Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around the Farm. Grathd horse-chestnuts, mixed with ten times their Bulk of water, will expel worms from the. soil in pots. over the Northwest, for slteg ont fruit trees, strawberries, entrants, raspberries, asparagus, and all permanent plantations intended to remain lor years. Every moment is now of value to those who wish to grow good fruit in after years. Wooden floors are objected to for poultry-houses by The Country, for the reason that they tend to cause the birds to become dock- footed, and, what is of more consequence, absorb and retain dampness from the droppings, and so prove a source of cramp and other ailments. Planting Peas.—ln light soil, for the main crop, they shonldbe planted much deeper than is the common practice. Try this experiment, as we have, and satisfy yourself. Plant some four, and some six, and some eight inches deep, and we think you will be satisfied that thoso do the best which are down five to seven inches. They are less liable to mildew, and they bear longer and more seeds.

Seedling Potatoes. —If you wish to raise new sorts, remember that they can be raised very easily, by starting them early, and treating the young plants the same as you would tomatoes. If well cared for, each of the best should produce a good yield of fair-sized tubers in the first year—we mean that there should be found six to eight pounds of tubers to the plant. —Rural New Yorker. When seeds, either in the cold frame in pots or pans or out-of-door seed-beds, come up too thickly, it is well to out off the first leaves with sharp pointed scissors rather than pull them up, which deranges the soil and interferes with the delicate roots of those that are to remain. The tiDy plants are, at this stage, dependent upon the first leaves for life. The same may be said of radishes, lettuce, etc., whioh, sowed too thickly in rowß, have to be thinned ont. Chickens a Remedy foe Insects.— For pickles, do not be in too much of a hurry to plant cucumber seeds very early. When the weather gets warm and settled the young plants grow fader. Arrange the matter so as to have several coops of chickens scattered around among the plants. If you have no chickens, borrow some, for there is no better remedy to keep away the insects than plenty of young chickens a few weeks old. No one who has ever tried it will be satisfied to give up this plan. — Moore's Rural. As soon as we discover aEy symptoms of gapes among our chickens, we know that there are worms—very small red worms—in their wind-pipes, and we give them camphor in their drinking-vessels strong enough to make quite a taste of the camphor. Then, if any get the disease quite badly before we discover it, we foroe a pill of gum-camphor down the throat, about the size of a small pea, and the fumes of that dose will kill the worms. No kind of worms can live in camphor—hence, oamphor must be a powerful vermifuge.— Poultry World. No medicine is such a complete specific for lice and other parasites on animals and fowls as the dust, and finest dust that can be procured, coal ashes being excellent for the purpose. Nothing is more preservative of the health of animals than dust, and in summer, when it can be procured by them without the aid of man, they always do best. It should be well sprinkled and freely scattered from the bead to the tail, along the backbone, using an abundance of this most excellent and cheapest of all cattle medicine.— Prairie Farmer. Rules 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 the mud or snow. 2. If an 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. Seperate all weak, thin or sick sheep in the fall from those that nro strong, and give them Bpecial care. 5. If any sheep is hurt catoh 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, apply tobacco, with blue vitriol boiled in a little water. 7. Shear at onoe any sheep commencing to shed its wool, unless the weather is too severe. Keep none but the best, and see that they are properly attended to.