Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1880 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Pigs need dry beds as well as other animaLsFeed the sheep well, give them fresh, pure water, and keep them out of the wet. American honey in the comb has become a popular article of diet in England, and very large shipments are made. Of all the products of the soil, none are so prolific in seed as weeds; 60,000 seeds have been counted upon one mullein stalk. A Vermont dairy farmer says that, when he feeds meal to his cows, seventeen pounds of milk make a pound of butter. But, when no meal is fed, it takes twenty-three to twenty-six pounds. There is contained in the corn cobs raised in the United States from 115,000,000 to 120,000,000 pounds of carbonate of potash, which is the third most valuable article required in agriculture. Mixed husbandry is what we need. The farmer who grows sometliing of everything adapted to his locality will be safer, and, in the long run, will save more than he who devotes his energies and land mainly to one or two crops. The leaf cases of the leaf crumpler may be easily found at this season, and should be searched for and destroyed. It multiplies rapidly and is sometimes very destructive, entire orchards being rendered nearly worthless by its presence.

J. W. Myers, of Hampton, lowa, says that, after many trials, there are two trees which have endured the ordeal of Northern hedging, and have not been found wanting in any particular. These are the honey locust and the white willow.

A Pennsylvania farmer cured ringbone of four years’ standing on his horse by using four ounces of saltpeter in a quart of good vinegar. Dissolve well and apply by bath or mop. About a dozen applications cured this case in six months.

The St. Patrick, one of the new varieties of potatoes recently introduced to the attention of our farmers, is said to be most excellent and well worthy of extended culture. It has a smooth, white skin, few and shallow eyes, producing but few small tubers, maturing early and compact in its habit of growth. It bids fair to become a popular market variety. A little oil cake or meal given to the farm team about the time when shedding the winter coat will be of great advantage. It will act as a gentle laxative and stimulant, and render more active the various secretive organs of the system, and better fit them for the arduous labors of the season. An occasional teaspoonful of spirits of nitre will not come amiss to act as a diuretic.

The winters in Russia are becoming colder every year, and the summers hotter, more dry and less fruitful, owing as is clearly stated by Livingstone, to the destruction of the woodlands which formerly abounded in the southern districts. The clearing of these lands has caused such enormous evaporation that many once capacious water courses have become mere swamps, or are comparatively dry. Roup in poultry is only a fatal disease when, like many others, it is neglected till passed all remedy. If, when first attacked, a mixture of cayenne pepper and lard, about the size of a bean, be given to the fowl about twice a day, a care will be effected in a few days. We keep from fifty to 100 fowls, and have never lost by this disease, but have effected a cure in large numbers by the mixture described.— Exchange. Young stock, especially calves and colts, frequently become infested with stock lice, in winter, which greatly multiply toward spring and, nearly suck the life’s blood out of them. They should be looked after, and if found infested with this species of vermin, should be treated for it. A moderately strong solution of carbolic soap applied liberally to the neck and back will soon effectually rid them of these troublesome pests. W. A. Armstrong, Elmira, N. Y., said at a recent meeting of the Elmira Farmers’ Club: “I have, tried raising Alsike clover on as much as 100 acres of land in various conditions. I sowed thirty acres of new land with Alsike alone, and I have sowed the seed mixed with timothy and with common red clover. As the result of all my observation, I have concluded that Alsike clover is not a profitable crop to raise It makes good pasture ami for cattle good hay, but it will not stay in the land so well as red clovers, and when the first growth is cut or grazed off that is the end of it for that year. I cannot say what influence is exerted by it toward enriching the laud, but if I may judge by the character of the roots I must say it is inferior to red clover as a fertilizer. The roots do not penetrate so far and they have less substance. Cattle are extremely fond of Alsike pasturage, but cows grazing on it make butter of light color. Farmers who keep bees may find it profitable to have a field of Alsike near by, for it affords a great deal of honey if the plants are not grazed, and it will continue to blossom a. long time. The best use I have had of it has been when mixed with the ordinary grasses, and in this condition it has remained longer in the ground than when sowed alone. ”