Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1884 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Aar 'lndian fruit-grower says he put Sve moles in his strawberry patch of Te acres to catch grubs, and they did h.e work so effectively that he had noi a dozen plants injured by grubs and none ■hurt by moles. Perhaps if the experiment was tried more generally the results would be found fully as satisfactory. Philip Snydeb, Vineland, N. J., thinks that poultry will not protect fruit trees from the attacks of curculio. He has tried to induce his hens to eat the curculio; but even when the latter were temptingly displayed on clean white plates, the aesthetic fowls disdainfully refused to have aught to do with the little curled-up pests. The Germantown Telegraph makes a suggestion which will probably seem to many old farmers novel if not unwarranted, when it says that in arranging farm-buildings it will pay well to look almost as much to the preservation of. the manure as of the hay or grass, and those whose buildings have no provision for this purpose cannot spend s‘2s or SSO better than in putting up a shed under which the manureheap may be protected against these adverse influences. The Angora goat is now successfully bred in Caliiornia, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, and several of the other Southern States and Western Territories. Experiments in crossing the Angora upon the common goats of the country, and thus grading up the latter ito a profitable wool-bearing animal, have proved quite promising. It is claimed that the climate of California suits these animals so well that they improve after a few generations and become hardier and better than in their native mountains in Asia. One of the most annoying pests with which growers of plants have to contend is the green-fly. On geraniums, cyclamen, and primulas it does not often appear, and from them can be easily washed. For plants on which insects appear, a dip into tobacco-stem water will be found an excellent thing. For plants in bloom, a fumigation by burning tobacco-stems in a barrel in which tiie plants have been placed will be found effectual. Frequent fumigations, but inot too strong, are found to be best

Various > devices or remedies are given in the papers from time to time, to prevent forked apple trees from splitting. Iron bolts are inserted; iron ; bands are employed; ropes are used to daw the pasts together; branches are ; drawn together and interlaced, eta Prevention jis best, and well-formed heads will not split down. Two main branches, diverging from each other at an acute angle, should not be permitted. An even and spreading head ' will not split, nor will any tree be liable to injury If not allowed to overbear. The practice of ■ propping up the limbs of fruit trees indicates that the trees are not well trained, or that they are allowed to overbear, or both. Rust. — Rust stalled the “farmer’s most active enemy” by the American Agriculturist. It works all hours of the twenty-dour and during all seasons. In some parts of our country, where farmers leone their machinery outdoors, the loss by rust is enormous, and in nearly , every township in Michigan, it is safe to'say, there is agricultural machinery-exposed to the action of rust. The Agriculturist says; “It is certain ithatif »the farmers of any State would expend SI,OOO for paint next year for this t propose, they would save SIO,OOO now likely to be utterly lost.” The “purpose” spoken of is that of giving the metal and wood work of machinery a good coat <of paint. Discussmo the question of how to bring colts to maturity prepared for many years of usefulness, Prof. Knapp, President of the lowa Agricultural college, says the farmers;and horsemen of that State annually waste $15,000,000 by overfeeding their .-eoßs and young horses. He declares .that two quarts of oats and two ears ,of .corn twice a day is liberal feeding, drat the colt would eat twice ns much md net be m strong. Giving more grain makes rapid Sowth, but it is Bke stuffing an annual r market. When you deewa to produce horses for endurance or breeding they must be matured more slowly. Barrenness can be prodnoed nine timed ont of ten by this staffing process. It mins the health of aftook of aB kinds. •*.Chicaao Tribune.

Ik it is our purpose in .rearing pig« f that they shall be fattened and sold on .the market for pork, it will not fee nee* * essary that the dam U a pure-bred ant* maL Care in this regard is needed only in.case of the sire. If he has come of a well-established pure-bred family of good feeding animals, his progeny {from well-formed and vigorous common <of grade sows are usually all ;that can he desired as rapid growers and good feeders. .iSuch sows will generally prove quite as profitable for this purpose as the higher-priced pure-bred animals. In faet, common sows are, with a good show of reason, often deemed the better suited for rearing pigs to be fattened than are 'the pure-bred sows—first cost being left out of the question altogether. They are believed to be more hardy, from the supposition that their digestive and vital organs are better developed. In reading your remarks on silos and other methods of curing corn fodder I was reminded of the way in which it is often cured in Maine. After the corn is l husked ("which is done as soon as the corn is cut) the fodder is put in a mow or on a layer of straw and then a layer of fodder three or four inches thick, or so as to cover the straw, and so on. Usually some salt is scattered over each layer. The cattle «at it readily in winter, straw and aIL It is doubtful whether in this climate and with the corn fodder as green as it is usually cut, it could be kept in that way. But if fodder from corn planted for fodder only—to be cut before the oorn is matured, or that from corn matured, is carefully cured and kept from the weather it makes an excellent food for cattle or horses. If cut aud steamed I doubt not it would be gqual if not superior to silo-fodder. When left )U' the fields, exposed to the weather,*; mixed with dirt, dust and sand by the reina and winds, it is of little value. ~J, l. o; iu FhUaddpkw Jioconk