Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1884 — AGRICULTURAL. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL.

Things a Farmer Should Hot Do. A farmer should Dot break up mors land than he can cultivate thoroughly; half-tailed land is always growing poorer, while well-tilled land is constantly improving. A thrifty and prudent farmer will not devote his sole attention to the improvement of certain fields on his farm, because thp land is “easy to work at,” and let other pop tions of his premises go uncultivated, and grow nothing but brush, bogs, briers and stom s. A farmer should never have more cattle, horses or other animal stock than he cau kee-> in good order. An animal in good order at the beginni g of winter is already bull wintered. Nor should he let his c-rutle o: dure the chilling storms of winter in an open yard or held, wh le a few dollars expended wouid amply repay him in saving fodder) and afford her a greater amount of milk. A farmer should never depend too much on his neic*hl >r>rs fm- what he can by careful management pro nice on his own land, lie she; hi -not make it a common pra-.-t <.e to . iih •: buy or beg fruit while he can ph: t lives and cultivate ti em o i Ids own ground— nor annoy his neighbors by burrowing tools , to work with, while he can make or buy them. “The borrowei o servant to the lender.” A farmer should never be so immersed in political matters as to neglect doing his various kinds of work in due season, and to snug up matters and things for winter; nor should he be so inattentive to politics as to remain ignorant of those great questions of na- ; tional and State policy which will j always agit&te more or less a free peoi pie.

A farmer should not be continually I borrowing his neighbor’s newspaper, fl while he can easily save money enough, I by curtailing some little extravagance, , I to subscriba and pay for one or more on j his own. . . 1 A farmer should never refuse a fair j I price for anything he wishes to sell. 1/ m have known men to refuse $1.50 for a\l bushel of wheat, and after keeping it |b five or six months they were glad to get/1 $1 for it. I have known farmers to re-| fl fuse to take a fair marketable price foil ■ their dairies of butter, and after keep-l* ing it three or four months they copyj eluded to sell the butter for only two** thirds of the price which they were firstlH offered. “A bird in the hand is worth** two in the bush.” .11 A farmer should not allow his wood 11 pile to be reduced down to the “shorts* II merely drawing a little by piecemeal,lll and green at that. He must expect tc»fl encounter the sour looks of his wife anti/® family, and perhaps be compelled (imfl a series of lectures) to learn that the 11 man who provide green wood to burn in 11 winter has not mastered the first rules** of domestic economy. Nor should b>t"fl employ some “blotch” mason to builA ■ his chimney “upside down” so that his /* family will be nearly smoked out of thekV house, and the walls of the room b^ M come as yellow as saffron. .1 A farmer should not let his building- 3|| Look as old as the hills, and go to decay* V while he can easily afford the means tc fl keep them in good repair; nor shouldd* he allow tattered clothes and old hatsj ■ to be stuffed in the windows, in the! ■ place of glass. If he does, he need notti* be alarmed if he acquires the reputation!* of a mean man, or one who tarrieß long, fl where liquor is sold by the glass. ■ A farmer should not be contented! I with dilapidated-looking fences on hh&l farm, so as to tempt his cattle to beH* come unruly and destroy his crops,} I while he has plenty of opportunities trf fl make or keep them in repair, fl I-ai-iu Notes. fl In answer to inquiries why hens law H soft-shell eggs, it may be stated that fl 1 the difficulty is caused by a lack ol fl | lime. Pounded oyster shells should fl I be within easy reach of the fowls at all fl times. fl In selecting fruit trees look ratheij ■ I to getting good roots than a large top, fl | A small, well-shaped tree, with good fl roots, will soon outstrip a large one fl with an insufficient root, and will make,* a thriftier tree all the way along. (fl Where the bark has been gnawed ojj K scraped off from a tree the new barb fl may be made to grow again by covering fl the denuded place with clay. It hat fl been made to grow in this way withouj H leaving a scar even. Chicago To every barrel of flour (19t5 pounds fl there is about forty pounds of bran. I ■ is too light to ship except at high rates fl: and there is an opportunity for somi fl inventor to devise a method for com ■: proshing it into bales, rs is the cast B| i with liay. fl