Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

There are great mifrty repot® weather of December toaztef thVbadi —and the CoßraOb b<|K|pß«hana IMP the cold snap following it ia likelyito d*» deal of damage next year’s W*Essmo Hooa—ijyjlllh 'Jxftlience in dressing hogs ia, follows: Ttigtyer cent, of p©A fro® adu|g, the liverweight of whi#b is above 650 pounds, 87 to 88; a hog liffewgigNi 500 to 650, 84 to 86 per centorif 300 to 400, ÜboHTout fffk the Hessian fly. It is doriaapt aoj but its: card may be seen of toe fall season wheat. fAnmmwK {ha* will “disturb the fly-fcr Btffcngthefr the' plant iA of use. When tfcfi ground is soft, it may be well teexrftl toe wheat, or to sow five bushels of &lt to the arte or fifty bushels of unleashed ash. Bomething fob Rats and Mice.— Sproral .correspondents write to anngupce toe complete extirpation of rats and mleef rom their cow-stalls and piggeries Bince the adoption of this simple Elan: a mixture of two parts of wellrimed common squills and three parts of finely-chopped Dacon is made into a stiff masfl, with as mifteh meal as may be and then baked into small cakes, which are put down for" the rats to eat.— English Standard. * , . ; i : Draining a. Hollow. —To drain a dermr,water, and the lay of the land is unfatcfrable for ordinary methods of drainagfff first dig a "hole", as if for a well, through the impervious stratum at the bottom’ of the hollow, fill it up to the brjm. with.rejiuse stones, remove the excavated earth so as to allow the surface water free access to the pit, and standing water will never injure the grass or grain crop in that part of the field. Hon. C. E. Writing, of Monona county, lowa, says* and truly, that he is very positive tliat his experience teaches him that, with wide timber belts around his fields, the balance of the lands will produce more grass, more com, or more wheat than the whole land would without toe wind belts. And as his belts increase in height he finds an increased visible benefit to his crops. And he finds in his large experience that onr cultivated forest trees year after year grow right along with immense rapidity in blissful ignorance of the reason why they should not grow. — Prairie Farmer. Mr. James Burnell, of Pacheco, has adopted for pcver&J years a method of sowing wheat which has never been described in tLe patent Office, but which we have heard has been practiced and advocated by some of our farmers. He fastens a common sack of seed in front of him, on horsebaok, attaches his feet to guide reins and uses both hands in throwing the grain broadcast, right and left, in such quantity as suits him. Being elevated from the ground the seed obtains a wide spread. He says he can sow twenty acres a day without much fatigue in this way.— Pacfiie Rural Press. It- is not in November or December that cur shrubs and flowers want our protecting care; we merely apply it then as a matter of convenience, but now—February till April. Tender nursing caisnot becemmended, as we may be likely to kill with kindness. Providing a little mulching of leaves, litter/manure, sedge-grass, earth or ashes has been applied over the roots, a few hemlock, spruce, ( or other evergreen twigs or branches placed right over the plants, greatly preserve them from injury. In the absence of evergreen branches, any twiggy branches will prove useful, as will also thinly-made umbrella-shaped straw thatches.— Moore's Rural. Selecting Seed Corn. —l have been improving my corn by selecting toe first ears that get ripe, and this is my seventh year since I began this practice, always planting the largest and best-developed ears; 1 For the last seven years I have rejected the tips and butts of the ears, shelling off all grains that are not well developed. To-day I have as good, sound, well-developed ears as any man can raise, and filled to the very tip—so much so that there is no room for another grain. I have also made my corn, much earlier by gathering the first ears that get ripe. The reason why I reject the tip grains is this—they are not so well developed and will not come np so strong and make so rank a growth.— Letter to Ohio Farmer.