of potash and ten pounds of phosphates. It will thus be seen that the crop makes the heaviest demand on potash, then on nitrogen and lime in about equal amounts and only to a small extent on phosphates. It ought to be remembered by every grower that nitrogen or ammonia goes to make the growth, the leafiness, the thinness of the leaf, in a tobacco crop and on a soil which fails to produce these qualities as much as is desired nitrogen can be applied with a benficial result. On the other hand potash and lime go particularly to thicken the leaf and give it quality and where these qualities are desired, potash and lime can be used with profit. Phosphates, however, go to produce seed, which is not desired in tobacco culture and as they are taken from the soil by the crop to the amount of only twenty pounds per acre their application for tobacco is not necessary. They are often applied in large amounts because they are cheaper than nitrogen and potash, but it is a wasteful practice because they cannot take the place of nitrogen or potash in crop production. These facts can be used as follows: A soil, like the uplands, which tends to grow a short, thick heavy leaf and on which the crop grows too slowly and the yield is too small, usually needs more available nitrogen; while a soil, like the bottom lands and black lands, which tends to produce a rapid growth making too large and thin a leaf, can be made to produce a smaller, heavier leaf, by applying potash and lime.

It seems to be proven that as a general rule there is no advantage either in yield or quality in planting the crop in rows more than three feet apart. Seedleaf is excepted, for with it provision must be made to perform the operations of topping and suckering. Therefore the question is, What distance should be given the plants in the row? In deciding this question the yield and quality, the length and thickness of the leaf ought to be taken into consideration. The more plants to the acre the greater the yield within certain limits. For instance, compare a planting made by the planter with four knockers with that of five knockers. The five-knocker planting would give one-fifth more plants to the acre and consequently require extra expense in planting, topping, suckering, harvesting and stripping, for one-fifth more plants per acre would be handled in all these operations. While the five-knocker planting would produce more leaves the larger size of the leaves of the four-knocker planting would result in as large a yield, especially, if the growing season was a dry one. A good rule is to set the plants several inches' farther apart than the length of the leaf required by the trade. The buyers now want Zimmer Spanish, for instance, to run mostly to long grades, from fourteen inches to sixteen inches after fermentation. The leaf, however, shrinks several inches in the curing and fermentation and the distance to plant this variety would be from eighteen inches to twenty-two inches. The closer the plants are set in the row the thinner and shorter the leaf and the greater the proportion of fillers and smokers, the farther apart they are set the heavier and longer the leaf and the greater the proportion of thick top leaves.

With local varieties heavy top leaves are more desirable than fillers or sand leaves and a crop too thick is better than a crop too thin in the leaf. For this reason it is better to plant too far apart, rather than too close. The richer the soil, and the less likely it is to suffer from a drought, the closer the planting, for such a soil can naturally support more plants per acre than a light poor one.

With tobacco as with other crops the object in cultivating is to destroy weeds and other foreign growth and to conserve the soil moisture. How many times the crop ought to be worked and in what manner cannot be definitely stated. However, on account of the heavy nature of the soil in this

locality, and the limited time that can be devoted in this latitude in the spring of the year to the breaking and plowing of the ground, the soil generally is more or less imperfectly prepared for the reception of the plants. Some of this work of loosening, pulverizing and aerating the soil to promote the production of available food has to be done in the cultivation after the plants are set. For this reason the soil cannot be stirred too often. The more thoroughly the soil has been prepared the less cultivation will the growing crop need. The more often and the later in the season the crop is cultivated the longer is active growth continued and the greater the yield. It does not injure the quality to work the crop until the flower buds on the majority of the plants in the row have appeared. After this stage it does. In the first two cultivations the cultivator should be set to run as deep and as close to the plants as possible, especially if the soil is packed. After the soil has been loosened and well pulverized to conserve the moisture a light stirring of the surface leaving a soil mulch of two or three inches is sufficient. This mulch should be maintained at all times. As the crop approaches maturity keep farther away from the row of plants. A safe rule is to keep at least as far away as the leaves extend out from the row. If the leaves extend out from the stalk six inches keep six inches away, for the roots of the plants extend at least as far out as the leaves, there being a natural balance in which the leaves shade the roots. In laying by the crop the practice of leaving the plants on a rather high wide bed is very good. It brings a greater amount of the most fertile part of the soil in contact with the roots. At this period in its development the plant is most active in gathering nourishment. Protected by the heavy foliage which provides a dense shade the plant sends out numerous delicate feeding roots near the surface of the soil, its most fertile part.

The time and manner in which the crop is topped has a marked influence on the yield and quality. One that is topped early, or budded, produces a dark, heavy coarse leaf and while the yield may be increased it is at the expense of quality. The best time to top is when the bud has shot upward on the majority of the plants in the row, but before the individual flowers in the cluster have opened. Other things being equal the best quality of tobacco is then obtained. Besides this the suckers do not develop as rapidly as when the plants are budded. All the leaves at this period also have been unfolded and for this reason it is not as difficult to judge as to how many leaves can be left and the work can be done with an economy of time. Whether to top low or high and how many leaves to leave on a plant depends on different circumstances. The finer the leaves on the plants the less expense in suckering and stripping, yet by topping to low the yield is often decreased and it is poor policy to throw away half developed leaves which in ripening would increase to a desirable size. Perhaps in no tobacco district of the country do the leaves increase in size and weight as they do in the Miami Valley. In many instances the growth of the plant almost doubles itself. This is due to the rich character of the soil and the barnyard manures used which remain more or less latent until this period in mid-summer when they reach their highest in point of efficiency. The richer the soil the higher the topping because the greater the number of leaves that can be developed. The next consideration is the vigor and thriftiness of each plant. The more healthy and stocky the plant the higher the topping. In the expansion of the leaf after topping much depends on the amount of moisture available. The greater the amount of moisture the greater the number of leaves that can be developed.

The time of harvesting is very important. At the time the plant sends forth the bloom all leaf growth has apparently ceased. Its energies are

turned to the production of seed. This is prevented by topping, and topping causes the plant to send out suckers from the axil of the leaves. If the leaves are to increase in size and weight these suckers must be plucked off, for they do as much harm if left on as if the plant had been left to go to seed. The plant continues to accumulate material which necessarily remains in the leaf. The leaf consequently expands and thickens. This continues as a rule for twenty-one days in this climate, the leaf becoming of a darker green color, more gummy and oily. Soon the period of decline sets in. The leaf becomes brittle and begins to turn yellow, giving it a mottled appearance. These are signs that the plant is ripe and the grower harvests before the leaf deteriorates. Tobacco harvested green not only weighs less, but is also poorer in quality than that harvested when ripe. Much of the tobacco raised in the Miami Valley is harvested too green, partly because of danger of frost, partly because of the demand for dark colored tobacco.

THE SILO.

BY W. W. HYSLOP, R. R. NO. 2, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at Donnelsville, Clark County, January 30 and 31, 1905.]

I want to occupy as little time as shall be practicable and leave most of the time for a long discussion on this subject. Why are there not more silos in Ohio? There is only one answer to this question and that is: The farmers in Ohio do not know the value of a silo.

It is a known fact that forty per cent. of the value of our corn crop is in the stalk, and when we know that why do we throw it away? By means of the silo we can feed our cattle as cheaply in the month of January as we can pasture them in the month of June. Ten years' experience has proven to me that that is a fact. In the use of the silo we do not destroy the value of the blade, we do not destroy the value of the husk, neither do we destroy the value of the ear in the least, but we do preserve forty per cent. or two-fifths of the value of our corn crop that is in the stalk and make as good feed of it as we can possibly make of any other part of the corn.

We have found no better feed for stock sheep; we have found no better food for brood mares and colts, than good silage. This last may be a surprising statement, but upon my own farm I can show you brood mares in fine condition and colts in a good, thriving condition that have not had anything to eat all winter but silage and clover hay or cut fodder.

The point I wish to make is the great necessity of all farmers producing their salable products as cheaply as possible. When we learn to produce fourcent pork with fifty-cent corn we can make profit on hogs; when we learn to produce four-cent beef with fifty-cent corn we can make a profit on cattle. The same rule holds good in producing milk. It was my great pleasure to hear Mr. John D. Nichols, president of the Ohio Dairy Association, at the State Farmers' Institute at Columbus, about three weeks ago, and that is the point he emphasized most.

Now as to the question of building silos, I will say, farmers, build a silo by all means, and if you want to be economical about it, build it yourself. When I say this, I mean, build it as you would a wagon shed. When we want to build a wagon shed we do not send to Michigan or Nebraska and have

some one frame it and ship to us and then hire a carpenter to put it up. Instead, we order the material as near at home as we can, get some help and put it up ourselves. Do the same way with a silo.

For a silo twelve feet in diameter and twenty-four feet high it takes about ninety staves of 2x6 stuff, dressed on both sides, twenty-four feet in each stave. Ninety staves make two thousand one hundred and sixty feet which, at twentytwo dollars per thousand (the price in Springfield) makes a total of forty-seven dollars and fifty-two cents for the lumber. For hoops or bands we use onehalf inch cable wire; the heavy cable telephone companies use to anchor large posts with. The cost of this is two cents a foot and it takes about forty feet to reach around at twelve-foot silo, making eighty cents for each wire. Then we have twenty cents for two eye-balls, twenty-four cents for two clamps and six cents for two washers, making a total cost for each band complete of one dollar and thirty cents. For a twenty-four-foot silo nine bands are sufficient to hold it. This makes the total cost for all material above the foundation about fifty-nine dollars and twenty-five cents, which is about one-half the price of a factory built silo. You certainly can buy as good lumber and hardware as a Michigan or Nebraska man can.

I only speak of that part of the silo above the foundation because the foundation does not cost any more for one silo than for another. Some build their foundations of stone and some of cement. Both are good and the cost about the same. I would not recommend the building of a cement silo at all because the interest on the extra cost of a cement silo over one of wood will buy the wood material for a new silo every twelve years, using the old hardware each time.

THE FARM TEAM.

BY P. P. MECHLING, GLENFORD, OHIO.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at Brownsville, Licking County, February 1 and 2, 1905.]

In this paper I will give briefly my experiences with the farm team and some conclusions I have drawn from them. I do not class myself with the breeders and yet nearly all the horses I have on my farm are of my own raising; I buy a few colts and some older horses, not so much for profit as for my own use, which comes first in my estimation, profit being of secondary consideration. After the busy season is over my teams get fat enough to please the horse buyer and I then sell the surplus stock. No doubt I could get higher prices by feeding extra, but, taking into consideration the use of money and the cost of feed, I sell without expense.

I find that I can "even up" a team better in size and color by buying than by breeding. I have tried three or four times for a matched team using the same sire and dam; the result being a larger and a smaller horse, or a horse and a filly, the only thing that matched was the color. In one attempt I had neither size, sex nor color alike. We have types of draft horses now that breed to a more uniform size than those we had twenty or more years ago.

It is almost useless to give the proper size for a team, for location has much to do with the question, also the fancy of men. Some men find it difficult to estimate the weight of a horse. I had a colt that weighed eleven hundred and eighty pounds at eighteen months and a neighbor guessed the weight to be nine hundred pounds. Were I to keep one team only I would

not want them to weigh over thirteen hundred pounds each nor to be higher than sixteen hands. I would have them rather blocky, the Normandy type suits me very well, although I should like a little more stylish ways about them. If I could get them with about one-quarter trotting blood I would prefer it. It gives them style and endurance. The size mentioned fills more places than any other one size. Such a team is heavy enough for all farm work, will do ordinary plowing, and in ordinary roads will pull two tons. That is heavy enough for our common wagons and the horses make a very good surrey team and are not bad in a buggy, single or double.

For usefulness it is necessary that the team should be properly broken. My time to break colts is in the winter before they are three years old; I then have them pretty well broken and their shoulders in good condition for spring work. Some people work colts at three years old. I have worked a few of that age, but they are not matured for the work and if they should be harder to break they are too young for the amount of work they should do to quiet them without hurting them. Now a word of advice as to the breaking. If your colt is used to the stall and has been haltered you are that much ahead; if not, get him in the stable as soon as possible. If you have other colts, even if not of the same age, take them with him, he will be more quiet. Try to halter him; if you cannotdo it throw a rope over his neck and fasten it so it will not draw tight enough to choke him; have the rope long enough so that you will not need to get very close to him; now pull on the rope just enough to let him know that he is fast, slack it and then pull again, and so on; pretty soon you can get a halter on him. A rope halter with a long rope is the best one to use. As soon as you can get to him, caress him and he will soon find that you do not want to hurt him. Pull him toward you a little and if he makes a step caress him for it again, then get on the other side and pull in the same way. Do not forget to keep on good terms with him. He will soon walk after you, but if he stops and you cannot get him to step forward, give him a pull to one side or the other and he will soon lead all right. It should not be over half an hour before you can lead him all right, out of the stable as well as in, but do not forget that you are handling a colt. After he is trained in this way he will not pull much when hitched to the manger. Give him several such trainings a day if you have the time. You can put on a bridle now, so that he will get accustomed to the bit; this should be done a day or two before you wish to work him; let him stand in the stable or loose for a time with the bridle and then you can put the harness on him and let him walk around with it on. Before you take him out of the stable, rein him up, but not tight. In this way he will get used to the bit without making his mouth sore. To get the bit in his mouth (which a colt hardly ever likes) catch your bridle at the top with your right hand and lay the bit on the left. Then bring your left hand up under his chin and catch your finger in the opposite side of his mouth inside of his gums and press; he will soon drop his jaw and you can put in the bit. This is a good way for some old horses and is very likely to break them of being hard to bridle. This may not all go as smoothly as it sounds, but if the master shows as much sense as the colt success will follow.

You are now ready to hitch him up. If you have a good, quiet horse to hitch him with put the lines on them and the neckyoke and drive them together for a while, starting and stopping often; speak to him often, he will soon learn to stop when the other horse does. When there is snow on the ground the sled does very well to hitch to, or anything that runs pretty easily; a log or a harrow is a poor thing to hitch to. Drive the horses to your rig and