Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around tbo Farm. Is it easier to prevent or to destroy weeds npon the farm ? A Georgia paper says that a bushel of cow-peas sown in May on an acre and turned under, in ninety days will be equal to twenty-two horse-loads of stable manure. The farmer is always ready to stand and talk an hour with a neighbor or friend, even in his busiest season. The merchant that would do this would be considered a poor business man. Many more grapes and apples, more in weight, in bulk, and in food value, says a correspondent of the Country Gentleman , can be grown without pruning or unnatural mutilation than with it. A vert handsome lot of yearlings, averaging 837 pounds, were lately sold for $4.15 per 100 pounds, at the Chicago Stock Yards. They are intended for feeding, and show that it pays to raise good steers. It should be borne in mind that every farmer who will take the trouble to keep up a tasteful appearance about his own family but stimulates his neighbors to imitate him. Nothing is more contagious than the desire for gardening when once it gets a footing. After a while we shall settle down not to think so much of size in potatoes as we are wont to do. Wo should bear in mind that perfection of form, smoothness and color of skin depend upon the soil. A sandy loam, well cultivated and manured with phosphates and potash, are what the potato needs. The soil of the onion beds cannot be stirred too often. There is no success without weeding thoroughly. No crop is surer to the experienced, careful propagator, none more uncertain to the beginner, than this. Better for the latter to gain his first practical knowledge by small ventures, or to place himself under the direction of those competent to instruct. It is related that, for use on the occasion of a golden wedding down East during the winter, a supply of “gilt edge” butter was engaged from a neighbor who keeps “crack Jerseys,” and that 110 slyly exchanged with another neighbor for Durham butter, which latter passed at table for genuine “Jersey,” received many compliments, and added to the local laurels of that breed. In loaning money to a farmer, if you wish the interest and principal paid when due, see the borrower’s house and bam in good repair, fences well kept up, fence corners clear of bushes, wet lands thoroughly ditched, com free from weeds, and wk eat from cockle. Such a farmer, if he has a neat and tidy wife, is sure to prosper. One who neglects all these never can.

Several correspondents write to announce the complete extirpation of rats and mice from their cow-stalls and piggeries since the adoption of this simple plan: A mixture of two parts of wellbruised common squills and three parts of well-chopped bacon iB made into a stiff mass, with as much meal as may be required, and then baked into small cakes, which are put down for the rats to eat.— Exchange. The Ist of May is not too late to sow clover seed, especially if it is sown alone. Id many cases this is to be preferred. The soil should be made as fine and mellow as possible, and the clover sown immediately after the harrow. Then a long plank, drawn sidewise across the field, will cover the seed very quickly, and will leave the surface smooth. In this way we have had a fine growth of clover, and a very close and perfect stand. —American Agriculturist. Hungarian grass is becoming popular again, and is now largely and generally sown for hay. The yield is very heavy, several tons an acre; and, if cut before the seeds form, it is one of the best of many foods for stock. The seeds are strongly diuretic, and, if allowed to ripen on the hay fed to stock, will injure them. It should be grown exclusively for seed when that is wanted. Being an annual, if sown late, in June, after other crops, it may be put in the ground when the crop of timothy or other forage is known to have partially failed. Chopped leuks or onions will be found an excellent raw vegetable food to give poultry for a change. They will not eat too much of this if fed to them often; if thrown out fresh and clean for a morning or evening feed, once in a while (without other food at the same time), they will devour it with an appetite. Its pungency is claimed by many experimenters to be an aid toward keeping the fowls’ bodies free from lice—the garlicky fumes of the onion oozing out through the skin pores after digestion, and the odor being offensive to vermin. At all events, this is a good tonic, occasionally, as are other aromatics, such as cayenne pepper, etc. —Poultry World.