4886 
ter froze solid in the troughs, and he asks if a 
barn 40x60 with weather-boarding well pre¬ 
served with paint, cannot be made warm 
enough,with tarred paper and an extra board¬ 
ing over that,not to freeze. It certainly can, 
though we should try putting on one thickness 
of tarred paper, then furring out with inch 
strips over the joints of the paper, and over 
these, if necessary to keep the cold out, put¬ 
ting on a second thickness of the paper, and 
over this the weather-boarding. It is cir- 
taiuly much cheaper to shut the cold out than 
to try to warm the barn with the sheep after 
the cold gets in. We suggest that, no matter 
how closely or warmly the sides may be cov¬ 
ered, unless there be an air-tight ceiling over¬ 
head, it is impossible to keep the stables suffi¬ 
ciently warm. Was not that the trouble with 
the place in which the sheep are now kept? 
As we sit writing, wc see two men going by 
with manure that cost them 75 cents per load. 
One-third is shavings and it must be hauled 
three miles from the stables where made to 
the fields on which it is to be used. These 
men both use tobacco, it costing each not less 
than 86.(KJ per year, and yet neither takes 
or rends the Rural,, because “it costs so 
muck,” aud he can't afford it. And then 
neither believes in “high-pressure farming,” 
as he calls our method. We wonder if the 
time will ever come when farmers will spend 
half as much to feed their brains as to minis¬ 
ter to u depraved appetite. 
COST OF MILK AND OTHER FIGURES. 
J. N. MUNCEY. 
During the past two years I have kept a 
set of double-entry farm books, and, aside 
from this, endeavored to determine by weigh¬ 
ing hogs aud calves, just how many {touuds of 
beef ami pork were made. Having these ex¬ 
act figures, and knowiug the feed consumed 
by calves aud the number of pounds of pork 
made from a bushel of com, I can readily ap¬ 
proximate the quantity of feed consumed by 
the cows, and in this way obtain a quite re¬ 
liable figure on the cost of milk. 
I summarize what has required considerable 
work iu reviewing the entire “Produce Ac¬ 
count” from my ledger: 
Corn ooUSUlritHl, Moll. 5, 
’H4, to Jan. 1. . 417 bu., at 28c. $116.71! 
Oats cntisnroott (approx¬ 
imate!. 121 „ at 20c. 24.20 
Oll-ineal cotiButnwl. 1,647 lbs. 20 29 
Bran consumed (actual), 26,722 at *lu per ton, Kifl’ui 
Hay (esttmatd), 28 tons, at $1 „ 112.00 
Tola*.*.S40S.25 
Pounds milk made from Mch, 5, ‘81. to .Inn. 1, ’S5..135,719 
bays’ milk of one cow for that period... 6,019 
Average 11 umber pounds per cow per day. 22 4 
.. .. cows for time mentioned. 20 
Number acres Timothy pasture. 40 
Rent value per acre be’re.. $2 to *2.50 
Pounds increase In live weight of cows. 1 700 
Value of Increase per lb., Hf-j to 2c.2)ii average. 
Deduct 843.09 tus the increase in beef value 
of the cows, and add #80 for posture, and there 
remain $457.40 as the cost of 185,718 pounds 
of milk. This is about 88 cents per 100 
pounds. The cows are grades, natives and 
full-bloods. They were fed bran all Summer. 
Some of the new milk was fed to calves, some 
used in the house aud the remainder sold to 
the creamery; 113,187 pounds sold for #804.00, 
a ini the return skim-milk (80 pounds for every 
100 delivered) was worth about 35 cents per 
100 pounds. I have made no allowance iu 
these figures for coses of abortion, damaged 
udders, or deaths by disease or accident. 1 
omit purposely the cost of labor, because every 
mau can approximate that for himself. I 
have had four cases of abortion in two years. 
One of that number was more properly a ease 
of premature birth, the calf being raised and 
sold for veal. 
The average weight of the cows is, 1,190 
pounds. Duriug the Summer the cows re¬ 
ceived a moderate allowauee of bran only. 
This saved many hours’ labor in driving them 
from the pasture. Very rarely was it neces¬ 
sary to go after them. During Winter they 
were fed liberally iu a barn, the temperature 
of which Is I8 C ' to 22'"' above zero wheu the 
thermometer is 85° below outside. 1 twrdly 
think the average temperature iu the barn 
would exceed 85° F. for December, January 
and February. They were turned out only a 
tew minutes during the very coldest weather. 
They were watered three times a day—that is 
l>est. The water was not wanned; but it 
ought to have been. Its temperature was not 
much above 40 c on an average, I think. The 
feed was not always mixed in scientific pro¬ 
portion. From these figures and facta, one is 
enabled to get a more definite idea than ex¬ 
perimental reports contain, because of the 
short time the experiments are conducted. To 
obtain any practical benefit from notes of this 
kind, each farmer should do a little private 
figuring to learn what his own herd is really 
doing and how it compares with this. 
Jessup, la. 
£l)f ijfrjDsmiUi, 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
SALT FOR STOCK. 
I am satisfied that the system of spasmodic 
salting, as practiced by most farmers, is a 
mistake. Too much is eaten at a time, and 
then a fearful thirst is caused. It seems to me 
that any person who has ever eaten a great 
deal of salt meat and then drank the well dry, 
would realize how a lot of salt now and then 
would affect stock. It is liable always to 
cause diarrhea, as it is an irritant in the 
stomach, and there must be a spasmodic effort 
of nature to throw it off. The large amount 
of water drank afterwards, if it can be had, 
is also injurious, and in winter time must chill 
the whole system. Many people think all of 
the old brine must be put through the cows 
somehow, either by mixing their food with it 
or sprinkling it on their provender. This is a 
most foolish thing to do. as it is liable to 
cause abortion, and the brine is worth more on 
the asparagus bod, or to kill thistles, or in the 
compost heap, tliau it can possibly be for 
stock. It is a doubtful question whether stock 
or people require salt at all, and if they do, 
it is a rrri/ little at a time—only a lick or a 
pinch, as the case may be. 
OH. FOR MORE MILKERS! 
Milking is getting to be a lost art. Hired 
girls don’t know how, or are above it, and 
hired men won’t. It will not be long before 
we shall have to do all of our own milking. 
In strictly dairy districts everybody milks; 
but where mixed husbandry is followed it is 
almost impossible to hire a good milker. 
Milking is an art. Families and races may be 
born to it, but to make a good milker out of 
common talent is hard work. Where time is 
given to the hired man, a fter tea and before 
sundown, to do the milking, there should be 
no grumbling. Young people ought to under¬ 
stand that on the farm to be uble to milk well 
is really an accomplishment, and one who can 
and will milk can always command better 
wages. A good milker can get one-third 
more wages where a nice lot of cows arc kept, 
and lie will more than make it up. A poor, 
slow milker will spoil cows, however good. 
With skill there should be a kindly manner, 
as a spiteful, mean person about cows is a 
curse to cows and owners. It won't be long 
before we shall have to import milkers, just as 
skilled labor is sought for iu the mechanical 
arts, or for special work. 
FEED FOR WORK HORSES. 
Twelve quarts of oats a day is as much as 
any horse needs or can digest well for work 
on a farm. With this the horse wants only 
half the bay usually fed. He will do lx-tter 
and do more work on a small amount of hay 
than wheu given all ho will eat. Cut food 
with meal is the most economical, and borees 
will do the hardest work on this food and keep 
in letter condition than on oats. Grain is 
much cheaper in this section than hay. and if 
plenty of bran bo mixed with the grain very 
little hay need tie fed. Horses will do well on 
oats and bran, or on clear oats. I have u 
horse which has been doctored for the heaves, 
which has lived all Wiuter on 12 quarts of 
oats, lie looks well and feels fine. My father 
once worked a “hcavuy” horse a whole Spring 
on nothing but oats soaked in water, and he 
gained all the time. When fed hay, he could 
hardly walk, the disease was so bad. 
HINTS ON FEEDING. 
I have found out tha there is no money 
in trying to fatten old cows or sheep, or in at¬ 
tempting to winter them unless they are 
specially valuable for breeding. I fed an old 
cow, and dnl not get half pay for the meal 
aud oats she ate. I have wintered some old 
sheep to get one more lamb, and they have 
b eu fed to keep them in as good condition us 
possible. 1 found the barn was too cold, and 
moved them to the pig-house which is much 
warmer, and here they improved. I doubt if 
they would have stood the cold. Two of them 
now have lambs, and when these were born 
they were fat and strong. It was oats, wheat 
bran and roots which made them so. The 
mothers had plenty of milk and no cake in the 
udders. If they had beau fed corn enough to 
have kept them up, aud to have devel¬ 
op'd such udders, they would have been fever¬ 
ish, aud the udders would have been swollen 
and sore. Two years ago l was taught a val¬ 
uable lesson in regard to feeding corn plenti¬ 
fully to ewes which were going to have lambs. 
It won't do. In some cases the milk would not 
start at all, and in others the lambs died be¬ 
cause, although the ewes owned them all 
right, which deceived me, they would not let 
them suck, as their udders were so sore. In 
many cases the ewes had to lie held whenever 
they got any milk, and it was some days tie- 
fore they would stand for them. 
Norseman:. 
TYING UP A HORSE’S TAIL. 
Figure 175 shows how our friend, Frank 
H. Rood, of Wyoming County, N. Y., ties up 
a horse’s tail so that it looks as if it had been 
docked. With a brush separate the short 
bail’s at the root of the tail from the long ones, 
Fig. 175. 
so that half mil fall on each side of the dock. 
Then divide the long hairs into two equal 
parts, as shown at A. Turn part a up the 
dock towards the tail and hold as shown at B. 
Now bring b around under the dock and lie- 
tween it and the left hand, anil over, as shown 
at C. Next bring a under the dock and over 
part b, as shown at D. Take hold of a and b 
with the hand close to the dock, as in D, and 
don’t let go until the parts a aud b have been 
wound up and the dock tied. Wet the ends of 
the hail’s and tie two knots or a double knot: 
now brush the short hairs over the dock aud 
you have a bob-tailed horse, and a much bet¬ 
ter-looking tail than one that is tied up sore- 
thumb fashion—and it is out of the way of 
the mud, too. 
CORN CULTURE. 
The best corn-grower in this community 
never fails to make a good crop. Sometimes 
his crop is much better than at others. This 
is due to the seasons, his cultivation being 
always the same. If the field he wishes to put 
in coni is weedy or sod land, he breaks it the 
Fall before, and then again the following 
Spring, deeper than the first time, as early as 
he can plow. Just before planting, he breaks 
it the third time still deeper, barrows, rolls 
and thoroughly pulverizes the soil to the 
depth of 10 or 12 inches. The land is then 
laid off four or 4 1 u feet each way aud planted. 
The growth is thiuned to two stalks in the hill 
when hand-high. When it is three or four 
inches high, he plows both ways deep and 
close to the corn. Two or three weeks later, 
when the corn is 10 or 12 inches high, he cul¬ 
tivates it shallow both ways, aud then leaves 
it to the mercy of the seasons. In giving it 
the last cultivation he endeavors to leave the 
ground as perfectly level as the implements at 
his command can make it. 
He never allows a plow to go in his corn field 
after the corn bus got knee-high. If weeds 
appear here and there they are chopped out 
with a hoe, disturbing the soil as little as 
possible. His theory is this: Thorough and 
deep preparation of the soil, that the moisture 
may rise easily by capillary attraction, wheu 
most needed, and that the young roots may 
be able to spread out in every direction iu 
search of nutritive food. The first plowing 
may be deep, because at that stage of the 
corn’s growth the young roots have pot spread 
far enough to be disturbed by the plow. The 
last plow mg should bo shallow that the roots 
may not lie molested. The ground should be 
left as level as possible that the spring aud 
summer showers may moisten the soil uniform¬ 
ly; besides, the crop suffers much less from 
drought wheu the surface is smooth and level. 
There is nothing difficult about this method. 
It is plain and simple, and will give to those 
who test it very' satisfactory results. The 
mau lives on a poor farm, yet iu corn growing 
he excels his neighbors who own very fiue 
land. The old farmer who has been in the 
habit of putting in the double-shovel up to the 
beam, while both plowman and horses were 
nearly suffocated beneath the heavy blades of 
corn already in tassel, w ill read the above with 
some degree of misgiving. Such men are un- 
divorcibly wedded to their idols. They be 
lieve.that corn and potatoes ought to be plant¬ 
ed^ the^“dark'of the'moon;” that the worm 
of a rail fence "should be laid in the “light of 
moonand that the “sign” must be right to 
jierform surgical operations on pigs, calves 
and colts; otherwise the animals will die. 
I hey forget that this is an era of enterprise 
and progress. subscriber. 
PEPPERMINT—ITS CULTURE, ETC. 
■f. B. ,L., Hudson, Mich .—Peppermint re¬ 
quires a warm, rich soil; the land is laid off in 
furrows 15 to 24 inches apart, and sets or 
parts of old plants, are planted thickly in 
rows; the plants are kept free from weeds 
until they cover the ground. The harvest be¬ 
gins early in August and continues until Oc¬ 
tober. The first crop of the field is the best, 
the second aud third being less- The fourth 
year the field is plowed, and the crop springs 
up from the broken roots. The yield of the 
fifth year is about equal to that of the second, 
and after this the land is diverted to other 
uses. The first year's crop is the best, not 
only because the plants are young and vigor¬ 
ous, but the mint is then free from a weed 
which is apt to spring up later, and which 
also yields a volatile oil, which is bitter and 
puugent and deteriorates the product. This 
is called mare's-tail, fire-weed and by several 
other names; botanically it is Erechthites 
hieracifolia, and somewhat resembles lettuce 
in appearance. The mint is cut with a cradle 
haviug two fingers, aud raked into cocks, 
where it remains 12 horn’s to wilt before it is 
distilled. The still is a wooden vat of heavy 
staves hooped together with iron, 4 1 feet deep 
and six feet iu diameter. The wilted mint is 
packed into it by treading it dose with the 
feet until the vat is full, w'heu the lid is fast¬ 
ened down steam-tight. A pipe entering the 
lower part of the vat conveys steam from the 
boiler, and another trom the top of the vat 
connects with a worm, as in an ordinary still. 
The steam being let on, the oil from the mint 
is volatilized, aud its vapor, mixed with steam, 
is condensed in the worm. The mixed oil and 
water are collected, in a receiver, where they' 
separate by their difference in specific grav¬ 
ity—the lighter oil rising to the top. The oil 
is packed in cans holding 20 pounds each, and 
a large share of the product is exported. It 
is used chiefly' for flavoring confectionary, 
aud in the preparation of essences, cordials and 
the like. “Essence of pepperment,” a popular 
“carminitive” for expelling wind and curing 
colic and flatulence, is a solution of the oil in 
alcohol, of a strength proprotionafce to the 
price. “Peppermint water” is prepared like 
other “waters,” by first rubbing up the oil 
with carbonate of magnesia, slowly adding 
water aud filtering—a fluid dram of the oil to 
a pint of water. The use of the magnesia is 
to finely divide the oil and expose a large sur¬ 
face to the water. Peppermint culture in this 
country was at one time confined exclusively 
to Massachusetts, Western New York aud 
some counties in Ohio; but later it was taken 
up by the farmers in Southwestern Michigan, 
where some years from 2,500 to 8,500 acres are 
devoted to it. St, Joseph County, Mich., and 
Wayne County, N. Y. have a reputation for 
producing the best quality, owing to the 
greater care they' bestow on raising aud 
handling the crop. The price of the product 
is subject to extreme fluctuations, as the trade 
in it is liable to fall into the hands of specula¬ 
tors. At one time the whole production of the 
country was controlled by a single firm, who, 
to diminish the supply, contracted with grow¬ 
ers to discontinue the cultivation for five 
years. The price is now quite high and very 
profitable. 2. Some parts of Sir J. B. Lawes's 
land, at Rothamsted, England, have been 
kept In a high condition of fertility, yielding 
heavy crops, for over 40 years, by the exclu¬ 
sive use of commercial fertilizers—nitrogen, 
phosphoric acidand potash in various combi¬ 
nations—and what can be done in one place 
can l>e done m another. Land can, therefore, 
be kept quite fertile by the exclusive use of 
such fertilizers. The quantity will depend on 
the condition of the land, the nature of the 
crops, etc., so that no particular amount or 
proportion can be mentioned without a 
knowledge of these. 
thinning potatoes. 
I have loug been in the habit of thinning 
my potatoes to one stalk in the hill; and a 
few years ago my 18-year-old boy, who did 
the thinning, complained that it was hard on 
his back, and thought it did not pay. At 
that time we had an acre of Feerless ready 
for thinning, so 1 told him to leave one row 
through the center of the patch without thin¬ 
ning, and we would note the result. We had 
a fair crop and I ordered rny men who dug 
them to carefully measure the potatoes in the 
unthiuued row, and also iu the rows on each 
side of it. The result was that each of the 
three rows made about the same amount iu 
1. WE 
