Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around the Farm. An Indiana fanner advises planting a few hills of broom-corn, as experience has taught him that for tying shocks or binding fodder this is very much preferable to twine or rye straw. When you see a farmer driving his work instead of his work driving him, it shows that he will never *be driven from good resolutions, and that he will certainly work his way to prosperity. If you are a farmer be a good one. Farm well. Have a good orchard, good garden, good stock, and an intelligent family. Be intelligent yourself, and thus secure the respect of all who know you.— Plowman. Thomas Meehan says the objection against watering when the sun shines on the plants is a purely theoretical one, and appears only in the writings of those who have had but little actual experience. His advice is to water whenever the plants need it. Break hard putty into lumps about the size of hen’s eggs, place in kettle, cover with water and a little linseed oil; boil ten minutes, stirring when hot; pour off the water, and the result, we are informed, will be putty as pliable as when freshly made. A Western gardener says he has saved every one of his cucumber, melon and cabbage plants, during the past five years, and also repelled the potato beetle, by sprinkling with water impregnated with gas tar, repeating the application if washed off by rain.

Many growers do not consider a very early and vigorous growth of the hop vine as indication of a bountiful yield, as the vine often becomes hollow, and sends out unhealthy arms. Some producers are in the habit of removing the earliest shoots to give place to the later and more solid vines. Mention is made in the latest report of the Western New York Horticultural Society of a man who planted quinces, whieh grew well but never bore. Resolved that they should no longer cumber the ground, he poured around them brine from old pork barrels, with intent to kill. He builded better than he knew. The next seaaon the trees were so loaded with fruit that the overburdened branches had to be propped up.

Killing Potato Bugs.—A correspondent of the Country Gentleman says: As the war with potato bugs will soon commence, I will tell my way: Take a light box (a tea-box will do); nail narrow strips of board obliquely across the ends, the upper ends sticking above the upper comers of the box far enough to nail on a cross strip for a handle, so that the side from you will hang the lowest. Take an old broom with a short handle in the other hand ; walk between the rows, brush the bugs into the box and bury them six inches deep, and stamp the earth over them, and they will not trouble you any more. The majority of farmers bend all their energies to producing heavy crops. Everything is crowded tow ard that one end, and in almost all cases the result is an inferior quality. When, however, a prize at an annual fair is to be competed for, quality not quantity is aimed at. What is the inducement in this case ? The money premium, of course. Well, what is the inducement in growing regular crops, but the money price in the public market? And now, again, what is the difference between the two ? Why is not every crop grown for quality? Why should we only under the stimulus of a local exhibition prove that we can grow a good article, and then at once go home and prove that we won’t ? Every man’s experience is, that a good article always pays; then why are poor ones taken to market ? There is but one answer to these questions.—N. Rufus Mason, in Moore's Rural.

Raising Artichokes for Hogs.— Select a field that you do not intend to use for any other purpose, for when once planted it is difficult to get artichokes out of the land. It will produce plants from seed left in the ground. If it were turned to pasture of course the plants would soon die out; but it is better to fence off a portion, plow it up and plant it in artichokes, and every fall let the hogs into the artichoke lot to feast upon the tubers. Late in the spring plow and harrow the lot, keep the hogs out till fall, and there will be a crop of artichokes again to feed the hogs the following winter. If before frost the stocks are cut, cured and stacked up, they will furnish excellent forage for horses, cattle and sheep. They can be dug like potatoes and fed to hogs cooked, which is an improvement. Plant in rows three feet apart, and fifteen inches apart in the row, and run a cultivator between the rows a few times in the spring to destroy the weeds.— Exchange.

About the House. Souffle means something puffed up, and is generally applied to a light kind of pudding made with any kind of farinaceous substance. Potato Noodles.—Grate one dozen of boiled potatoes, add two eggs, a little salt, one half cup of milk, enough flour to knead stiff, then cut in small pieces, and roll long and round, one inch thick, fry in plenty of lard to a nice brown. Egg Toast.—Take and beat up five eggs in a good-sized pan, put a pint of milk in another, then toast seven or eight slices of bread, dip in the milk, then in the egg, fry in hot lard, put on a hot plate and sprinkle with sugar. Very nice for breakfast.

Ants.—Being acid themselves, alkalies are obnoxious; hence chalk, lime or soda are useful, but kerosene oil is infallible when it crosses “their line of march. ” A dish of hickory-nuts will attract the large black ones, and they can be destroyed. To Remove Flesh Moles.—Apply muriatic acid; use the end of a broom straw, and apply to the mole, until it sinks perfectly flat, one application, well applied, only being necessary; it will be sore for over a week, and will come off in a small scab, and soon heal over.

How to Can Strawberries.—Take fresh-picked berries, and add sugar, allowing one cup to » quart of fruit; let them stand a few hours, or over night, then boil in a kettle or pan five minutes; heat the cans, and seal boiling hot. This rule has been successfully tried, and the flavor of the fruit is much nicer than when water is added. To Remove Paint and Putty from Windows. —Put sufficient potash into hot water to make it very strong of it; then saturate the paint which is daubed on the glass with it; let it remain till nearly dry; then rub off hard with a woolen cloth. Pearlash water is also good to remove putty before it is dried on the glass. If it dries on, whiting is good to remove it. Cockroaches and Water Bugs.— These can be trapped and afterward destroyed by placing vessels containing molasses where they abound. A small stick should be laid from the edge of the vessel to the floor. They will not return upon it. Pills of phosphorus will destroy them, and Paris green or powdered borax drive them away. The roots of the black hellebore scattered in their haunts is an infallible remedy. To Kill Bed-bugs,—The only certain cure for bed-bugs is a solution of corrosive sublimate, which may be obtained at the druggist’s. The bedsteads should be taken apart and well washed with cold water and hard soap; then, with a small, flat brush, the poison should be applied to every crack and crevice where a bug

may harbor. The poison should be used once or twice a week, as may be necessary. It is a work of time and patience, but if persevered in this remedy will effectually destroy the bugs. Corrosive sublimate is a deadly poison, and should be kept out of the way of children and servants.

Heart Disease and the Turkish Bath. Perhaps 20 per cent, or more of the whole population of the United States think they have heart disease. Everybody who, under any excitement, feels a little fluttering in the region of the heart thinks it is heart disease. It is taken for granted that a little palpita tion is evidence of disease, and, therefore, it is “extremely dangerous” to take the bath. Never was a greater mistake. In cases where there is real disease of the heart, the danger lies in any sudden or excessive forcing of the blood through the organs, just exactly the opposite effect from that produced by the hot rooms which is, paramountly, to produce an even circulation, and, therefore to relieve the pressure which constitutes the danger of heart disease. To be sure, such a person is liable to die anywhere, and at any moment, but least of all in a Turkish bath, and for the reason just given. There is absolutely no foundation for fear in any gase, and the public need only study the philosophy of the Turkish bath to be convinced of the soundness of our position. We have seen the very worst cases of valvular diseases of the heart treated in the bath, and that after dropsy had set in and the case had been given over as hopeless, but the results have always been favorable, and the best effects have been obtained from the highest temperatures. Of course the bath could no more cure such cases than it could replace an amputated limb, but it has afforded relief and added years of usefulness to lives that were despaired of.— Hartford Times.