Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1885 — AGRICULTURAL. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL.

Thk United States census shows that of the whole number of farms the largest proportion occupied by actual owners is in New England—9l per cent. The next largest is 82 per cent., in tha Pacific States; in the West it is 79 per cent.; in the middle West and in the middle group it is 78 per cent. J in the South it is 60 per cent. At the Illinois Dairyman’s Association, Col. D. T. Curtis, in speaking on the .subject of grasses, said we must have plenty of good grass, or we could not expect success in the dairy. We must also have plenty of pure water for the cows. He was not particular as to breed. Select good milkers from any of the breeds, and then keep up the dairy stock by careful selection in breeding/

Vick says that gladiolus bulbs may be kept over winter in sand in the cellar, or wherever they will not freeze. Tuberose bulbs, in order to preserve their germ, which will perish in a low temperature, especially if accompanied with moisture, need to be kept dry and warm. If possible the temperature should not fall much below 65 degrees, and near 70 degrees is better. Kept in a warm place, in a drawer for instance, in a room that is always heated, they winter in good condition. The Farmer's Magazine thus says regarding sunflowers: “The sunflower yields more seed than corn. A bushel of seed will yield a gallon of oil, and the residuum is equivalent to that of lin.seed. The flowers make good dye, and furnish bees with material for wax and honey. The stalks make excellent fuel, and furnish a fine fiber for working with silk. The leaves are a good adulterant for Havana fillers, and eaten by stock. As food for the table the seeds can be ground into flour and made into palatable, nutritious bread.”

Never turn cattle to pasture antiJ the fences are thoroughly repaired, fox if cattle once get accustomed to going over a broken-down fdtice it is often difficult to prevent them from going over the same after it has been repaired.— Chicago Journal. An enterprising farmer near Reading, Pa., has a room fifty feet square, entirely surrounded with ice, in which he stores fruit. In this refrigerator he is able to keep apples and pears until they will bring twice or thrice the same fruit marketed when first picked. Cloverseed will germinate when 3 or 4 years old, if kept in an even temperature and dry. It is subject to attacks from insects, and consequently deteriorates in quality from that and other causes. It is best to use new seed, but that remaining over till the second year may be used with safety. Everything depends on the cr.ro of keeping.

A Western farmer who tried wheat bran as a manure for wheat reports t'iat the effect of an : ppli afciou of one I>n of bran to the acre \ •vipiul to i i at obtained from the usual applicat on of a mixture of bone dust, guano, - ae and wood ashes, and the differ- > ’6 in yield of the crops that received i m as compared with those not so t eated was very great. L. H. Bailey, of Sontli Haven, Mich., and of the oldest iThit-growero of this State, once received a lot of apple trees that in appearance were dead. They had been delayed two months in reaching him. It was in the pioneer times, and new trees could not be procured readily. He therefore set out all the seemingly dead trees, first letting them lie under the water for two days. Nearly all lived to have their products take the first premium at the fairs.— Lansing Republican. According to New York dealers oleo margarine is now as much of a regular market product as butter or cheese. For years it was regarded by the butter merchants as an illegitimate product, and the Mercantile Exchange subscribed many thousand of dollars toward driving the stuff out of the market. Agents were employed to make sure that the law regarding the stamping of oleomargarine as such was complied with, every effort was made to influence legislation unfavorable to the oleomargarine makers and dealers. All such failed, and the Mercantile Exchange now numbers "deomargarine among the staple articles of trade. —Chicago Journvl.

The American Agricultural says: There are five methods in which Persian insect powder may be applied to destroy insects: As dry powder; as a fume; as an alcoholic extract dilutedj by simple stirring of the powder in water; as a tea or decoction. The powder may be dilrtted with ten times its bulk of flour, or any finely-pulverized material, as wood ashes. It is recommended to mix the powder and other material twenty-four hours before use. In a closed room the fumes from a small quantity will kill or render inactive common flies and mosquitoes. For application to insects on plants the powder mixed with water, and the tea made from the herb dried, are more convenient, and quite as effectual. In a conversation with an experienced chicken raiser he informed us that he had been very successful in conquering theft precarious disease in his young fowls by the application of air-slacked lime. As soon as a manifestation of Epes in his fowls appear, he confines i chickens in a box, one at a time, sufficiently large to contain the bird, and places a coarse piece of cotton or linen cloth over the top. Upon this he places the pulverized lime, and taps the screen sufficiently to cause the lime to fall through. This lime dust th fowl inhales and is made to sneeze, and in a short time the cause of the gapes is thrown out in the form of a slimy mass or masses of worms, which had accusnulated in the windpipe and smaller

vessels, xms remeay ne considers superior to any remedy he ever tried, ran he seldom fails to effect a perfect cude. He has adjured all those mechanical means by which it is attempted to dislodge the entozoa with instruments made of whalebone, hog’s bristles, horse hair of fine wire alleging that people are quite as certain to push the gape worms farther down the throat of the fowls as to draw them up .—Poultry Nation.

One of the very best efforts that humane societies have ever made is that of inducing horse owners to do away with the blind bridle. There are cases where, perhaps, blinds are useful, but usually they are useless, and not only that, but their tendency is to hurt the eyes. They are a great impediment to the free sight of the horse, whose eyes are so set that it looks rather sidewise instead of directly in front. With a blind on, therefore, the animal has no fiee range of vision. In addition to this, if the blinds press against or strike the eye, the latter will most likely be damaged. Under all the circumstances the practice of putting blinds upon our bridles is about as foolish as checking up a horse’s head until the only thing that it can see is the sun and sky. Some may think that blinds look well, but even that is doubtful. We are of the opinion that a blindless bridle looks just as well on a horse as anything that can be put on its head. In our towns and cities where humane societies have an opportunity to create public sentiment in regard to the matter, many of our most stylish turnouts have no blinds on the bridles. —Western Rural.