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. Adapting Corn Varieties.
. \Ve arc always learning something
' . : ' . . , now about the corn plant. One thing ,
' . ; . . ' ; . : new at least to a good many students
. of the corn plant , Is that corn varieties .
- tics differ so greatly In their characteristics .
terlstlcs that , success or failure with
corn depends on the selection of the
right varieties for certain fields. It
Is not unusual to hear of a man de-
J daring that the variety of com he
grows Is one of the most profitable
In the world and will give most aston-
ishing yields. The fact Is that he Is
growing It on a location that Is admirably -
ably suited to It. Wo arc now coming
to have varieties of corn adapted to
uplands and to lowlands. The lowland
variety may do very well on the up-
land In a wet year , but In a dry year
. , proves almost a failure , while the var-
: " 1 . " , . let , . adapted to the upland yields well
even In bad seasons. At the present
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time this differentiation Is only : beginning -
ginning to be made. During this sum-
1 . mer corn growers would do well to I
. . watch the behavior of corn on lowlAnds . ;
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, . " lands and uplands. At the present
' \ . . - . time we have only very meager data
"f" by which to figure out what kind 8l
corn a man should select for the bot-
tom lands and what kind for the up-
lands. Some of our experimenters
lire only now just beginning to studY
the corn plant from this standpoint.
We have however , much to hope for
tram our agricultural colleges In this
matter. The students are taking great
Interest In such matters and are _ n. . -
Ing up every phase of corn growing.
. This ' study of varieties Is one that
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\ may well engross the attention of
. : some of the brightest minds.
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" ' . ' . . Green Manure.
Green manure Is the name applied
to a crop that Is grown for the purpose -
. . . pose of being turned undor. Some of
. . the lands that are exhausted to such
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an extent that they will not bear good
' 1 < > " crops of grain yet will be found grow-
Ing up to some kind of weeds. Sometimes .
times this weed crop Is the best thing
that can be grown on the land , If the
farmer Is smart enough to turn It
under. It adds humus to the soil. Wo
have heard of fields that were prac-
Ucal1y good for J wining , yet were reclaimed -
claimed by having he weeds plowed
under for three or more years. The
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' . . . . . ' . - : tact was that the fields were deficient
in humus and nitrogen and needed an
application of both of these , which
they got in the green manures given I
In the form of the turned under weeds.
' ' \ . f The best green manure In most
, pauti 'of the North Is the clover plant.
But cow peas and soy beans are excellent -
. . cellent where they can be grown. All
" , , " j kinds of legumes are very good for
- . , .i : turning under , as they always add nitrogen -
trogen to the soli. Rye and such
things are sometimes used , but they I
. odd little or nothing to the soil ex- :
cept fiber , which is not taken up by
the roots of the growing plants. It
) may , however , do some good to the
soil mechanlcal1y.
Question of Speed.
The general farmer has little or no
Interest In the trotting horse except
In so tar as he may be used to cross
on slower horses to give their prog-
eny enough speed to make them useful .
- . tul as carriage horses. The farmer
' -Cannot afford to waste his time trying
to develop trotters. The trotting
horse Is not n farm horse , as his great
speed can be of no use except as a
means of gambling. Who wants to
drive a carriage horse at the rate of
a mile in two minutes ? What we do
want in horses for the farm Is the
. J. . . . speed that appears In the walking
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. . . . 'f- ; gait. If our fair managers wanted
' . \ . to really Improve the speed of farm
" , . ' horses they could establish contests
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In walking.
, See that the waste : land LE cleared
. ' 'i. up and put ; nto service.
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Seeds of Forest Trees.
It Is probably always best to purchase -
chase forest trees from nursery men
that make a business of producing
them from seed. But sometimes this
Is not convenient or advisable , both
by reason of the number required and
of the distance of the nursery tram
which the same might be obtalnnble.
For Instance there are Borne farmers
that have bare hill tops that they wish
to cover with trees for the protection
of the land. They know that the tree
that Is to be good for lumber must be
without
one that grows largely
branches and that therefore a large
number or trees must be started per
acre , most of which will be killed art
by the shade of their nehhbors. No
man likes to pay for trees and go to
the work of planting them and then
have most of them die natural deaths.
Ro the only way when a large plantation '
tion Is to be put In 18 to buy the
seeds by the pound if they can bo obtained -
tained or gather the seeds from ob-1
woods. In thousands of instances the
latter will be the plan that will ap
peal most to the farmer. Such seeds
should be gathered as soon 'as ripe.
If they are left till they fall to the
ground it will be difficult to get the
desired quantities , and often , too , the
over-ripo seeds will not grow at al1.
The seeds that fall are also eaten
to a great extent by various small animals .
mals , such as mice and squirrels. The
seeds are also moro easily gathered
from the trees than from the ground ,
IC they are left on the latter place 10r
some weeks , and the difficulty of piclc .
ing ! them up as soon at' ' ! they fall nat-
t.urally Is that they do not fall at one
time , hut frequently take a period at
weeks to mature fully enough to de-
tach themselves from the woody
atems.
The seeds that mature In the early
part of the Bummer should be sown
as soon as gathered , as that is the
way that nature does it. If such seeds
are left till the next spring they will
not grow at all. The keeping of
such seeds is one of the mistakes frequently .
quently made by amateurs. For the
late-maturing seeds the keeping till
spring before planting la the natural
and proper thing to do. Seeds with
soft shells should he carefully stored ,
but those with hard shells may be
planted at once or put In a box burled
In the ground , so they may be affected -
fected by the frosts of winter , which
are necessary to break the shel1s.
When seeds are planted they should
be covered with at least three Inches
of soil , especially If they are planted
In the fall.
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Horticulture In New Brunswick
The New Brunswick government Is
encouraging the fruit industry of that
country in a very practical way. It
has undertaken to furnish the trees I
for the planting of four or five model
orchards , mostly winter apples , and
a man will be sent to direct the plant-
Ing and laying out of the orchard.
After the trees are Bet the owner Is
required to sign an agreement to care
for the orchard for ten years In accordance -
cordance with the instructions of the
Departmeat of Agriculture , he to have
the product of same. These model
orchards will not exceed two acres
and it is planned to eventually have
one In every county.
Japanese Plums.
According to a report at the On-
tario station the Japanese plums are
proving successful as far north as
Georgian bay. Experts declare that
the northern line of the successful
growing of Japanese plums runs from
northeast to southwest. West of Lake
Michigan It begins at about the vicin
Ity of Chicago , slanting In the direction .
tion named. This will show why
Japanese plums have been so seldom
profitable in Northern Illinois.
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LIVE STOCK
Fattening Cattle In the South.
Any man that travels through the
South , especially If hQ Is acquainted
with the great stock raising lIstrlcts
of the West and Northwest , will bo
struck by the fewness of the beef
cattle he seeR on southern meadows.
Hero and there a family cow Is to be
Been , but , for the most part , the beer
animal Is wanting. Yet the South
needs live stock , and , on account of
the mildness of the climate , live stock
should be easily and cheaply raised.
This Is the view taken of the matter
by soma of the lending agriculturists
of the South. As a demonstration of
the ability of the southern states to
fatten and market cattle of high quality -
Ity the I.ouistana station undertook
the growing of 16 Angus calves which
they purchased In November , 1901 , in
Illinois and Immunized against the
Texas fever. The calves wore thet'
taken to Louisiana and Cell largely on
byproducts from the three great staples .
pIes of that state , cotton seen oil , rice
bran and molasses. This last winter
the H steers were sold 'In the Chicago .
cage market at the top price for the
wcelt. The journey to Chicago 1'C'
qulred six days from Baton Rouge ,
and some severe weather was encoun'
tcred during the trip. An the animnlo
took the highest price for the week ,
the natural inference Is that an good
beeves can be made on the by-prod.
nets of Louisiana crops as on the
corn of the corn belt ; and the byproducts -
products of Louisiana are cheap In
price , and lnbcr is I also cheap there.
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At Baton Rouge the beeves were
grazed on the pastures during the
spring and fall , but received all the
time an extra feed of the materials
wo have mentioned. This test was
of calves born above the quarantine
Une. The station Is now about to
enter on another test of feeding calves
born below the quarantine line , to
demonstrate that It pays to raise
beeves In Louisiana as well as to feed
them there.
A few ' tests of this kind will doubtless .
loss start the southern farmers to the
growing and feeding of cattle. The
great bugbear has been Texas fever ,
and it was supposed that no live stock
Industry' could thrive below a certain
badly defined Une. If the South goes !
Into stock raising , a new day will
have dawned there , and agrlculturo
In the South will receive a new 1m.
petus. There are northern stockmen
who have been for ten years predicting -
Ins that the farms of the Gulf States
would yet carry great herds of well.
bred cattle.
Wheat and Corn.
The wheat and corn crops of the
United States for the past 25 years
have been us tallows.
YearWheat. . Corn.
1878. . . . . . . . 420,122,000 1,388,219,000
879. ] . . . . . . . 448 , 757,000 1,547,902,000
1880. . . . . . . . 498,550,000 1,71 7,435,000
1881. . . . . . . . :83,280OOO : 1,194,916,000
1882. . . . . . . . 504,185,000 1 ; 617,025,000
1883. . . . . . . . 421,186,000 1.51,067,000 :
1884. . . . . . . . 512,765,000 1.795,528OO
1885. . . . . . . . 357,112,000 1,936,176,000
1886. . . . . . . . 457,218,000 1.665,441,000
1887. . . . . . . . 456,329,000 1,456,161,000
1888. . . . . . . . 415,868,000 1.987,790,000
1889. . . . . . . . 490,510,000 2,112,892,000
1890. . . . . . . . 399,262,000 1.489,970,000
1891. . . . . . . . 611,780,000 2,060,154(100
1892. . . . . . . . 516,949,000 1,628,464,000
1893. . . . . . . . 396,131,000 1,619,496,000
1894. . . . . . . . 460,267,000 l,212 , 7 70OOO
1895. . . . . . . . 467,103,000 2,151,139,000
1896..427,684,000 2,283,875.000
1897 . . . . . . . 530,14 9,000 1,902,968,000
1898. . . . . . . . 675,149,000 1,924,185,000
1899. . . . . . . . 47',304OOO 2,078,144,000
1900. . . . . . . . 522,230,000 2,105,102,000
1901. . . . . . . . 748,460,000 22,520.000
1902. . . . . . . . 670,063,000 2,523,648,000
1903. . . . . . . . 637,822.000 2,244I77OO
In land plants the branches of the
roots depends very much upon the
amount of free oxygen and available
plant food the soil contains.
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Don't Forget the GrIt. .
It would scorn unnecessary to remind -
mind poultry raisers of this very .
essential element in the feeding 01
poultry , yet a very large number of
people nnnually forget , and their fowls
surfer in consequence. This IA more
usually the case on the farm than In
the poultry ] estubllshment of the poultry .
try fancier. The reason for this Is
plain. The poultry fancier has to keep
this factor In mind the year round.
Ills fowls are kept shut up nIl the
time and have to be supplied with
grit to make ready digestion of the
food possible. But the fowls of the
farmer run out during a considerable
part of the year , especially In the fall ,
when the garden has passed Its bloom ,
the fruit Is ripe , and the grain Is har-
vested. During this time at least the
birds pick up all the grit they cnn use.
When the snow comes the grit Is hur.
led out of sight and Is frozen hard to
the soil when It In not fiO coverCll. The
farmer- seldom thinks of this matter.
It would not he hard for some of our
farmers to collect the proper Bub.
stance from pits of cOllre : : ; gravel , hut
most of them have no nearby supply
of such material. Doubtless the reall.
leEt way out of the difficulty Is the
Il\1l'cllnso of Tome of the commcrdnl
gl'lls. In any case \ grits must 1le'so' . .
cured or the food : used hy the poultry
will ho poorly ground or not ground
at all , and before spring the digestions
of the birds will he seriously Impaired.
We believe the lack of Is of 1
I 'yo _ ! "e ! . ? grit .Is one ?
the cillor causes or tile 'Inter Indls
position ' : of our ro\\'ll1. Also in the
summer time , lay In a store of grit
for winter , If It Is obtainable from
natural sOllrcos.
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Good Breeding Stocl
Very few men can make money out
of hogs If they have poor breeding
Rtcl. It. many ho that hero IInd there
a man can raise scrubs and make
money out of them hut It has to he
under conditions ( where the feed costs
prdctically nothing. That 11'1 ' not the
circumRtmce81IlIIer which mont of
our renders : are raising swine. With
thorn the competition with other
breeders Is strong , and feed has to ho
purchased often at a very llgh prtce ) .
This high.priccd feed must hI put into
an animal that can make the most
possible out at It lu 1\ short time and
this Is the Irelon : : : why good breeding
stock only IJ ! safe : for the farmer on
hlgh.prlcod Innd. Then the farmer
must have good breeding swine because .
cause he wants animals that will give
him numerous pregeur. It Is safe to
buy sows from men that make a business ,
ness of breeding and who consequent-
Iy feed their animals In a way to give
them both strong bone and muscie.
Such animals have vitality and tend
to produce a large number of pigs
rather than the small litters that
some are In the habit of bringing
forth every year. It Is no easy mat-
ter to secure the kind ot stock a man
needs. A good many herds will need
to be looked over before the purchas
es are made. The good animals will
cost considerably more than the poor
ones , hilt , for the foundation of a herd ,
the expensive ones are likely to prove
the cheapest In the long rUIl.
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Whitewash for T..rees.
In the New England states white-
wash Is frequently applied to fruit
trees , especially apple trees , and
seems to have the effect at keeping
oft fungus and fnsect pests. The
whitewash as used there Is generally
made by simply slaking the lime with
cold water. But it would be better
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to slake the lime with hot water. It
may he made to stick better by adding
some skimmed milk. Some even heat
Rome slue and when It has become a
thin liquid dilute It with hot water
and add it to the wash. This still
further . helps the sticking quality .