Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around the Ham. Pasture is the most natural, as it is the most universal, food of sheep. In some countries sheep never get anything else; though feeding artificial food to a certain extent is remunerative. A correspondent of the New England Farmer induced the striped bug to “leave at onoe,” by simply placing “on the center of each hill a handful of ashes moistened with kerosene.” Seeds will germinate quickly at a temperature of 60 deg. Fahrenheit; but, for growing strong and healthy, a temperature of 50 deg. is better. Peas and beaus germinate quicker, and are less likely to rot in the ground, if soaked for twelve hours before planting. It should be borne in mind that every farmer who will take the trouble to keep up a tasteful appearance about his house not only pei forms a good work for 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. Rat and Mouse Exterminator.— A sure cure for rats and mice on a farm is a good supply of cats. It looks rather expensive to see fourteen or fifteen cats running around on a farm, bnt in the end you will be surprised to see the amount of grain they have saved yon. I speak from experience. We have had as many as fifteen cats at one time, and the amount saved by them would enable us to keep three or four times as many, if necessary. The Scientific American gives the following, which our readers, who raise poultry, will do well to heed : “Tut a table-spoonful of sulphur in the nest as soon as the hens or turkeys are set. The heat of the fowls causes the fumes of the sulphur to penetrate every part of their bodies; every louse is killed, and, as all nits are hatched within ten days, when the mother leaves the nest with her brood she is perfectly free from nits or lice.” The Live Stock Journal decides general questions as to cow food : “We have seen pumpkins fed quite freely, with excellent result in quantity and quality of milk ; but it is not fit or economical to feed too largely of any one food. Potatoes, fed in moderation, are excellent for milk; but, given in too great quantity, they will reduce the yield. Turnips or beets must not be given too liberally; corn-fodder, given as a sole ration, is Unprofitable ; but fed with half pasture will keep up the yield of milk and add largely to the profit of the season.” How to Feed Corn to Swine.—Although grains of undigested com are but seldom seen in the excrement of hogs, the long experience of some of the fatteners of hogs would go to show that for fattening purposes ground com is considerably more valuable than the unground. With the former the process of digestion goes on more rapidly, and the animals steadily increase in weight with a diminished amount of aliment. But the time consumed in getting the grain ground, and the miller’s toll—onetenth—mast be taken into the account.— Germantown Telegraph. To Stop a Horse from Chewing Harness —This and similar habits are among the consequences of some often-trivial derangement of the digestive system. The use of salt, and of some antacid, is generally sufficient to abate the nuisance. Keep the horse for a few months loose in a comfortable box stall, in one comer of which, upon a small shelf, place a piece of stone salt, and in another corner, also on a shelf, keep a supply of powdered chalk. At the same time, mix plenty of powdered aloes into the harness-blacking smeared on the parts of the harness or strap that he is in the habit of chewing. Western Rural. I noticed a few weeks since, in the Atlanta Constitution, the following remedy for blind staggers in horses : “ Turn up the tail of the horse and cut to the bone, crosswise, from hair to hair, about three inches from the root of the tail,” which it was said would afford immediate relief. Some two weeks ago, I had a mule taken with the blind staggers, and so violent was the attack that, had he belonged to any other person, I would not have given one dollar for him. As it was a desperate case, I thought I would try the remedy. He bled freely, and was better in two minutes, and was entirely well in a short time. Please insert this in your paper, and for the benefit of the public I hope it will be extensively copied.— Cor. Rome (Ga.) Courier. Self-Cleaning Stable.— E. W. Stewart has contrived a self-cleaning stable, which for twenty cows costs S7O, and pays for itself in two years in the saving of labor. An iron grating is placed for the hind feet of the cows to stand on ; the fore feet stand on plank. The gratng is composed of iron bars resting on iron joists. The iron joists rest on an angle-iron sill at the back side of the platform, and the other ends on a wooden joist under the plank. The bars are an inch thick, an inch and a half wide, and an inch and five-eighths apart. The platform is raised twelve inches, the gutter sunk eight inches. The droppings all pass through into the gutter below. The manure no longer soils the cows; that which had adhered to their flanks disappeared. The cows did not slip on the iron bars. —Country Gentleman.

About the House. Tea Hair Tonic.— Strong infusion of black tea, one pint; bay rum, four ounces; oil of lavender, one drachm; alcohol, four ounces; glycerine, four ounces. To Keep Lemons. —Lemons can be kept a long time in silver sand perfectly dried. Place the stem end of the lemon down, and have them three inches apart. Keep in a cool place. Antidote to Laurel Poison.— Strong green tea is a remedy for sheep poisoned with laurel. A teaspoonful of green tea boiled in water sufficient to make a cupful of the liquid, and given from a bottle when cool, is sure to cure. Cabbage Salad.— One cup of vinegar, one teaspoonful of mustard, one tablespoonful of melted butter and one egg ; beat the vinegar and add the butter; beat the egg, to which add the mustard; then stir into the vinegar, and pour over shredded cabbage. Fkenoh Loaf Cake.— Two and a half cups of sugar, one and a half cups of butter, one cup of raisins, one cup of warm milk, five cups of sifted flour, three eggs, half a wine-glass of wine, a little nutmeg, a small teaspoonful of saleratus; mix butter and sugar to a cream, add part of the flour and yelks of eggs, then the other part of. the flour and whites of eggs. Bich Waffles.— Take a teacup and a half of rice, which has been well boiled, and warm it in a pint of rich milk, stirring it until smooth; then remove it from the fire, and stir in a pint of cold milk and a little salt; beat four eggs very light, and stir into the mixture in turn, with sufficient flour to make a thick batter ; bake in a waffle-iron, butter them, and send to the table hot Cleansing Beds.— We have been renovating our hair matttresses this spring and finished the last one yesterday. They look as good as new and I am pleased to say cost us nothing except our time and labor. The mattresses were ripped on three edges, the hair taken out, put on the grass, well pulled apart and beaten with long whips. The tioks were washed and ironed and their hair put back evenly. Then, with a long upholsterer’s needie and strong twine, the mattresses were tacked down tightly in diamonds, the same as before, with a

roseate of blue or red "worsted tied in with each tacking. I "found it rather difficult in the first one to spread the hair evenly. Tht mattress, when tacked, was high in the oenter and with scarcely any hair in the comers so that I was obliged to undo part of the work. Profiting by this experience, I had no difficulty with the second.— Mrs. E. 8., in Rural New Yorker.