Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

t j Around the txrm. *• , Raising a Mothcemjess Oom.—’Ebe best IffidSr fat i motherteas colt is cow’s diluted with about twenty-five per Cesium of water and with a little sugar added. The milk, if possible, should be from a newly-calved cow. In addition, the colt might have thin gruel made of oatmeal ana linseed meal equal parts, fire linseed being reduced or increased according as' it is found that toe bowels are relaxed or constipated. The addition of a few raw eggs to toe gruel will improve it.— Toronto Globe. Water-Pboof Finish fqr Baw-Hibe. —As raw hide contains a large amount of gelatine, or glue, which is very soluble in water, it will certainly be softened by wet weather. One of the best materials to make gelatine insoluble is tannin, hence toe tanning of leather, which makes hide water-proof; however, it spojla the finish of raw-hide. We would therefore suggest toe use of a saturated hot solution of bichromate of potash. Hide covered repeatedly with this and exposed to toe sunlight (which is an essential condition to make it effective) will have its gelatine made insoluble without injuring its finished appearance, and wet weather will not affect it much. —Manufacturer and Builder. Packing Eggs for Shipment.—lt is only through careless packing that eggs get spoiled for hatching during carriage. They must be packed so that there will be no jarring. A good way is to have a box made of half or three-quarter inch pine, of such a size that toe eggs can be packed, leaving at least an inch space around them. Then wrap up the egg in soft paper, leaving a good-sized bunch of paper at toe end. Pack toe egg in oat chaff or some substance that win not shift and let the egg touch the side of the box. Bran is frequently recommended, but it has the objection that it shifts, and the egg is thus jarred and killed. Fine, uncut hay is a good thing for packing. The top of toe box should be screwed, not nailed, on.— Toronto Globe.

Exposing manure to air, either in the farm-yard, or, still worse, in small heaps in the open field, causes toe loss of a considerable amount of its beneficial properties, owing to the evaporation or escape of some of its fertilizing gases into toe surrounding air. By sowing a bushel or two of gypsum over the surface of these heaps, however, and then superimposing a layer of loam, toe deterioration, unless the weather be very wet, will be extremely slight. This, as it readily absorbs the volatile gases that are ever striving to escape into the atmosphere, will itself become rich, and may be advantageously applied to crops requiring animal or vegetable manure. The gypsum also arrests the ammonia which freely escapes from animal excrement, and retains it for the sustenance of toe crops to which it may be applied. Bulbs fob the Care of Sheep.—l. Keep sheep dry under foot with clean litter. This is more necessary than roofing them. Never let them stand or lie in mud or snow. 2. If a ewe loses her lamb, milk her daily for a few days and mix a little alum with her salt. 3. Never frighten sheep if possible to avoid it. 4. Separate all weak, thin or sick sheep in the fall from those that are strong, and give them special care. 5. If any sheep is hurt, catch it at once and wash the wound with a healing lotion. If a leg is broken, bind it with splinters tightly, loosening as the limb swells. 6. If a sheep is lame, examine its foot, clean out between the hoofs if unsound, and apply tobacco, with blue vitriol boiled in a little water. 7. Shear at once any sheep commencing to shed its wool, unless the weather is too severe. 8. Keep none but the best and see that they are properly attended to. — Exchange. The best time to sell, as a rule, is as soon as the farmer can obtain a fair profit on the amount of time and money expended in raising his crops. Experience everywhere has proved conclusively that it seldom pays the producer to become a speculator. By selling early the mind is relieved from anxiety, and can turn the more earnestly to the season’s legitimate duties; shrinkage and loss from vermin and other causes are avoided; the money in hand often prevents the necessity for running into debt, for which a heavy interest is always charged either under its proper name, or in an increase of price on the goods purchased; the farmer has the means for buying manures, stock, implements and machinery at the best time and figures, and of pushing necessary work, and making improvements on his land or homestead. Calculate, therefore, what your products have cost you in money aud its equivalent, time, add a moderate profit, and sell promptly so sqpn as you can realize the total, taking, of course, as much more as you can get, and leaving to others the anxieties and risks of speculation.