30 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Ducks for Profit. Only in excep- 

 tional cases should any more mature ducks 

 be kept than are needed to produce the 

 eggs necessary for hatching. Two good 

 drakes and ten hens, if kept in a good, 

 thrifty condition, will lay a sufficient num- 

 ber of eggs to hatch out a thousand young 

 ducks. 



A Necessity. Another year with its 

 usual dry spell convinces us more than 

 ever that something must be done, some- 

 thing raised on the farm that can tide do- 

 mestic animalsoverthese periodic droughts; 

 and sorghum comes as near answering the 

 purpose as any crop we know of. 



Overcrowding, wrong ventilation 

 and tilth iness of quarters are three evils 

 that will be responsible for many cases of 

 roup, diarrhoea or cholera among fowls 

 during the winter. 



Give Charcoal. Place a box of 

 coarsely pulverized charcoal where hens 

 can help themselves when they want it. 

 They will eat a large quantity in a season, - 

 and it has a cleansing effect on the system 

 and prevents many disorders of digestion. 



Holding Their Corn. Many farm- 

 ers throughout the whole country, who can 

 afford to do so, are holding their corn for 

 a better demand and better prices. 



The Wool Clip of the United States 

 for the year 1895 is estimated as follows: 

 The total product, washed and unwashed, 

 is put at 29 1-. 296.726 pounds, as com- 

 pared with 225,210,602 pounds for the 

 year previous. Reduced to a scoured 

 basis the total clip for this country was 

 125,718,690 pounds. 



Grain Weighing. A movement is 

 on foot to have the system of weighing 

 grain reorganized in such a way that the 

 seller will not be defrauded of a portion of 

 his grain by carelessness, or worse, among 

 those who weigh it when received at Chi- 

 cago. 



Warm Water Hanford Reynolds, 

 in Hoard's Dairyman, insists that "in the 

 winter time cattle, horses and other stock 

 should be given warm water. He urges 



that the ice water not only causes suffer- 

 ing but prevents fattening. 



Don't let the manures leech out and 

 rot out in the heaps around the stables. 

 Haul to the fields and meadows as fast as 

 they accumulate and you will be all right. 



// Worms are eating the grape leaves 

 a solution of white hellebore will stop 

 them. 



Simple. An Iowa farmer claims to 

 have saved his hogs from cholera by feed- 

 ing them pumpkins. He says the seeds 

 did the work. 



Electrical Incubators are the lat- 

 est idea in artificial hatching. 



INSPIRATION. 



[J. Laidlaw on the situation 

 central Western States.] 



the 



My fields of grain I drove across 

 To figure out my gain or loss 

 But all around it seemed I beard, 

 Said to my soul this curious word 



" Irrigate." 



I trod my dusty corn fields thro' 

 And picked the ears so small and few, 

 But every nubbin I let fly 

 Seemed in my dust-filled ear to cry 



Irrigate! 



My half starved bairns so thinly clad, 

 My worn out wife so pale and sad, 

 My ragged clothes my courage gone, 

 My shabby home, all seemed to moan 



Irrigate! 



And debts and duns were crowding thick, 

 And shades of sheriffs made me sink, 

 And merchants watched me keen and close, 

 While from their lips this word arose 



Irrigate! 



A tented wagon moving South, 

 Some poor starved victim of a drouth, 

 Or hunted thief me come to this! 

 I hear my wagon creak and hiss 



Irrigate! 



I raised my soul in prayer to Him 

 Who feedelh serf and seraphim, 

 To aid and bless across the uiglit 

 Flashed out the burning word of light 



Irrigate! 



Down in the sunless caverns hid, 

 My riches but await Thy bid 

 Go make the watery treasures come 

 To glad thy fields and bless thy home 



Irrigate! 



