Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1877 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around the Farm. We have never tried parsley on the table, but we know there is nothing better for pigs in summer. — Atlanta Constitution. To utilize feathers of ducks, chickens and turkeys, generally thrown aside as refuse, trim the plumes from the stump, inclose them in a tight bag, rub the whole as if washing clothes, and you will secure a perfectly uniform and light down, excellent for quilting into coverlets and not a few other purposes.— Morris Rural. I had three large bowlders in one of my fields. They weighed about three, four and five tons, respectively. I took some old stumps, old fence rail, several brush heaps, and the small limbs of an old apple tree—in all I had perhaps a little over half a cord of wood. I put it upon the bowlders and set it on fire, and it made them as full of cracks as if it were glass. The heaviest piece did not weigh over 100 pounds, and some of the smallest pieces did not weigh over five pounds. Some kinds of stones will not crack at all, while others will crack into a hundred pieces with less than onefourth of a cord of wood burned around them.— Ohio Farmer. Timber fen: building purposes or for the use of coopers or wheelwrights, should never be cut before December or January, when the circulation of the sap is thoroughly arrested. Immediately the tree is cut down, it should be freed from all shoots and branches, and sawn into planks as soon as possible, so that these may be at once seasoned by exposure to the air. By taking these precautions decay and dry-rot will be avoided, and the wood will keep excellently; but, of course, the advice is intended only for those who get out their own lumber, or can have it done according to their wishes, for the greed of dealers will force the cutting of timber at untimely seasons.— Exchange. The question how to apply superphosphate depend on what crop it is applied to. If on a crop that is cultivated in hills, like potatoes or corn, the superphosphate should be put in the hill and mixed with the earth before seed is planted, to prevent injury by contact. If for ridged crops, superphosphate should be sown broadcast after harrowing. The ridging plow will roll it inward and mix it with the earth. For drilled crops special implements are made, which sow the manure and the seed together. When these implements are not used, the superphosphate is sown broadcast and the seed is then drilled in; or the superphosphate is composted with the barn-yard manure.— lor onto Globe. '

It should be our aim to be as free from the evils of a fluctuating market as is in our power. One important step toward attaining that position is to raise all we can for the maintenance of our poultry. Oats are a surer crop than any other of the grains, and are excellent to grind for fowls, mixed with corn. Any poultry-raiser who is so fortunate as to possess a piece of land that can be used for this purpose should thoroughly prepare the soil for the reception of the seed, which may be the common, oldfashioned sort, or one of the new kinds, such as the Excelsior, Australian, or Surprise, which are full meated (weighing forty pounds to the bushel, and consequently superior to common oats, Any surplus would find a ready market at remunerative prices. Poultry World. Weed your Flocks.—Sell, slaughter or give away poor, scrawny animals, and it will stand you in pocket. If keeping poultry, keep only the breeds that lay most eggs or lay on most fat. Keep sheep that yield the heaviest fleeces or the heaviest carcasses; a scrub animal will fleece rather than benefit you. A cow that gives a pound of butter a day eats no more than a beast that yields a pound a week. There’s a great saving in selecting for the butcher those breeds of cattle that attain their maximum weight in two years, rather than those who take four to do it. The best breed of hogs manufacture a maximum number of pounds of meat from a minimum number of bushels of corn. A “plug” of a horse does little work before “he has eaten his own head off.” Three years ago a young Vermont farmer had a dairy of sixty cows. Up to last year he had weeded out twenty-five of them; and now reports that he makes just as much butter from the thirty-five selected animals as he used to make from the original sixty. Of course, he feeds and attends to tiie smaller number more carefully than he did to the larger, but there is a great saving in the extra food and attention that would be required by the twenty-five discarded brutes. — "Rural New Yorker. About the House. Crab-apple Jelly.—Cut in halves and boil in water till soft; two quarts water to half-peck apples ; strain and add one pound of sugar to one pint juice; boil twenty-five minutes. Canned Crab-apples.—To five pounds apples take three pounds sugar; make a sirup, and when boiling put in apples and boil until soft; seal immediately in heated cans ; no paring. King’s Pudding.—Beat six eggs; add one quart of sweet milk, one pound of white sugar, one dozen of soda crackers, four large apples, cut in very thin slices, and a little salt. Spice to taste. Bake about two hours. A few kernels of browned or a spoonful of ground coffee smoldered on coals in a sick-room or musty room will purify it in a few moments and for a long time. Let me illustrate, even though I use strong terms. A pole-cat was killed in a hen-house, and immediately coffee was burned on the spot; the atmosphere was not only endurable on the premises that night, but next day bore less of the stench than did places three-fourths of a mile distant.— Chicago Tribune-. A Remedy for Catarrh.—Dry and powder mullein leaves as fine as you would powder sage ; then smoke as you would tobacco, letting the smoke escape through the nostrils instead of the mouth. This is one of the best of remdies for catarrh in the head. It has entirely cured a case of over twenty years’ standing, when every other remedy heard of had failed to do so. It may require a little practice to let the smoke escape through the nostrils. Mullein will be stronger gathered before the frost injures it, but will answer even if dug from under the snow. It will also be found an excellent remedy for cold in the head.— Cor. New York Times. Doing Up Shirts.—First have the clothes well washed and well wrung out, and laid in your clothes basket; then make your starch—cook it until very thick; to every quart of boiled starch put in one teaspoonful of white sugar. Dip collars, cuffs and bosoms in the thick starch, just as hot as the hand can bear; rub in well; wring out, shake and hang up to dry. Fold down the evening before you want to iron. Before you begin to iron see that your irons are clean and smooth and your fire well regulated. Have a good clean iron-holder,

and a bowl of water with an old napkin in it on your ironing tabla. Take upti shirt; shake out well, as that helps to get rid of the wrinkles; iron all but the bosom ; put in your bosom board, 1 stretch the bosom out well, wring out your napkin and give it a good rubbing up and down; then iron it until it looks S. Wring out your napkin, give aner good rubbing, and iron as before; continue until the glossy appearance suits you, as I know it will if you only persevere. Don’t be afraid of rubbing with the wet doth; in that way you can do away with all Uie wrinkles and blisters. Iron collars and cuffs in the same way, and have starched things well dried before laying away. If you want to use what is called cold starch, dissolve the starch in cold water, dip the dothing in, roll up and iron as above. I have experimented with both, and like boiled starch best; it polishes better, is more pliable, and isn’t half as “ beardy ” as cold starch.— Cor. Ohio larmer.