Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 January 1879 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Failures follow inattention, negligence and ignorance. One cold rain Will produce more disorders, catarrh and coughs in a flock of sheep than a whole winter of after care will cure. The sickness and loss of sight in horses kept in city stables are largely due to the escape of ammonia from the manure. This is about the time for peddlers of new and marvelous kinds of fruits at fabulous prices. Those who have been only bit a few times can try again, until they are satisfied. The best farmers are those who pay the greatest attention to cultivation; who investigate new processes, and take advantage of what is good; in other words, who keep up with the progress of the times. Oub own experience is that nearly all the giant, or tall kinds, of celery are unprofitable to raise. Not only does their culture entail twice the labor, but they are almost always wanting in solidity and flavor.— lowa State Register. Last spring Mr. Joshua Knight, of Ogle county, 111., sowed thirteen barrels of salt on twenty acres seeded to wheat, and left a strip in the middle of the piece without salt. The ground on which he sowed the salt produced over eighteen bushels of good spring wheat per acre, while that on which there was no salt was hardly worth cutting—the wheat being badly shrunken, injured by rust, chinch bugs, etc. The Western Rural says: “Of the number of large farmers that we have personally known—that is those who cultivated extraordinary large farms—we have not known a single successful one. In the majority of instances the waste arising from neglect has been quite sufficient to ruin anybody, and this neglect is inseparable from unusually large farming operations. Farmers should encourage the establishment of manufactories in their vicinity, and the location of mechanics in their neighborhood, whether they may need the products of these factories and workshops, or whether these shall seek a foreign market. The operatives in these industries must be fed, and this secures a home market for the products of the farm, the garden and the orchard.

The hulless-oats fiends are again in the field in those sections where live newspapers are not taken. The men who do not believe in “ book farming ” are the ones swindled with this new oats at $lO a bushel. They have been known in the West among reading farmers for forty years, and discarded as of no practical value; but that makes no difference to the, non-reading farmer, whose cupidity tempts him to put faith in Oily-Gammon sharks.— Prairie Farmer.

It is contended by many honest men that our roads would, be better worked if the taxes were all paid in cash, and the Supervisor hired hands to work the road, paying cash there tor. At present a large portion is paid in cash, which is enough for bridges and buying implements. Were it all paid in cash it would never be known, in most cases, whether it was ever expended on the road. Imperfect accounts are kept of moneys received for such purposes, and not one-third of the Supervisors can make ’ out a report of receipts and expenditures, and other matters as required by law. There would be more opportunities for frauds and speculations. There would soon be a strife to get the position of Supervisor by unworthy men, for the sake of the funds which would come into his hands. In many of the rural districts, far removed from saloons, it is generally difficult to get temporary hands to work. In such cases the roads have to be worked, if it is done, by the resident farmers and their hands. If this is the case, it is as well for that farmer to do the work at first as to pay the money, and then be hired with it to do the work. In this latter way no money is used, and no opportunity is given for illegal use of the road tax. The farmers are the men interested in good roads, and let the law remain as it is for them to work it out. —Des Moines Register.

Tao Many Hogs and Too Idltle Corn. Mr. Ben Perley Poore, the correspondent of the Boston Journal, in a recent communication, gives the following fresh anecdote of President Lincoln: “The pertinacity with which offices are sought here was very annoying to ‘ Old Abe.’ One day a clerk in the War Department, who had been sent previously on errands to the White House, availed himself of the opportunity to ask a place in the Treasury Department for a brother who had been in a District volunteer regiment for thirty days. ‘ Has your brother as good clerical capacity as yourself?’ inquired Mr. Lincoln. ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘I think your father also holds an office?’ ‘Yes, sir; he is chief of the division of the War Department in which I am a clerk.’ ‘ And haven't you, another brother who is a clerk? ’ ‘ Yes, sir; he is in the De-

partment of the Interior.’ ‘Ah! 1 continued Mr. Lincoln, ‘ three of one family already in office, and now you want to get a fourth in. Why, as we say out in Sangamon county, 111., there are too many hogs and too little corn.’ The young man didn't wait for more elaborate explanations.”

A Dangerous Torpor. Torpor or inactivity of the kidneys is seriously dangerous to those otgans, since it is the precedent of diseases which destroy their substance and endanger life. This sluggishness may bo overcome by stimulating them, not excessively, but moderately, an effect produced by Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters, a general invigorant and alterative, possessing diuretic properties of no common order. The impetus which this admirable medicine gives to their evacuative function counteracts any tendency to congestion which may exist in their tissues. Both they and their associate organ, the bladder, are invigorated as well as gently stimulated by the Bitters, which exerts a kindred influence upon the stomach, liver and bowels, and, by strength ening the si stem, enables it to withstand malarial epidemics, to which when exposed it might otherwise succumb.

The Christian Intelligencer inquires : “Are fathers and heads of families justified in taking those papers which are daily filled with matter which is only fit for a police gazette or a dime novel of the worst class? Is that the stuff’ on which to feed young boys and girls ? Is that the pabulum of the young ladies of the household? Is it surprising that any one who has such vile and wicked trash presented to them should themselves catch the contagion of this leprosy ?” The Japanese army, on a peace footing, consists of 31,680, and in time of war is increased to 45,350 men.