Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1883 — FARM NOYES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOYES.

An Eastern paper says stumps caa be removed by boring holes in them and filling with petroleum or oil of tuurpentine. After a few months they will burn to the ends of the roots. It is estimated .that there are 100,000 acres to be devoted to vine culture in California, all of which will be bearing in four years more, producing annually 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 gallons of wine. D. K. Shaver, in a letter to the lowa Homestead, says that a simple, sure and easily-applied cute for lice on animals is to give a few slices of on ; on in their feed. They eat them readily, and one or two feeds does the business effectually. z , A writer in the Home and Farm used about a quart of sawdust in each hill of one plot of potatoes and none in another plot. The sawdust hills yielded nearly twice as much as the others, and the potatoes were larger and smoother. During his travels in Europe, Prof. Budd, of the lowa Agricultural College, found a vast fruit region in Northern Russia, never before explored, where the mercury sinks to 56 deg. below zero, in wnich choice apples, pears, plums and cherries were grown in unlimited quantities. A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer writes that he has tried flat and hill culture for cucumbers, squashes and melons. When hot, dry weather came the plants in the hills began to dry up, while those onrtevel ground grew freely. He thinks flat cultivation decidedly the best, unless on wet ground. Dusting cucumber, melon and squash plants with plaster early in the morning, when the dew is on, has long been practised for checking the ravages ol the striped bug. A tittle Paris green or London purple, however, either applied in water or mixed with the plaster, is a much more effective application. If cabbages are set out one yard each way nearly 5,000 can be grown on one acre. Such being the case, it is a profitable crop when successfully grown, as this vegetable not only sells well, but on account of its keeping qualities affords green food in winter for animals and poultry, to say nothing of the family. American Wonder is a seedling pea, the result of a cross between the Champion of England and the Little Gem It is one of the earliest wrinkled peat in cultivation, of the finest quality and wonderfully productive. Its great distinctive feature, however, is its compact and dwarf growth, seldom exceeding ten inches in height. Prof. Cook says that a carbolic soap wash has with him proved a very effectual preventive of radish maggots and apple-tree borers. His formula is as follows: To two quarts of soft soap I added two gallons of water; this was then heated to a boiling temperature, when one pint of carbolic acid (in a crude state) was added. This mixture is then set away in a barrel or other vessel, and is ready for use as occasion may require. One part of this liquid is then mixed with fifty parts of water and the plants sprinkled or trees washed with it. This is worth remembering.

To make superphosphate on the premises the following recipe is given as excellent, and within the range of almost every farmer; - Take 100 pounds of ground bone, place it in a large tub and apply forty pounds of sulphuric acid, adding water as desired. In a few days the whole mass will be reduced to the cons stency of a thick jelly. Then add more water and about 300 pounds of plaster as a drier, the whole being worked and shoveled over until it can be readily handled. There will then be sufficient phosphate to apply to about two and one-half acres of land, at a cost of about $7.50. — Maryland Farmer. Cattle Feeding.—Most animals eat in proportion to their weight, under average of age, temperature and fatness. A good guide for a safe quantity of grain per day to maturing cattle is one pound to each hundred of their weight; thus an animal weighing 1,000 pounds may receive ten pounds of grain. Never give rapid changes of food, but change often. Give fattening cattle as much as they will eat and often—five times a day. Every salt feeding in the fall will make the winter progress more certain by 30 per cent. Give as much water and salt at all times as they will take. In using roots, it is one gixide to give just so much, in association with other things, that the animal may not take any water. In buildings have warmth with complete ventilation, without currents, but never under 40 or over 70 degrees Fahreinheit. A cold, damp, airy temperature will cause animals to consume more food without corresponding result in bone, muscle, flesh or fat, much being used to keep up the warmth. Stall feeding is better for fat making than box or yard management, irrespective of health. The growing animal intended for beef requires a little exercise daily to promote muscle and strength of constitution; when ripe, only so much as to be able to walk to market. Currying daily is equal to 7 per cent, of the increase.

I have had an average of sixty Plymouth Kock fowls that have laid in six months’ time 5,668 eggs, an average of ninety-four eggs per hen, and nineteen of them were set during the time. They have never been out of their pens since I put them in in November, and they never -wait until they go to the block to have their heads off. They are divided into flocks of twenty, each flock having 100 square feet of yard room. I have had flocks of twenty and had free range, but never could get so high an average as when kept yarded in flocks of twenty. The cost of keeping was less, and the number of eggs much less, when they had their liberty. I cannot give the cost of keeping, as 185 chickens were fed from the same grain bins. My flock has consisted of just fifty hens in July, and’ they have laid 910 eggs during the month, which I think is good evidence that confinement agrees with them. They are provided with all the green food they can eat, and are given a few ground beef scraps daily, but never any milk. The chickens hatched by the nineteen hens were divided among thirteen hens, nine of which began laying when the chickens were three weeks old, and weaned them , a few days later, evidently thinking it was better business to help fill the egg basket than brooding young chickens. As I manage my laying liens, it makes me a good deal of hard work, but the profit is large, which suits me better tha i little work and little pay.—dor. Poultry Monthly.