THE WISCONSIN FARMER.                                
             249

kernel or seed itself hard, they are ready for better implements than you
have been accus-
harvest. Picking is mostly performed by wo- tomed to use, may yet save you
from the dis-
men with aid of men's help to extract tie poles  a
from the ground, severing the vine some three grace of weedy fields and stinted
crops.
feet above the ground, and placing them upon
a frame over a box, which is subdivided into        Agricutura Fairs Agan
four apartments, and accommodates as many
pickers, with each a box three feet long, two  It is gratifying to observe
how sensibly the
feet deep, and eighteen inches wide, each pick-  ., 1. I- -     -



er filling the box two or three times during the
day, for which they receive from twenty to
twenty-five cents per box.
  DRYING.-The kiln for the operation of dry-
ing should be constructed with much care, with
stoves, and arranged in the room, and the hops
spread upon a cloth floor above resting upon
slats, where they dry in about twelve or four-
teen hours.  Hops in the green state, if left
standing long after picked, are liable to be-
come heated and change color, hence the kiln
should be made sufficiently large for curing as
fast as picked, at intervals of twelve to four-
teen hours for each kiln.



            Thorough Cultivation.

  How few farmers at the end of the present
month will be able to show clean crops of such
grains, roots, &c., as require cultivation ? Pro-
bably not one in fifty of all who are growing
such crops. Not that they entertain the lbelief
that the growing of corn, and potatoes, and
weeds is more economical than the production
of corn and potatoes without the weeds, but,
in most cases, because they have either cover-
ed more ground than they can cultivate well,
or because they will have been a little slow in
getting about the work of cultivation, and have
thus given the weeds an advantage which can-
not easily be overcome.



agricultural men or Inue cUUULIry) thrV bMetlg
down again, after two years of distraction, in-
to their accustomed channels of effort for the
advancement of the great interest to which
they have consecrated themselves, and are this
year so much less disturbed by the turmoils
of war than heretofore.  We would not have
them lose their interest in the grand struggle
in which, as a free people, we are engaged
with the demons of rebellion-for vast conse-
quences hang upon its termination-but we



would have them so far prove their wisdom and
patriotism as to devote all their practical ener-
gies to that interest upon the perpetuity of
which the ultimate success of the Government
seems now, more than ever to be staked.
  If we are not to break down the Rebellion
by great victories won on the field of Mars, it
must be done by an obstinate hemming in of
the rebels on every side, and by triunmphs in
the Felds of Industry. For the farmer, there-
fore, it is patriotic to attend to his farm until
his country shall call for his services in the
ranks of war. Industry was never so much in
need of the earnest efforts and enthusiasm of
its votaries.  And, inasmuch as agricultural



exhibitions have been found to be a very effi-



  If the fault has been in trying to do too | cient means.of advancing the
interests of prac-
much, it is now too late t'. correct it for this I tical agriculture, it
is hoped that every effort
year; but the lesson shouti not be lost, for wlII be made to insure their
success this year.



ten acres w'1 and thoroujghily cwfuivated will yield
larger anld nvzre profitafle relaras than .tifleen if
cultitated in a slitoshod manner.  Again, if the
fault has been in beginning too late, or oper-
ating with too little energy, that, too, is, in
part, beyond the power of correction; still, it
may yet be possible, by means of new energy
and persistent application, to make partial
amieuds for the failure; and this is the object
sought to be attained by this writing. A little
more steam. rightly applied, with, perhaps,



  It is possible that, after all has been done
that can by the most zealous friends of the
many Societies of our State, some of the exhi-
bitions will not be all that they otherwise might
be made, nor equal to some of the great suc-
cesses of the past, but what of that? There
is but little doubt that with proper effort they
may, without exception, be made to clear ex-
penses; and if they do no more than this, the
results can hardly fail to make full compensa-
tion for the labor expended upon them.



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