Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1877 — Around the Farm. [ARTICLE]

Around the Farm.

Tempering Steel for Rock Drilling. —ln tempering steel for rock drilling be careful not to overheat it in hardening and forging, and finally quench in saltwater.— American Cultivator. The Potter Journal says that the farmers in that part of Pennsylvania have discovered that the thrush will not only eat the potato bugs, but that it soon succeeds in exterminating that pest. Cobn as Human Food.—One pound of corn is equal as food to three and three-quarters pounds of potatoes, or eight and one-half pounds of cabbage, or eleven and one-half pounds of white turnips.— Germantown Telegraph. A Pennsylvania butter-maker tests his salt by dissolving a little in a glass tumbler; if the brine formed is clear and free from bitter taste, he pronounces the salt good; if, on the other hand, it presents a milky appearance, leaves any sediment or throws scum to the surface, he rejects it.— Chatham Courier. Are Potato Beetles Poisonous ? A question is: “Are the beetles and larvae poisonous?” The juices of the insect on the human’skin “ are as a rule harmless,” says Riley, “yet the rule is not without exceptions.” But the exhalations resulting from bruising and crushing large masses of them, or of burning or scalding large numbers at a time, have, when breathed, frequently proved fatal. They should be avoided. —Maine Farmer. Straight paths and stiff rows of shrubs and flowers should not be left to remind one of plats in a graveyard. Walks should wind up among the trees and shrubs, as the path winds on through the beautiful groves God has made. The child will carry with him the sweet visions of such a home to the ends of the earth. In that nook of beauty will be laid his scenes of fancy and fiction. Around it will cluster the memories of guidance and love.— Dr. IF. IF. Newell. After experimenting with all varieties of com, sowing broadcast, in drills, and cultivating by hoeing it, I have come to the conclusion that the best and most profitable way to raise com fodder is to plant sweet corn, put your rows three feet apart, plant thick, not more than two feet apart, put in six to eight stalks to a hill, manure heavily, keep it clear of weeds, hoe two or three times, and you will not fail to have an abundant crop of the best kind of fodder for milch cows. —New England Homestead. Feeding for Manure.—We must not forget that in all food, rich or poor, there is a certain amount of indigestible matter, and some of this contains elements as rich in plant food as that which is digested. This also tends to still further enrich the manure pile. Linseed meal, cotton-seed meal and com meal are the articles generally used as food for fattening cattle, and, while these contain the elements of fat, they are also rich in the elements of nitrogen and minerals, which are so necessary for plant growth.— Cor. hew England Farmer. Sometimes in dragging drilled wheat lengthwise a single tooth will get into a row and drag up all the plants in it, while when the harrow is dragged across the rows the wheat is not dragged out, as the teeth are all evenly supported, and do not touch at a time more than a single plant. Harrowing wheat in the spring is only a light hoeing that breaks the crust of the ground and exposes the soil to the air, and hence promotes the growth of the young plant by encouraging it to push out its roots. The wheat hoe following as a second operation, ought to have a very salutary effect on the growth of the wheat plant at that season, aiding to make more roots and to stool out for a longer season. At the same time the very stirring of the soil makes it moie able to sustain a greater growth, and to retain the rains and dews while resisting with iron power the heat of the sun. On clay soils that are apt to crust over and become baked in the spring it is a most effective operation, leaving the soil in a good condition for the whole season of the growth of the wheat plant und up to its ripening. The advantage of hoeing wheat ought to Be more thoroughly tested in this State than it has yet been.— Michigan Farmer.