Lynchburg Virginian

WORK FOR OCTOBER.

From the information we have received, we are fearful that there are very many farmers who have not yet got in their seed wheat. This, we think, is to be regretted, as we firmly believe that much of the winter killing, as it is termed, of wheat plants, arises from the circumstance that the seeding is done at so late a period in the fall, that the plants have not sufficient time left to them to throw out and elaborate such a series of roots, as will afford protection from the uplifting influence of the thawings to which the earth is liable in early spring.

We are aware that many, very many, judicious farmers delay the seeding of their wheat, to avoid the autumnal attack of the fly, which not unfrequently sadly depredates upon the early sown wheat. For ourself, however, we would rather encounter the onslaught of the Hessian enemy, than to render our crop liable to certain injury from the breaking up of frost, whose unerring tendency is to throw the roots out of the earth and thus subject them to the danger of being killed by exposure alike to the mal-effects of frost and sun. In connection with the evils and benefits of early and late sowing, the liability of attacks from the fly, and the danger to be apprehended from winter killing: 1st. That if the fly watched as it should be, and the roller be passed over the field when it is in the pupa state, that little danger need be indulged from its ravages. And 2d. That in spring, when the farmer discovers that his wheat plants have been thrown out of the ground by the alternate freezing and thawing of the earth, that he should pass the roller over his field, so soon as he can do so without the ground being poached by the horses' feet. This process would cause the soil to adhere to them, encourage tillering, as well as vegetation generally, and impart strength to the stems. Although we do not recommend it, because we are averse from assuming the responsibility, yet were we to discover in the spring, that our own wheat was badly thrown out, we should not hesitate a moment, in the first place, to pass a light harrow over the field following that operation by a heavy roller. By this double process, we should feel certain of effecting the objects we desired to bring about, viz: the restoration to the soil of the inverted wheat plants, and the imparting to them a renewed and vigorous growth.

Knowing as we do the importance of the wheat crop to all who grow it—that most of them rely upon it as the means of meeting their pecuniary obligations, we feel more than an ordinary solicitude in their success, and hence it is that we recur to the subject repeatedly. And we will here remark, that all lands which may have been long in culture, or on which it may be contemplated to grow wheat, unless they have been limed, should have a top-dressing of that mineral, and that it would be all the better if a certain quantity of ashes were also added to such dressing. The occasion is also a very proper one to make the observation—that deep ploughing is an indispensable pre-requisite to successful wheat culture, as the deeper the pasture allotted to the plants, the greater chance will there be for the water to percolate through the earth, and thereby ensure a comparatively dry bed through the winter and spring, and lessen the injurious effects of thawing, because of the farther removal of the seat of the frozen bodies from the roots of plants.

Let us now turn to the consideration of a few of the many matters which claim attention.

ON THE FARM.

Wheat.—To those who may not have finished their seeding of wheat, we would respectfully remark that they should be sure their ground is in a perfect state of pulverization before they commit their seed to it. There is no soil, however tenacious, that may not be reduced to a fine tilth by the repeated use of the roller and harrow. Their ground being in good order, no time should be lost in sowing the wheat. For the preparation of the seed, the quantity of seed per acre and every other particular relative to the proper seeding of wheat we beg to refer to our remarks and advice as contained in last month's journal.

Rye. We trust that every man who intends to grow Rye has it up and flourishing; but if there should be any who have neglected to put it in at the right time, which is August, we would state that we once raised a very good crop of Rye from a field which we sowed on the 4th of November. The day after an intense frost came and froze up the earth. Our Rye was ploughed in 4 inches deep and did not make its appearance until the 10th day of the following March. We mention this fact to show that Rye may be sown as late as the present, and later, not to encourage any to delay doing what should have been done in August; in no nation, certain no farmer can prosper who loses sight of the importance of the rule of doing all things at the right time.

Pumpkins.—Be careful to gather your pumpkins before they are injured by the frost; put them away in some dry place where they can remain good until used up by your milch cows and hogs.

Hogs and Manure.—We mention these in connection as among the best manure makers to be found are hogs. As your pumpkins are now fit to feed and there are lots of fallen apples in the orchard, which will afford a supply of food for hogs, we would advise you to fix up a pen to accommodate all your hogs of a night. Haul as many loads of oak and hickory leaves in the woods as will give you at least a foot in depth of such materials over your hog yard. Have dug do it so as the centre is the lowest point. Confine your hogs there in of a night. Give them a good feed of pumpkins, refuse apples or any other vegetable matter, and by the time you will be ready to commence the process of fattening them, they will have converted every load in the hog yard into good manure, so that you may remove it, no place it with other raw materials and set them to work anew.

Cattle and Milch Cattle—See that your cow yards are well provided with the raw materials to be converted into manure through the fall and winter. Now is the time to commence the good work. Have your yards covered with sand 2 or 3 feet in depth of earth or mould and leaves, so arranged as it will absorb the liquid voidings of your stock—in every gallon of which there are the elements of a bushel of wheat.

Corn—Have your corn threshed out at the earliest convenient time, not that you may be in a position to avail yourself of the uses of the market. We make this remark now consequently if a farmer friend had told us some few weeks since that he had lost the chance of the late high prices, in consequence of not having his grain, 12 bushels, ready for market, so much for not doing things at the right time. The difference between prices now and what they were in June lost would buy his groceries and school his children for a year.

Fattening Hogs—No one should delay putting up their hogs to fatten beyond the time when they may have eaten up the acorns, as they take on fat much faster when the weather is moderately warm than when it is cold. Let no one fail to provide his pen with good warm, dry sleeping apartments.

Fruit Trees—Examine them, scrub them down with a brush dipped in weak lye, and then give their trunks a painting with a mixture made as follows: 1 lb. common soap, 1 lb. flour, sulphur and 1 quart salt, to be thoroughly mixed together.

Horses and Stock of all Kinds.—These must receive additional care, not forgetting that good currying is equal to quart of oats.

Planting in Orchards—Grounds intended for orchards should, the lands being ploughed, be sub-soil ploughed. Those operations being performed. If the ground has not already been limed, it should have from 50 to 100 bushels to the acre spread on it, when it will be in a condition to have the trees set out on it. The best manure to put in the hole with the young tree would be a compost made of loam from the woods and the scrapings of the road, each the to have about a gallon of ashes spread on the surface after the tree is planted.

Fences—Examine and repair these, as good fences keep up the friendship between neighbors.

Out Houses of every denomination should be thoroughly cleansed and white washed.

Fall and Winter Ploughing—Any stiff lands that you mean to put in clover next spring should be ploughed through the fall and winter. You must seize the proper time to plough, which is when the ground is neither wet nor dry. When ploughed in such condition, the land will benefit much.

Draining—All stiff, wet, tenacious lands should be drained, and the present is a good month for such work. A main open drain of 3 feet in depth, on one side of a field, with cover drains at intervals of 40 feet, connected with the under drain, would convert a stiff, intractable wet clay into a friable loam, and save the expense in the texture and quality of the crop, the very first season besides which, it will make the soil much earlier and render it more easy to be worked.

We have thus cursorily enumerated a few of the many things which require attention during the month and having done so, we would respectfully suggest, that every farmer should consider that he will not have discharged his duty, until he shall have spread 100 bushels of lime over every acre in his arable land, as no system of improvement can be considered perfect, which does not comprise within its means both liming and clover.