Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1880 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Fat Milch Cows. —lt is possible for milch cows to, become too fat. In this case give Iras meal and mere bran. Apples. Ohio farmers, at a loss how to dispose of their apples, are feeding them to their cows, and report good results. Feed fob Poultry Per Year. —One bushel of corn, or corn and meal mixed, per head, is a fair allowance for common fowls for a year. They will pick up enough in addition to this to keep them in good condition if they have a run at laige every day. If kept shut up some scraps of meat and vegetables will be needed in addition to the grain. Diseased Fruit Trees. —We have tried it repeatedly and never knew it to fail. That is, cutting off the diseased part and slitting the bark on one side of the limb and body from the affected part down. In fact, if the diseased part is cut off and the limb and body slit, it will Btop the destruction of the tree, or at least it has for us every time.— Fruit Recorder. * Horses Pawixo in the Stable. — A light chain is recommended by some to break them of this trick, fastened above the knee to hang down loose, but not long enough to touch the floor. If horses kick, fasten the chain in the same way to the hind leg. If a horse is at all nervous—as such as paw and kick usually are—we should be afraid that the chain would frighten and cause him to kick and paw so much more violently as to jerk it around and seriously injure his legs.

Digging Potatoes. —A Maine farmer says in the New York Herald that he paid his men $1.25 per day for digging and pitting potatoes, which cost six cents per bushel. He told two of the men he would .give them five cents per bushel if they would do the work. They took the job and went to work, and dug and pitted 100 bushels per day, and went home some times by 4 o’clock in the afternoon. The farmer saved one cent per bushel, or $1 per day; and the men doubled their wages. Produce Good Milkers —Extra milkers should be kept to breed from, their milking qualities alone entitling them to this preference. It is quite as necessary to raise the calves of good milkers, in order to have another race of good milkers, as it is to raise the colts of good trotters in order to have fast horses. Extra daily cows are always in demand. It as certainly to be regretted that more care is not taken to improve the milking qualities of our cows; and it is also a source of regret that so many of our farmers are in the habit of disposing of so many of their young calves to the butchers. Furnish Your Boys With Tools.— Prof. John E. Sweet, in an address before the Onondaga Co. Farmers’ Club said: “The farmer who provides himself with the necessary tools to do the repairing of the farm, not only makes a paying investment, but does for his sons, in another way, just exactly what he*does for them when he sends them to school. He gives them a chance to learn to do some; thing. From among those boys will be found the mechanical engineers of the future.” It would be difficult to crowd more truth and common sense into this short space. It is well known among mechanics that when an apprentice “learns to handle his tools,” his trade is half learned. Preparing Manure for Hot-bed.— Fresh stable manure, in which there is plenty of litter, is most suited for this purpose. There should be at least onetliird litter in the heap. If this is not in the mass in sufficient quantity, add leaves or tanbark; shake it up and mix it well together, adding water if at all dry and musty, and throw it into a compact heap to ferment. Let it remain a week, and then work it over thoroughly, as before, and add water, if necessary. Where the ground is quite dry, a very good method is to dig a space about eighteen inches deep, and put in the manure, tramping it firmly add evenly, and place thereon the frame or sash, and put iu the rich earth, and in about four days, sow the seed, having previously stirred the earth freely, to destroy the seeds of weeds therein. Hogs in Winter. —There is no domestic animal that suffers so much from exposure to cold and wet as the hog. He is a native of a mild climate, and should be treated as his nature demands if we would turn its peculiarities to our advantage. And during winter ho should bo provided with warm, dry quarters, plenty of warm, clean bedding, and an abundant supply oi' nutritious, fat and heatproducing food. For this purpose there >s nothing equal to corn, owing to the rge amount of carbon in its composition, which the hog appropriates in producing fat and heat to warm his system tlie same as our stoves consume carbon in the form of wood and coal to warm our rooms. The colder and the more exposed these rooms are, the more fuel we are obliged to consume to make them comfortable. Just so with the hog the less care is expended in making his quarters comfortable, the more corn he must consume to keep up the animal heat, and, if not supplied with tlie necessary amount of food, his system has to fall hack on carbon it has stored in the form of fat, and lie must necessarily lose in weight, at his careless or thoughtless owner’s expense. Hogs should also have a good supply of water, as it is impossible for them do --digest their food without water to dissolve it and convey it into tlie blood. They should be kept constantly supplied with salt, coal and ashes. Salt is a valuable stimulator of tlie appetite and digestive organs. During warm days in the winter the feed should be regulated according to the temperature, ust as we would regulate the fuel according to the demands of the weather. When the weather suddenly becomes warm, animals lose their appetites, and are liable to become “stalled.” Some cooling, succulent food, as slop or vege tables of some kind should be substituted for the more heating food of grain.