soils all so much need. I think commercial fertilizers expensive and do not consider their continued use for ordinary farm crops advisable. Barnyard manure is our cheapest and best fertilizer outside of clover. Its only draw back is Its usually limited quantity. If you have a field where you can not get a start of clover and have not barnyard manure enough to fertilize it, then help out the barn yard manure by the use of some reliable brand ot commercial fertiliser u_ti} you can get a good crop-of clover to turn under. After you have grown and turned under a good crop of clover, then by applying barn yard manure to the poor spots and by deep and thorough cultivation and "properly rotating your crops you can continue to raise good crops on clay land and at the same time increase its fertility. In summing up I would say that the rules for the best and most profitable management of our clay soils are: lst. Thorough under drainage. 2d. Deep and thorough cultivation. 34. A system of crop rotation in which a crop of clover is turned under every third year with the saving and applying of all the barn yard manure you can get. 4th. Never allow it to be tramped by stock in the spring of the year or when the ground is soft. PRIZE ESSAY KO.-7. Of the six or eight substances that chemists denominate earths, four are widely and abundantly diffused, and form the crust of the world. These are, lst, silica (silex or flint); 2d, alumina (clay); 3d, lime (earth from limestone); 4tb, magnesia (magnesium earths). The earths are unproductive when separate, but when decomposed and mixed, and to this mixture is added decayed vegetable matter, they become fertile and take the general name of soils, and again, are demoninated earths. Then if there be In them a preponderance of silica, it Is called sandy or gravelly soil; if alumina, argillaceous or' clay; if lime, calcareous, and consists of bones, marine shells, limestone and chalk; if magnesia, magnesium. These properties may be readily known by the intelligent, studious farmer by the plowing or spading of them. A sandy soil is loose and easily moved by the plow, little re tentive of moisture and subject to extreme dryness. Argillaceous soil ls hard and compact when dry, tough and paste like when wet, greedy and tenacious of moisture; turns up when plowed into great clods, and admits the roots of plants with difficulty. Its resistance to the plow is vory great, which makes the draft of the plow very laborous to the team, and is very difficult to pulverize. Calcareous soil friable and porous; water enters and leaves it with facility. The plant roots penetrate it without difficulty, and less labor will pnt it in condition for seeding than clay soil. Magnesian soil is light; porous when dry; ls easily worked, but like clay when wet is like paste and very tenacious of water It refuses though to combine with oxygen and alkalies. To arrive at an intelligent understand ing of how to manage clay soils, I thought it necessary to diagnose all of the different soils and see in what their component parts differ. To do this I have quoted from Armstrong's Agriculture, as above. Ci ay soils differ from the others. Frst, because of their tough cohesive qualities they have but little affinity for "extractive fertility," called "humus" ("dead animal and vegetable matter in the last stages of decomposition"), which Mr. Davy calls "extractive matter." This vegetable mat ter is the simple means employed by na ture to re-establish that principle of fertility in the Boil which the wants of man and the animals dependent upon man are constantly drawing from it. The mechanical relation between the soil and vegetation has been destroyed by denuding the land of its primitive forests, and not being properly underdrained, thus allowing the soil to "float away on the winter and spring floods," and by too continuous cropping and returning nothing back to the soil again. As you, Mr. Editor, have said, the clay soils of Indiana were at one time covered with a ricb, mellow mold (humus) and very productive, but this native fertility has been exhausted by excessive cropping and careless modes of farmiDg of tne past, and now the present owners have to Bolve the problem: How can we restore those clay soil- to their primitive fertility again? Any solution of this subject not based upon thorough drainage would be imperfect, and result in disappointment and failure. First, I would plan for a systematic and thorough drainage of such soils. Why? Because the spring and summer rains should be absorbed, or largely so, by the earth, and would be so absorbed if the soil could be rendered porous. Thorough drainage would lower the water level to within a few inches of the bottom of the drain. It would then get the full benefit ol the sunlight and heat in warming up the soil, which are lost in evaporating the superabundance ot moisture without drainage. Then the winter freezing would do its perfect work of breaking up and separating the particles that compose this clay soil In this respect "nature has been neither negligent nor niggardly. The alternations of heat and cold, moisture and dryness, have decomposed the mountains of primitive, secondary and tertiary formations, and by a thorough drainage these clay soils can be made to produce better crops than any of the soils, by adopting the three years rotation, clover, corn, and either wheat or oats for third year. English clover will give the best results. Set up the clover stalk and make everything else revolve right around it. Keep the clover in mind always. Don't be afraid to plow under a crop. Haul out onto your clay fields all the manure you can get. Haul nil those old, half-rotten straw stacks that have been standing in the way so long and plow them all under. Don't be afraid of injuring the soil; it ls just what it is hungry for. It will keep the soil loose, while the clover is pushing its way down into the subsoil and loosening it. Now, my brother farmers, if underdralnlne, clover, manure and "eternal grit" don't conquer the worst clay soil in Indiana, then I miss my guess. Thorough cultivation, as every good farmer knows, is one of the elements of success on the farm, and let me say here that it is more essential on clay soils than tbe other soils. I plow the clover sod in the fall if possible. Then in the spring use the disc or spading harrow first, then follow with the spring-tooth harrow. I plow in the fall because I can plow under half-rotten straw with less trouble than I can in the spring. Then the soil settles over the straw firmer, and it gives less trouble in I cultivating the crop. It makes a good seed bed. Plant to corn; give It level cultivation, and thorough, too. Sow to wheat in the fall, then follow the wheat witb clover again. By adopting this plan you get three crops for one plowing. The English clover will produce from two to four bushels of seed ner acre. As I said above, plow under with the clover stubble all the stuff can poessibly get. Don't wait for it to rot, but plow it under, and it will keep the soil looser than if well rotted. As I said above, thorough drainage, the clover plant, thorough cultivation and eternal perseverance will conquer any clay soil we have in Indiana. tain localities. It seems to me that the same material would produce the same effect without going through the stomach of animals. J. B. Lutz. Shadeland. —Few of the dictionaries and encyclopedias make any mention of the mad stone. Scientists do not believe in it. They say they have no evidence of any cure beiDg performed by any such means. People eay they have seen such cures, but that does not prove the fact. The scientific gentlemen want to see the stones themselves and watch their effect in cases of undoubted rabies, and they say they have never yet had the chance to do so. Hence they scout at the idea of such cures being made and say the mad stone is a myth, and so the dictionary makers leave the word out of their books. In the case you mention, the scientist might say that there was no proof that Mr. Gilmore would have had the rabies if he had not applied the mad stone. His clothing might have absorbed the poison on the teeth of the dog so that none of it entered his flesh. But so many believe in the efficacy of so-called mad stones that scientists ought to make every effort to investigate the subject, till they can say something definite about it, one way or' the other. - The Mad Stone. Editors Indiana Fab—kb: I am glad that Mrs. Buckley has given the location of the mad stone In Carroll county in the Issue of the Farmer of January 24. That there is •"irtue in that stone I have no reason to doubt. In 1859 Geo. Gilmore was bitten by a mad dog, and at the same time the dog bit a horse a few yards from him. Mr. Gilmore was advised to go at once to Delphi in search of that mad stone, which he did, and the lady who had the stone in her possession applied it the wound and it resulted or acted as Mrs. Buckley has stated, according to Mr. Gil- more's statement. The horse died nine or ten days afterward with spasms of hydrophobia, the eyes turning green and frothing at tho mouth, and biting at everything in reach. It was the most horrible sight in the death of a brute I ever witnessed. Mr. Gilmore lived in Lafayette for several years after the occurrence and told me at different times that he never felt any effect from the wound. It is said that this stone will cure snake bites also. Would it not be well to experiment with some of these stones and see whether they would not draw the "snakes" out of some people's boots? It may possibly beat the gold cure. It is supposed that tbere is an indigestible material in some of those deer licks on Licking river or its tributaries in Ken tucky, and that young animals that chew their eude sometimes in licking at those salty places, get it in the rennet or first division of the stomach, and it mixes with the curdled milk and is not of any value until the curd is gotten out of it, and leaves the stone porous, insomuch that it will swln in milk or water. This stone could accumulate in young goats or sheep as well as deer. It is Bald that the Mexi cans tfnd. thein in goats.; buV oply U* cer- Plow Deep on Clay Land. Editors Indiana Fab_—k: You wish the best plan for the cultivation clay soil. I have tried it for 40 years and in that time I have not mi*sed raising a paying crop of corn, while many of my neighbors have not raised good fodder, and my only plan is to plow the ground and cultivate tho crop. When I say plow the ground I mean plow from eight to 11 inches deep.and then cultivate just as deep. You can do this with a pair of 1100 pound horses. I tended 10 acres last season with two cultivations that made a little over 800 bushels of corn, that Is corn. Some of it can be seen in our crib yet. The reason that so little interest is taken in the institute is that so much paper and book farming is taught there and so little practical farming, a great many times by those tbat know nothing about field farming. A farmer has no need of commercial fertilizers, nor to be told about plant food. It is all there; if the farmer will do his duty be will have a paying crop every year. But if he lets the weeds grow on it in the fall he should not expect much corn. Jep. Morris, Salem. A 78-Year- Old Subscriber. —Our aged subscriber gives clear proof that In his case deep plowing and deep cultivation make good crops. We have always believed that deep breaking was essential in clay soil, but have agreed with tte majority of writers on tho subject that after the first cultivation the ground should be stirred only a few inches deep. Mr. Morris' experience agrees with that of another old farmer, now living in this city, who made heavy corn crops by deep cultivation. Now that the subject is before us let us get to the bottom of it and find out which are correct, the advocates of shallow cultivation, or those who run the cultivator from eight to 11 inches deep. The contestants for our prizes for Lest essays on treatment of clay soils all favor shallow cultivation we believe. As to the institutes, it is a mistake to say the talking is done by men who know nothing about practical farming. Most of the speakers in the institute work are men who practice what they teach, and have made farming pay. The Bridgeport, Ohio, glass works will resume in all departments March 15, after a year's idleness. The works will be run on the co opeiative plan, the exployes sharing to a certain extent in the profits,
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1894, v. 29, no. 11 (Mar. 17) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA2911 |
Date of Original | 1894 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-03-07 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | VOL. XXIX. INDIANAPOLIS. IND.. MARCH i7, 1894 NO. il. MANAGEMENT OF CLAY SOILS. [The numbers of the essays published refer to the order of publication, and not •to the awards. The committee has not yet made the decision.] PRIZE ESSAY NO. 6. As there is suoh a large proportion of clay soils in Indiana, their best and most profitable management is a very important question and one that should Interest every Hoosier farmer. Our clay soils are not. usually nearly so poverty stricken as they appear, but are more like the close natured miser, -who hoards up his -wealth, unwillingly giving up what little he is obliged to. Once when passing with a friend a field of soggy upland clay that had never been known whithin the memory of either of us to produce a profitable crop of any kind, my friend remarked, "there ought to be lots of wealth in the soil of that field." I said I could not see what made him think so and he replied, as he had known the field all his life and had never known of anyone getting much out of it, it must be in there yet, which seemed to be the case, when a short time after another man came in possession of the land, under whose management the field has produced good crops, above the average, over since. Since the unproductiveness of our clay ' soils is not so much on account of their lack of plant food, as from their poor mechanical condition and as it is almost if not quite impossible, even by the most thorough cultivation, to get land that at any time of the year is, for any considerable length of time, water soaked and soggy in the best mechanical condition and thus render the plant food it contains in the most available form, then the matter of first importance in the profitable management of a clay soil is to have it thoroughly under-drained. Only a small proportion of our clay lands do not need tile drainage, and this is where it is under-laid with a gravelly subsoil and is thus under-drained by nature. When 1 say thoroughly under- drained I do not mean simply the laying of a tile ditch or two through the low places to drain a pond or wet place that happens to be in the field, but the laying of one or more main tile drains not less than four feet deep through the lower parts ol the field with arms and branches of a smaller size tile, branching out all over the field, near enough together and of sufficient capacity to carry off all the -. surplus water so the ground will do to work within 36 hours after our heaviest rains. This thorough tile drainage to some seems like a great expense, but considered as a permanent improvement, which it is, or as an investment, the thorough tile drainage of land that needs it is better than bank stock or government bonds, for it is as safe, and will pay a larger dividend on the investment. It will pay annually 20 per cent or more on the original cost. It often makes all the difference between a good orop and no crop at all. By most people a mortgage is considered the worst thing that could possibly be on a farm; but if the farm has been mortgaged to drain It of its surplus water I would consider it much better to have the farm covered with the mortgage than to have the land covered or soaked with water, when it is time to plow or plant a crop. After we have got rid of the surplus * water in our clay lands, it .they then are * sufficiently fertile to produce a good crop of clover then their future improvement * and profitable cultivation become simple , enough. But If the soil will not grow a ■\ crop of olover then it is more difficult, for , we must fertilize it until it will grow. We must make the tlovor grow for it is the next, thing our clay soils need and must have, it we expect to raise profitable ecrops on them. A crop of clover not only brings down nitrogen from the air and pumps up fertility from the subsoil, but also when turned nnder furnishes a large amount of humus or vegetable mold which our clay soils all so much need. I think commercial fertilizers expensive and do not consider their continued use for ordinary farm crops advisable. Barnyard manure is our cheapest and best fertilizer outside of clover. Its only draw back is Its usually limited quantity. If you have a field where you can not get a start of clover and have not barnyard manure enough to fertilize it, then help out the barn yard manure by the use of some reliable brand ot commercial fertiliser u_ti} you can get a good crop-of clover to turn under. After you have grown and turned under a good crop of clover, then by applying barn yard manure to the poor spots and by deep and thorough cultivation and "properly rotating your crops you can continue to raise good crops on clay land and at the same time increase its fertility. In summing up I would say that the rules for the best and most profitable management of our clay soils are: lst. Thorough under drainage. 2d. Deep and thorough cultivation. 34. A system of crop rotation in which a crop of clover is turned under every third year with the saving and applying of all the barn yard manure you can get. 4th. Never allow it to be tramped by stock in the spring of the year or when the ground is soft. PRIZE ESSAY KO.-7. Of the six or eight substances that chemists denominate earths, four are widely and abundantly diffused, and form the crust of the world. These are, lst, silica (silex or flint); 2d, alumina (clay); 3d, lime (earth from limestone); 4tb, magnesia (magnesium earths). The earths are unproductive when separate, but when decomposed and mixed, and to this mixture is added decayed vegetable matter, they become fertile and take the general name of soils, and again, are demoninated earths. Then if there be In them a preponderance of silica, it Is called sandy or gravelly soil; if alumina, argillaceous or' clay; if lime, calcareous, and consists of bones, marine shells, limestone and chalk; if magnesia, magnesium. These properties may be readily known by the intelligent, studious farmer by the plowing or spading of them. A sandy soil is loose and easily moved by the plow, little re tentive of moisture and subject to extreme dryness. Argillaceous soil ls hard and compact when dry, tough and paste like when wet, greedy and tenacious of moisture; turns up when plowed into great clods, and admits the roots of plants with difficulty. Its resistance to the plow is vory great, which makes the draft of the plow very laborous to the team, and is very difficult to pulverize. Calcareous soil friable and porous; water enters and leaves it with facility. The plant roots penetrate it without difficulty, and less labor will pnt it in condition for seeding than clay soil. Magnesian soil is light; porous when dry; ls easily worked, but like clay when wet is like paste and very tenacious of water It refuses though to combine with oxygen and alkalies. To arrive at an intelligent understand ing of how to manage clay soils, I thought it necessary to diagnose all of the different soils and see in what their component parts differ. To do this I have quoted from Armstrong's Agriculture, as above. Ci ay soils differ from the others. Frst, because of their tough cohesive qualities they have but little affinity for "extractive fertility," called "humus" ("dead animal and vegetable matter in the last stages of decomposition"), which Mr. Davy calls "extractive matter." This vegetable mat ter is the simple means employed by na ture to re-establish that principle of fertility in the Boil which the wants of man and the animals dependent upon man are constantly drawing from it. The mechanical relation between the soil and vegetation has been destroyed by denuding the land of its primitive forests, and not being properly underdrained, thus allowing the soil to "float away on the winter and spring floods," and by too continuous cropping and returning nothing back to the soil again. As you, Mr. Editor, have said, the clay soils of Indiana were at one time covered with a ricb, mellow mold (humus) and very productive, but this native fertility has been exhausted by excessive cropping and careless modes of farmiDg of tne past, and now the present owners have to Bolve the problem: How can we restore those clay soil- to their primitive fertility again? Any solution of this subject not based upon thorough drainage would be imperfect, and result in disappointment and failure. First, I would plan for a systematic and thorough drainage of such soils. Why? Because the spring and summer rains should be absorbed, or largely so, by the earth, and would be so absorbed if the soil could be rendered porous. Thorough drainage would lower the water level to within a few inches of the bottom of the drain. It would then get the full benefit ol the sunlight and heat in warming up the soil, which are lost in evaporating the superabundance ot moisture without drainage. Then the winter freezing would do its perfect work of breaking up and separating the particles that compose this clay soil In this respect "nature has been neither negligent nor niggardly. The alternations of heat and cold, moisture and dryness, have decomposed the mountains of primitive, secondary and tertiary formations, and by a thorough drainage these clay soils can be made to produce better crops than any of the soils, by adopting the three years rotation, clover, corn, and either wheat or oats for third year. English clover will give the best results. Set up the clover stalk and make everything else revolve right around it. Keep the clover in mind always. Don't be afraid to plow under a crop. Haul out onto your clay fields all the manure you can get. Haul nil those old, half-rotten straw stacks that have been standing in the way so long and plow them all under. Don't be afraid of injuring the soil; it ls just what it is hungry for. It will keep the soil loose, while the clover is pushing its way down into the subsoil and loosening it. Now, my brother farmers, if underdralnlne, clover, manure and "eternal grit" don't conquer the worst clay soil in Indiana, then I miss my guess. Thorough cultivation, as every good farmer knows, is one of the elements of success on the farm, and let me say here that it is more essential on clay soils than tbe other soils. I plow the clover sod in the fall if possible. Then in the spring use the disc or spading harrow first, then follow with the spring-tooth harrow. I plow in the fall because I can plow under half-rotten straw with less trouble than I can in the spring. Then the soil settles over the straw firmer, and it gives less trouble in I cultivating the crop. It makes a good seed bed. Plant to corn; give It level cultivation, and thorough, too. Sow to wheat in the fall, then follow the wheat witb clover again. By adopting this plan you get three crops for one plowing. The English clover will produce from two to four bushels of seed ner acre. As I said above, plow under with the clover stubble all the stuff can poessibly get. Don't wait for it to rot, but plow it under, and it will keep the soil looser than if well rotted. As I said above, thorough drainage, the clover plant, thorough cultivation and eternal perseverance will conquer any clay soil we have in Indiana. tain localities. It seems to me that the same material would produce the same effect without going through the stomach of animals. J. B. Lutz. Shadeland. —Few of the dictionaries and encyclopedias make any mention of the mad stone. Scientists do not believe in it. They say they have no evidence of any cure beiDg performed by any such means. People eay they have seen such cures, but that does not prove the fact. The scientific gentlemen want to see the stones themselves and watch their effect in cases of undoubted rabies, and they say they have never yet had the chance to do so. Hence they scout at the idea of such cures being made and say the mad stone is a myth, and so the dictionary makers leave the word out of their books. In the case you mention, the scientist might say that there was no proof that Mr. Gilmore would have had the rabies if he had not applied the mad stone. His clothing might have absorbed the poison on the teeth of the dog so that none of it entered his flesh. But so many believe in the efficacy of so-called mad stones that scientists ought to make every effort to investigate the subject, till they can say something definite about it, one way or' the other. - The Mad Stone. Editors Indiana Fab—kb: I am glad that Mrs. Buckley has given the location of the mad stone In Carroll county in the Issue of the Farmer of January 24. That there is •"irtue in that stone I have no reason to doubt. In 1859 Geo. Gilmore was bitten by a mad dog, and at the same time the dog bit a horse a few yards from him. Mr. Gilmore was advised to go at once to Delphi in search of that mad stone, which he did, and the lady who had the stone in her possession applied it the wound and it resulted or acted as Mrs. Buckley has stated, according to Mr. Gil- more's statement. The horse died nine or ten days afterward with spasms of hydrophobia, the eyes turning green and frothing at tho mouth, and biting at everything in reach. It was the most horrible sight in the death of a brute I ever witnessed. Mr. Gilmore lived in Lafayette for several years after the occurrence and told me at different times that he never felt any effect from the wound. It is said that this stone will cure snake bites also. Would it not be well to experiment with some of these stones and see whether they would not draw the "snakes" out of some people's boots? It may possibly beat the gold cure. It is supposed that tbere is an indigestible material in some of those deer licks on Licking river or its tributaries in Ken tucky, and that young animals that chew their eude sometimes in licking at those salty places, get it in the rennet or first division of the stomach, and it mixes with the curdled milk and is not of any value until the curd is gotten out of it, and leaves the stone porous, insomuch that it will swln in milk or water. This stone could accumulate in young goats or sheep as well as deer. It is Bald that the Mexi cans tfnd. thein in goats.; buV oply U* cer- Plow Deep on Clay Land. Editors Indiana Fab_—k: You wish the best plan for the cultivation clay soil. I have tried it for 40 years and in that time I have not mi*sed raising a paying crop of corn, while many of my neighbors have not raised good fodder, and my only plan is to plow the ground and cultivate tho crop. When I say plow the ground I mean plow from eight to 11 inches deep.and then cultivate just as deep. You can do this with a pair of 1100 pound horses. I tended 10 acres last season with two cultivations that made a little over 800 bushels of corn, that Is corn. Some of it can be seen in our crib yet. The reason that so little interest is taken in the institute is that so much paper and book farming is taught there and so little practical farming, a great many times by those tbat know nothing about field farming. A farmer has no need of commercial fertilizers, nor to be told about plant food. It is all there; if the farmer will do his duty be will have a paying crop every year. But if he lets the weeds grow on it in the fall he should not expect much corn. Jep. Morris, Salem. A 78-Year- Old Subscriber. —Our aged subscriber gives clear proof that In his case deep plowing and deep cultivation make good crops. We have always believed that deep breaking was essential in clay soil, but have agreed with tte majority of writers on tho subject that after the first cultivation the ground should be stirred only a few inches deep. Mr. Morris' experience agrees with that of another old farmer, now living in this city, who made heavy corn crops by deep cultivation. Now that the subject is before us let us get to the bottom of it and find out which are correct, the advocates of shallow cultivation, or those who run the cultivator from eight to 11 inches deep. The contestants for our prizes for Lest essays on treatment of clay soils all favor shallow cultivation we believe. As to the institutes, it is a mistake to say the talking is done by men who know nothing about practical farming. Most of the speakers in the institute work are men who practice what they teach, and have made farming pay. The Bridgeport, Ohio, glass works will resume in all departments March 15, after a year's idleness. The works will be run on the co opeiative plan, the exployes sharing to a certain extent in the profits, |
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