44 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



chloride of calcium, alum, copperas, etc., 

 find their antidotes in lime. Alkaline 

 carbonates and borates which are the most 

 injurious, rendering the soil-water caustic 

 and corrosive find their antidotes in gyp- 

 sum and land plaster. A little knowledge 

 and judgement will overcome all difficulty 

 from alkali. 



Buckwheat isan egg-producing food, but 

 a steady diet of it is apt to be overfat- 

 tening A Few Hens. 



POINTERS ON POULTRY. 



Grit must be sharp. 



Feed before you water. 



Do not feed glass for grit. 



Feed a mash the year round. 



Good food is positive economy. 



Clean out the feed troughs daily. 



Oyster shells are too soft for grit. 



Do not feed corn during hot weather. 



Never throw soft feed on the ground. 



Round pebbles will not answer for grit. 



In feeding grain in the runs, broadcast 

 it. 



Millet seed is a great egg-producing 

 grain. 



Always feed the mash crumbly, not 

 sloppy. 



The noon meal is not necessary during 

 summer. 



Do not allow the mash to sour in the 

 troughs. 



Beans are excellent feed, being highly 

 nitrogenous. 



A quart of feed for twelve hens is a good 

 measurement. 



Milk can be fed in any form sweet, 

 sour or buttermilk. 



Sorghum and broom corn seeds are ex- 

 cellent for a variety. 



The dried blood sold for fertilizer is 

 dangerous to use for poultry. 



Split the carrots in halves, and allow the 

 hens to peck at them at will. 



Have the feed troughs sufficiently large 

 so that all the fowls can find room. 



Beef blood mixed with ground grain is 

 excellent for both old and young stock. 



Popcorn contains more nitrogen and 

 phosphates than the regular Indian corn. 



Refuse crackers and* stale bread makes 

 an excellent additioru'to the morning mash. 



An Indiana woman played a joke on old 

 Dame Nature this summer, by induoinu a 

 lilac bush to blossom twice in one season. 

 Having heard that picking off the leaves 

 immediately after the bush had bloomed 

 in the spring would cause it to again 

 blossom in the fall, this woman tried the 

 experiment. Regardless, of the amuse- 

 ment of her sceptical friends, she stripped- 

 her lilac bush of its leaves, and succeeded 

 in making the poor shrub believe spring 

 had once more arrived. Accordingly it 

 again leaved forth and by the first of Sep- 

 tember, produced beautiful white flowers r 

 as perfect and fragrant as those which it 

 bore earlier in the season. The writer, 

 being one of the numerous "Doubting 

 Thomas" order, received by mail a small 

 cluster of the fragrant white blossoms, and 

 as "seeing is believing" is quite convinced 

 that the Indiana lilac did double work 

 this season. Whether it will blossom at 

 the usual time in spring remains to be 

 seen. 



W. R. Leigh's illustrations for William 

 Allen White's article in the November 

 Seribner's on "The Business of a Wheat 

 Farm" give a panoramic impression of the 

 immense extent of the great bonan/a 

 farms, and the bustle and activity of har- 

 vest time, when carloads of machinery and 

 herds of horses are used in cutting and 

 threshing the grain. 



An article by Mark Twain written in the 

 style of "The Innocents Abroad" and il- 

 lustrated by A. B. Frost and Peter Newell 

 is in the November number of M<-( '/itri''x 

 Magazine. The Mark Twain article will 

 consist of chapters from the forthcoming 

 book on his recent journey around the 

 world, and is the only part that will be 

 published in advance of the book itself. 

 It follows, those that have read it say, the 

 earlier Mark Twain manner, which is un- 

 doubtedly the most popular. 



