Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1879 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

To kill burdocks cat the the plant off at the crown and ponr kerosene oil upon it. It is sure death to the pest. A writes in the Indiana Farmer says water made thick as cream, with fresh cow manure, and poured on melon vines will keep off the striped beetle. Good feed, whether it be good grass in summer or good hay and gaain in winter, with pure water always within reach, will always give good returns, whether the outcome be meat, milk, butter or cheese. M. Boussingault found that a thermometer, plunged in snow to the depth of about four inches, sometimes marked nine degrees of heat greater than at the surface. Farmers up North may console themselves over the fact. Driving aeter Eating.—The digestion of a horse is govemnd by the same laws as that of a man, and, as we know that it is not best for a man to go at hard work the momenta hearty meal is eaten, so we should remember that a horse ought to have a little rest after his meal, while the stomach is most active in the processes of digestion. Many a good horse has been ruined by injudicious haste in working him with a full stomach. Sell the Old Sheep.—lt is folly to keep old sheep. They should be turned off to the butcher while they are in their prime. It does not take half as much to fatten them then. When they get old and thin, in order to put them in condition to slaughter, the whole structure must be rebuilt. Four sets of lambs are all any ewe should bear; this will bring her to five years, and this is an age when, with little extra care, she will round up to a full carcass. Exceptions may be made when the breed is scarce, and the blood is more desirable than anything else. —New York Tribune. How to Get Kid of Rats. —A farmer says: Four years ago my farm was fearfully infested with rats. They were so numerous that I had great fears of my whole crop being destroyed by them after it was housed; but having two acres of wild peppermint that grew in a field of wheat cut and bound with the wheatfdrove the rats from the premises. I have not been troubled with them since, while my neighbors have any quanlity of them. I feel convinced that any person who is troubled with these pests can reaidly get rid of them by gathering a good supply of mint and placing it around the walls or base of their barns.

Butter Not Gathering. The food has a great influence upon the milk. So has the condition of the cow. When the butter will not gather, but remains in the condition of a thick emulsion, it may sometimes be brought into order by throwing into the churn a gallon of cold water in which a handful or two of salt have been dissolved, and then operating the churn slowly to gather the butter. The cream may be improved in condition also by stirring a teaspoonful of salt in the jar in which it is kept. But to give the cows a daily feed of bran, or meal, if only one quart, is perhaps the best remedy, and its cost will be returned in the increase of butter. It pays to give this extra food even when cows are on pasture. The Fruit Recorder says: The following preparation for destroying bugs on squash and on cucumber vines has been successfully tried for years. Dissolve a table-spoonful of saltpeter in a pailful of water. Put one pint of this around each hill, shaping the earth so that it will not spread much, and the thing is done. Use more saltpeter, if you can afford it. It is good for vegetables, but death to animal life. The bugs burrow in the earth at night, and fail to rise in the morning. It is also good to kill the grub in peach trees; only use twice as much—say a quart or two to each tree. There was not a yellow or blistered leaf on twelve or fifteen trees to which it was applied last season. No danger of killing vegetables with it. A concentrated solutio n applied to young beans makes them grow wonderfully. To Pickle Pork.— ln pickling pork the pieces should be so cut that they will lie flat in the tub, and each layer should be pounded down closely. But before the sides are cut up it is a good plan to rub them over with a mixture of white sugar and salt, putting one-third as much sugar as salt. Then place the pieces in the tub, rind downward, and sprinkle each layer with the sugar and salt. When the tub is well filled, put a layer of salt ovei it so thick as to exclude the air, and cover it closely for ten days; then look at it, and, if the brine is not formed enough to cover it, sprinkle in a little cold water. In three months the pork will be ready to cook, and it will keep good for two years at least, and the sugar will give it a finer flavor than saltpeter. In warm climates both sugar and saltpeter can be used as advantageously as in pickling beef. All housekeepers know that they can make corned beef more tender and better flavored by using a jiickle of one pound of sugar to three pounds of salt and a teaspoonful of saltpeter.