1884.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



67 



should be fed three times a day. Over-feeding 

 at long intervals, and especially with cold 

 food, kills a good many valuable calves. 



Mk. R. S. Bkmis, Chicope." Mass., bought 

 seven and one-half acres of land for S08.85, 

 sowed it to pine, chestnut and oak, and in 

 about twenty-five years sold the recovered 

 acues for .f750. 



It is all important to give early chicks some 

 flesh cut very finely, such as beef, bacon or. 

 mutton. Nothing seems so delicious to them 

 as these occasional meals, which they swallow 

 with great avidity. 



A GOOD cow may be a first-class milker, and 

 give satisfaction with liberal feeding, but she 

 cannot fulfill the expectations required of her 

 when all tlie conditions of food, water and 

 shelter are unfavorable. 



Do not base swine-feeding upon the idea 

 that pigs will eat anything. They are, indeed, 

 not very choice in their selection of food, but 

 growth and health are best promoted when 

 they are fed on a variety of food. 



A WRITER in Gardening Illustrated found 

 some tea roses dying, and on examination 

 discovered that the roots of a white poplar 

 had expanded under a hawthorn hedge and 

 beneath a border seven feet wide, and had ex- 

 erted a fatal influence on the rose. The roots 

 of the tree were three-fourths of an inch 

 thick at twenty feet distance from the trunk. 

 A case occurred under our own observation 

 where the plants in a circular bed of roses, 

 deeply dug and highly enriched, were feeble 

 in growth, and with few and small flowers, 

 although fully exposed to sunlight. The 

 difliculty was that some trees at a distance 

 had thrown their long roots into the bed. 

 Another bed was made, away from any trees, 

 and the roses removed to it, wliere they have 

 grown and bloomed luxuriantly. The first 

 bed was planted with verbenas, and these 

 have grown and flowered profusely, being less 

 sensitive than the roses. There is no doubt 

 that shrubs and herbaceous plants sometimes 

 become feeble and die from mysterious causes, 

 when the trouble is nothing but long roots. 



Salt around the roots of blackberries is 

 said to be a cure for rust. 



Canada converted 300,000 bushels of tur- 

 nips into difl'erent kinds of jams last season. 

 Nearly 1,000 head of polled Angus cattle 

 were imported into this country last year. 



Apples are being imported from Germany, 

 and we should be able to supply ourselves. 



Brood sows should have nice, warm» dry 

 pens, and should be kept quiet and well 

 beddded. 



Among those crops considered as exhaus- 

 tive to the soil may be mentioned tobacco, 

 oats, sorghum, millet, forage corn, etc., while 

 peas, potatoes, clover and peanuts are sup- 

 posed to increase the productiveness of the 

 soil. It depends, however, upon whether the 

 crops are totally removed or not. Grain 

 crops, when sold, and the straw removed, are 

 exhausting. Tobacco is usually all removed. 

 Wherever animals are kept to consume some 

 portions, by which the crops may be partially 

 returned in the shape of manure, the land 

 will endure quite a period of cropping without 

 being exhausted. 

 The English sparrow, according to the 



veteran seedsman, J. J. H. Gregory is a great 

 enemy of tlie seed-grower. 



Clover hay is much better for milch cows 

 than timothy. It produces a larger quantity 

 of milk, and also of a better quality. All 

 butter-makers know how yellow the butter is 

 which is made from the milk of cows fed on 

 clover hay. 



A FARMER of Enfield, Conn., reported to 

 the Connecticut Board of Agriculture that 

 from his one and a-quarter acre peach orchard, 

 set seven years ago, he has already realized 

 $2000. His peaches have retailed in Boston 

 at 20 cents each. 



An Ohio farmer washes his apple trees 

 every spring and fall with a strong lye that 

 will float an egg, and finds it to be sure death 

 to the borers. He claims that he has not lost 

 a tree since beginning this practice, although 

 he had lost several previously. 



The practice of mulching young trees after 

 tliey are set out seems to be growing in favor. 

 It keeps the soil cool and damp during the 

 summer, and prevents plants from drawing 

 from the soil. The mulch should extend well 

 out from the base of the tree. 



Do not expect the hens to lay when they 

 are left to scratch for themselves on the frozen 

 ground. Eggs are very rich in nitrogen and 

 carbon, and cannot be produced from notli- 

 ing. In order to procure a supply the mate- 

 rial of their composition must be supplied. 



Montana flocks increase in a fivefold ratio 

 every three years— that is, there are five times 

 as many sheep there now as there were three 

 years ago. 



It is said that Mrs. R. B. Hayes owns and 

 personally superintends at her home in Fre- 

 mont, Ohio, one of the best poultry yards in 

 the United States. 



Beet, parsnip, onion and dandelion seed 

 are said to be among those which must be 

 used when fresh, while cucumber and squash 

 seed are better when old. 



Cows that are about to calve should be 

 separated from the herd, and the food should 

 be of a sloppy nature, not too concentrated, 

 in order to avoid milk fever. 



Prof. Stewart states that ten pounds of 

 turnips, with one and a half pounds of corn, 

 will fatten a young sheep or lamb faster than 

 three pounds of corn alone. 



At a California county fair were exhibted 

 s(iuashes weighing 175 pounds, melons 60 

 pounds, carrots -2 feet long, quinces 4^ inches 

 through, and pears 6 inches long. 



Those who ai-e accustomed to using the 

 hoe for the garden will find the wheel hoes ex- 

 cellent for many crops, thereby saving labor, 

 and the work can also be done as well. 



The Poland-China hog, like all others, is 

 the result of various crosses. Their princi- 

 pal merit, however, is due to the Berkshire 

 and the big-boned China, the one almost the 

 opposite of the other. 



ACCORDINS to a writer in the Indiana 

 Furmer, the germs of fowl cholera enter the 

 system by the digestive organs, and they are 

 generally taken with food. The contagion is 

 spread by means of the excrements of sick 

 fowls or the flesh or other parts of dead ones. 

 Frequently, no doubt, it is carried consider- 



able distances by small birds, which are also 

 subject to it. No absolute cure is known, but 

 by proper use of disinfectants the disease can 

 be prevented. When cholera is in your neigh- 

 )orhood watch your fowls, and if disease ap- 

 pears remove the sick ones and disinfect the 

 yards with a sprinkling of water and sulphuric 

 acid, in the proportion of eight gallons to 

 eight ounces. 



A CORRE-'SPONDENT of the Rurul New York- 

 er describes the following method by whicli an 

 extraordinary crop of watermelons was raised : 

 Holes were dug ten feet apart each way, 

 eighteen inches square and fifteen inches deep. 

 These holes were filled with well-rotted man- 

 ure, which was thorouglily incorporated with 

 the soil. A low, flat hill was then made and 

 the seed planted. When the vines were large 

 enough to begin to run the whole surface was 

 covered to the depth of a foot or fifteen inches 

 with wheat straw. The straw was placed 

 close up around the vines. No cultivation 

 whatever was given afterward ; no weeds or 

 grass grew. The vines spread over the straw, 

 and the melons matured clean and nice. The 

 yield was abundant, and the experiment an 

 entire success. This is truly worth trying 

 next year. 



Vick's Magazine says that the best pre- 

 ventives of mildew on roses are good drainage, 

 high manuring, selection of strong varieties, 

 proper pruning and dusting with sulphur as 

 soon as it appears. It is contagious, and 

 some varieties are more subject to it than 

 others. 



When the rich, black liquid is flowing 

 away from the manure heap it indicates that 

 the most available and soluble portions are 

 being lost. Such liquids may be saved in va- 

 rious ways, such as through the use of ab- 

 sorbent material, or pumping it over the solid 

 parts as fast as it accumulates. The liquids 

 are more valuable than the solids. 



The question whether old cows are profit- 

 able when they have ceased to be of service in 

 the dairy is thus answered by the English 

 Farmer : " Old cows that have milked to the 

 very last are not worth mucli to the butcher. 

 If a cow of about 15 years of age could be 

 had for nothing she would hardly bring in 

 any profit by fattening, for in proportion as 

 her life become exhausted so will digestion 

 gradually fail." 



Crossing the Guernsey and Short-horn has 

 proved a very successful experiment, the re- 

 sult being an animal that produces a fair 

 ([uantity of very rich milk, while being used 

 for dairy purposes, and also an excellent ani- 

 mal lor the butcher when no longer required 

 for milk. It is only by systematically breed- 

 ing from our thoroughbreds that a combina- 

 tion of good qualities-can be secured in an ani- 

 mal, as scrubs possess not uniformity in any 

 respect. 



Orchard trees should be pruned before the 

 buds swell. We do not believe in pruning a 

 tree much after the first two years following 

 planting. But the tops should be kept so 

 open that the air and sunshine can readily 

 enter. " Water shoots" should be kept cut 

 out. Cover the wounds with wax or paint. 

 Thick paint is as good as wax, as it excludes 

 both air and wet. Mineral paint is cheap. 

 Some recommend shellac VHrnish, but we 

 have never tried it. 



